TROY – A $1.2 million grant is clearing the way for Troy University to help improve math and science teaching in southeast Alabama.

Through the state’s Department of Education Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative, the University will be able to provide professional development, equipment and materials and on-site teacher support in math, science and technology, said Nadine Scarborough, AMSTI director at Troy University.

“In its earlier years, TROY’s claim to fame was as a teacher education college. Today, we are still graduating some of the best teachers in the state,” she said. “AMSTI is another way we can prove our commitment in the field of education.”

Scarborough, who has been the assistant project director for the University’s Biology Science in Motion Program since 1995, said the grant also helps the University support its teacher-graduates.

“TROY’s Regional Inservice Center and the College of Education do outstanding jobs in providing the teachers in our area with professional development opportunities, and skills in math, science and technology are becoming increasingly important to our future economy and critical in determining the success of every student in our state. AMSTI will help our students be successful in these areas.”

About 17,200 K-12 students are estimated to be ultimately served through the University’s AMSTI program. Schools become AMSTI schools by sending all of their math and science teachers and administrators to two-week summer institutes for two summers. While at the institutes, teachers receive grade- and subject-specific professional development applicable to their own classrooms.

The statewide initiative began in 2002.