--~ EDUCATION III Predicting Geometry The UofL College of Education and Human Development has received a $3.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop assessments that will predict teacher performance and student achievement in geometry. The three-year grant began Oct. 1. UofL is the lead institution with the University of Kentucky, Florida State University, Alpine Testing Solutions and Horizon Research Associates. Bill Bush directs the UofL Center for Research in Mathematics and Science Teacher Development and is a professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning. He also is the principal investigator for the NSF project. The UofL team of 12 educators includes faculty, graduate students and representatives from Jefferson County Public Schools. "There aren't a lot of predictive measures for determining how well teachers will teach," Bush says. "Our goal is to better identify the knowledge that teachers need to do their work and to better prepare future teachers while they are in college." Some work already has begun. The UofL team is reviewing high school geometry books while the UK and FSU teams are looking at college geometry books and geometry standards, respectively. Future work will include videotaping Louisville area math teachers to see how they use their mathematics knowledge to teach geometry and then using that information to write tests that more effectively measure that knowledge. "These assessments will be useful to teacher educators and professional development providers in evaluating their pro grams and in assisting mathematics teachers to gain relevant knowledge for teaching geometry," Bush says. Autism training center flourishing statewide The Kentucky Autism Training Center (KATe) at the College of Education and Human Development has become an invaluable resource for the entire state. Autism affects more than 2,300 school-aged children statewide. The KATC promotes the academic success of these students and provides hands-on training for educators to help them in the classroom. The KATC's Amanda L. King Resource Center is the only source of autism, special education and vocational information available to all Kentucky citizens. In addition, the KATC holds the largest and most current collection of autism related information in the state. The KATC also is currently leading a team of families and professionals around the state to develop the Kentucky Family Guide for Autism Spectrum Disorders. The guide will cover a wide range of topics of interest to families, with each chapter containing rich reference materials including books, web sites and names of organizations where additional information on each topic may be obtained. The guide will assist parents from early diagnosis to young adult years and will be available at no cost on the KATC's website. According to the U.S. Department of Education and other governmental agencies, autism is growing at the rate of 10 to 17 percent per year. At that rate, autism could affect 4 million Americans in the next decade. Visit louisville.edu/education/kyautismtraining to learn more about KATC .• Visit louisville.edu/education for more on what's happening in the UofL College of Education. UOFL MAGAZINE. 41