Journal of Mathematics Education Leadership

Fall/Winter 2004/2005, Volume 7, Number 2

Articles in this issue

USING SCENARIO TASKS TO ELICIT TEACHERS’ ALGEBRAIC THINKING: A Recommendation for Professional Development

by: Frances R. Curcio, Daniel Scher, Sharon L. Weinberg
View this article

CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT IN MIDDLE GRADES AND HIGH SCHOOL

by: George W. Bright, Jeane M. Joyner
View this article

MATHEMATICS PREPARATION FOR COLLEGE: Some Things We Learned the Hard Way, and What We Do About Them

by: Michael A. Lundin, Mark Oursland, Mark Lundgren, Michael Reilly

The placement of students into mathematics courses at the collegiate level remains a contentious yet critical issue within mathematics education. This quantitative case study investigates the relationship between students' initial and final mathematics courses in high school and their first-year college GPAs. Utilizing high school and college transcripts from a comprehensive university located in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, the researchers analyze the impact of prior mathematics coursework on academic performance in higher education. The findings culminate in a set of recommendations aimed at enhancing the processes for guiding students toward effective placement in their first college mathematics course, thereby fostering improved educational outcomes.

View this article

COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIP HELPS TEACHERS LEARN TO USE STANDARDS-BASED LESSONS AND ANALYZE DATA.

by: Janet Herrelko

This qualitative case study documented the presentation of a standards-based workshop to three groups of teachers. Collaboration of business, government and education groups created these professional development workshops for teachers. The sites for the workshops included one urban setting and one suburban setting. Three workshops composed of three once a month sessions were presented (two in the urban district, one in the suburban district) and analyzed to reveal the beliefs teachers held regarding: standards-based lessons, the use of technology for lesson plans and data analysis. The most glaring needs of these teachers were the abilities to collect and record data from student work, analyze the data, and reporting the conclusions reached from those analyses. Recommendations were made for incorporating more opportunities for teachers to engage in collaborative planning and examinations of teaching methods. The information gained from this study should be useful to any districts that are trying to answer the question “What is quality professional development and what are some creative ways to fund it?”

View this article

Spring 2004, Volume 7, Number 1

Articles in this issue

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TO SUPPORT THE NCTM STANDARDS: Lessons from the Rice University School Mathematics Project’s Summer Campus Program

by: Richard Parr, Anne Papakonstantinou, Heidi Schweingruber, Pablo Cruz

The Rice University School Mathematics Project (RUSMP) Summer Campus Program, held each summer since 1987, creates communities of learning that increase PreK-12 teacher’s mathematical knowledge while assisting them in the development of the pedagogical skills necessary to ensure that their increased understanding is transferred to student mathematical learning. Providing professional development that encourages teachers to examine their beliefs and practice while providing support in mathematics content and pedagogy is an on-going challenge for programs designed to promote implementation of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards. The Summer Campus Program is designed to improve teachers’ content knowledge in mathematics in conjunction with examination of the methods of teaching mathematics embodied in the NCTM Standards. It is founded upon the principle that teachers learn best from their fellow teachers. In keeping with the view that successful professional development must take seriously the need to develop teachers themselves as experts, the Summer Campus program incorporates master teachers who have demonstrated sustained success with innovative instructional practices in their own classrooms. Master Teachers, under the direction of RUSMP’s Directors and university mathematics faculty, are responsible for planning the content of the Summer Campus Program. The RUSMP approach rests on the assumption that professionalism among mathematics teachers must include: a solid knowledge of mathematics, including the key concepts students must master; awareness of a variety of approaches to instruction and their appropriate use; and the ability to plan and reflect on instruction together with other teachers.

View this article

Evaluating a New Mathematics Curriculum: A District’s Multi-Stakeholder Approach

by: Neal Grandgenett, Roberta Jackson, Connie Willits

Selecting a new curriculum and determining whether it will be an effective addition to the district’s instructional efforts can be one of the most challenging leadership tasks facing the district mathematics supervisor. This article describes a structured curriculum adoption and evaluation process undertaken by the Westside Community Schools in Omaha, Nebraska, in collaboration with the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The curriculum evaluation process reviewed a new mathematics program being undertaken within the district that incorporated direct feedback from students, teachers, and parents. The evaluation strategies included a field test process involving three distinct field test groupings, with three matched control groups, to examine standardized test scores from 425 students. Surveys from 132 teachers, 596 parents, and 2,172 students were used within the comprehensive review process. The evaluation process appeared to work well for examining the impact of the new program and results confirmed that a full curriculum implementation was warranted in the 2003-2004 school year.

View this article

Looking Inside the Classroom : Mathematics Teaching in the United States

by: Iris R. Weiss, Daniel J. Heck, Elizabeth S. Shimkus
View this article

Individuals are free to copy and redistribute the material in any medium and format under the following terms:

• Proper attribution is given to the Journal of Mathematics Education Leadership, NCSM, and the authors, including a copyright notice, disclaimer notice, and a link to the material. Any modifications made to the original materials must be declared.
• The materials may not be used for commercial purposes.
• Derivatives of the content which remix, transform, or build upon the materials may not be distributed.