Show-Me SATELLITES

 

University of Wisconsin	Mathematics in Context
Michigan State University	Connected Mathematics Project
University of Montana	MathThematics
Educational Development Center	MathScape

Common activities of all satellites include providing professional development experiences specific to their curriculum, collaborating with the Center to develop, organize, and disseminate information, and contribute to the collection of information on curriculum impact. More specifically, common activities across Satellite sites are to:

1. Build leadership capacity to support the implementation of middle grades standards-based curricula in states and school districts across the U.S.
2. Develop, organize and implement curriculum-specific professional development and materials for teachers and teacher leaders.
3. Provide technical assistance including on-line support for district leaders and for teachers using the curriculum.
4. Represent the Satellite in collaborative work outlined by the Project Advisory Team.

In addition to these common activities, each satellite has a scope of work particular to its mission.

University of Wisconsin, Mathematics in Context (MiC): Satellite Information and Services

There are at least four groups of consumers of Mathematics in Context besides the students for whom the curriculum was developed. These groups are teachers, district administrators and decision makers, mathematics teacher educators, and parents. The success or failure of Mathematics in Context or any other reform-based curricula is in their hands. The issues related to Mathematics in Context for each of these groups is similar. They need clear, informative materials in order to understand the goals and philosophy of the curriculum in the adoption phase. There is also a need for people who can represent MiC and work with the publisher to provide continued support during the first few years following adoption.

The MiC Satellite will develop the materials and provide assistance required to address needs associated with these groups. It will:

• Provide staff to plan and conduct week-long leadership institutes for teacher leaders. The focus of these institutes will be the philosophy, mathematical content, pedagogy, and assessment features of the MiC curriculum. The goal will be for these teacher leaders to provide local support to districts implementing MiC.
  
  
• Maintain trained staff to address specific questions related to implementing MiC.
  
  
• Develop general awareness materials on MiC that can be used by districts interested in adopting reform-based materials.
  
  
• Review other reform curricula for potential transitions into and from MiC and, when possible, collect data to document these transitions.
  
  
• Prepare professional development packages to prepare teachers to implement MiC. These packages will be of varying lengths to meet the range of needs presented by districts.
  
  
• Document and inform potential users of the variety of ways that MiC can be implemented.
  
  
• Document teacher and administrator issues and concerns related to the implementation of MiC and use this information to assist in the development of materials to address these concerns.

A secondary focus of the MiC Satellite will be on assessment strategies across the middle school curricula. There will be three goals for this effort:

• Document and analyze the assessment options of the four middle school curricula and develop general statements about the assessment models and strategies used in reform-based middle school curricula.
  
  
• Produce a document discussing how to evaluate student work using assessment examples (and actual student responses) from the different curricula.
  
  
• Design and pilot an end-of-grade-eight assessment to be used by all the curricula to compare student achievement.
  
  

The goals of the CMP Satellite Center are to accomplish a set of activities that address: advocacy and outreach, leadership development, teacher preparation and enhancement, research and documentation, and improvement of the CMP program.

• Advocacy and Outreach. As is the case in any attempt to substantially change school practices and traditions, the reform of mathematics education in K-12 is entering a time of scrutiny and attack from different communities. As these curriculum projects become available for use in schools, organized criticism of the Standards has the potential to stop the debate before the curriculum projects have a chance to demonstrate their effectiveness. The CMP satellite will work internally, but also collectively with the other projects and, especially the Center, to conduct activities that will advocate for curriculum as a central means to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics, K-12 in this country. The CMP Satellite will undertake the following types of outreach and advocacy activities:
  
  1. Work with the Center to sponsor "potential users" conferences around the country
  2. Develop reports and other materials to inform administrators, teachers, and parents of the potential of curriculum as a vehicle for improvement of mathematics programs in schools
  3. Continue to give public speeches in arenas that engage the target groups in considering improvement of their programs in mathematics
  4. Assist in producing a newsletter (on-line or print) to promote ongoing conversation about improving programs
  5. Work with the Center in sponsoring "Getting To Know Problem-Based Curricula" conferences for administrators and parents.
     
     
• Leadership Development, Teacher Enhancement, and Teacher Preparation. The new reform curricula call for a deeper knowledge and a broader view of mathematics and of conducting a class based on inquiry. If these curricula are to be successful, we must work on several fronts simultaneously. Curriculum directors, teacher leaders, teachers, administrators and parents must be brought on board from the beginning. To enhance the potential of these curricula, new teachers entering the field must have the mathematical and pedagogical knowledge needed to teach in a school utilizing reform curricula. The CMP Satellite will assist in teacher activities aimed at providing information about CMP to schools, developing leadership capacity needed to implement CMP, offering long-term support for teachers of CMP, and working with teacher educators across the country to integrate the new curricula into the preservice experiences. Specific activities include:
  1. Assist the Center in conducting "Getting to Know CMP" workshops
  2. Conduct 2-3 five-day summer workshops for teams of leaders from school districts across the country to build the capacity to provide the leadership and support to implement the CMP curriculum in their district
  3. Sponsor national two-day workshops for users of CMP
  4. Conduct a 3-day national conference for teacher educators.
     
     
• Research and Documentation. Scrutiny of the mathematics reform effort in this country is very intense. Of concern is the effectiveness of the curricula in the areas of skill development and mathematical reasoning. The new curricula must provide evidence of the nature of student understandings and reasoning ability, as well as important basic skills. Most of these curricula are problem-based, which is a very innovative and promising way to teach and learn mathematics. However, the American public wants quick solutions. Consequently, part of the research and documentation will include information on students during the first year in the curriculum, in addition to the most important focus on long-term gains made by students involved for several years with reform curricula. Some documentation across projects will provide evidence to address the following questions: "Do students retain deeper understanding of mathematical concepts and processes from one level or grade to the next?" and "Can students reason through and solve complex problems?" Of special interest to CMP is the potential for teacher learning of mathematics and pedagogy from the CMP materials. Ultimately, the experience with CMP, or one of the other curricula, must help a teacher improve his or her knowledge of mathematics and of teaching. As schools move through their textbook adoption cycle every five years or so and choose new materials, or as a teacher moves from school to school, there must be a substantial payoff or residual effect for the teachers from the intense work involved in learning to teach one of these NSF-funded curricula. In the advocacy efforts, as well as the enhancement efforts this will be one of our foci. Documentation across projects will provide evidence to be used in advocacy as well as enhancement work. The type of activities that CMP will undertake in the research and documentation area include:
  1. Assist the Center in carrying out evaluation and assessment of the Show-Me project
  2. Continue research on students' and teachers' knowledge at the end of three years of a CMP curricula, utilizing funds generated by CMP royalties and other sources
  3. Seek ways to study the performance of CMP students as they move through high school
  4. Conduct research on students' knowledge in specific areas such as proportional reasoning, algebra, geometry, and number sense.
     
     
• CMP Program Improvement. The NSF-funded curriculum projects used an interactive pilot/revision/pilot/revision cycle in the careful development of materials. In developing such curricula the authors simultaneously attended to many issues, such as "What mathematical ideas will be developed? How will they be developed? How and what assessment activities are needed? Do students retain deep understanding as they move from one grade to the next? Is there cohesiveness across the middle school curriculum and between elementary and middle school, and between middle and high school? What kind of mathematical and pedagogical help do teachers need to use the materials? What kinds of help do schools need to gain the support of the community?" The research described earlier and systematic feedback from the teachers of CMP will provide valuable information for future improvement of the materials.

University of Montana, Middle Grades MathThematics (STEM): Satellite Information and Services

Middle Grades MathThematics (STEM) materials differ considerably from traditional materials in that they are thematic units based on realistic applications. The mathematics is integrated throughout the units. A new assessment package is part of the program, with a multidimensional assessment rubric as a built-in part of the curriculum. Students are actively engaged in doing mathematics at the same time they learn mathematics. Technology plays an important role in the materials. Teachers and administrators need to be made aware that reform curricula such as STEM are available and how they differ from traditional curricula.

STEM will work with the Show-Me Center and the other NSF-funded curriculum,projects to make educators aware of what Middle Grades Mathematics (STEM) has to offer as a standards-based curriculum. Specifically, the STEM Satellite will:

• Assist the Show-Me Center in achieving its primary goal of disseminating information on the NSF-sponsored middle school curriculum projects in addition to information on curriculum reform. STEM will assist in conducting national awareness conferences for state leadership teams.
  
  
• Serve on the Show-Me Advisory Committee to oversee and plan project activities.
  
  
• Prepare awareness materials and lead workshops specific to the STEM project.
  
  
• Conduct institutes to train teacher leaders to offer workshops and inservice training on the MathThematics materials.
  
  
• Provide consulting and assistance to school districts considering or adopting the Mathematics curriculum.
  
  
• In cooperation with the Center and other satellites, STEM staff will contribute to the discussion and development of materials for parental awareness and support, use of technology as an instructional support for middle grade teaching and learning, assessment tools for monitoring student growth, and issues related to transitions at various levels of the K-12 school curriculum.
  
  
• Work with the McDougal Littell to provide ways to assist in the awareness and implementation stages of the STEM curriculum and serve as the liaison between the publisher and the Show-Me Center.
  
  
• Work with McDougal Littell to maintain a World Wide Web site with information about the STEM curriculum and discussions about the content. The site will be interactive with users and will tie to other standards-based sites (K-5, 6-8, and 9-12) and with the Show-Me Center web site.
  
  
• Travel to regional meetings and conferences to make presentations on reform mathematics and/or the MathThematics curriculum. Provide booths at conferences to display materials.
  
  
• Assist the Show-Me Center evaluation team in gathering data and preparing reports.
  

Making teacher educators and future teachers aware of the philosophy and the theoretical ideas that underlie the new curricula is essential if reform is to succeed. STEM Satellite staff will take a leadership role in developing materials to assist teacher educators to inform and prepare future teachers to teach a standards-based middle school mathematics curriculum. Philosophies and bibliographies concerning reform mathematics will be included as well as models and examples from the four middle school projects. Staff will compile sources of project materials and costs as well as web site addresses for projects and the Show-Me Center .

STEM Satellite staff will develop materials to assist teacher educators in teaching content, pedagogy, and the associated assessment. Many of these resources will be available through the World Wide Web so that teacher educators can download them for classes at no cost or so that students can examine them directly on the web. Samplers from the various projects will be available.

Education Development Center, MathScape (STM): Satellite Information and Services

The primary goal of the EDC Satellite Center will be to work in collaboration with the Show-Me Center, the K-12 Center at EDC, NSF-funded systemic initiative and teacher enhancement projects, and Creative Publications to support school districts that choose to implement the MathScape: Seeing and Thinking Mathematically curriculum. This Satellite's specific activities will be in the areas of leadership development; developing implementation and teacher preparation materials; information collection and dissemination about the curriculum itself and its impact on students; and on-line support for district leaders and for teachers using the curriculum. It will also create a guide to where technology is called for in all four of the new middle school curricula.

In addition to collaborating with the Show-Me Center on general issues of selecting and implementing a new middle school curriculum and with the other satellite centers on the tasks that apply to all the curricula, the EDC satellite center will include among its project activities the following:

• General dissemination activities, including conference presentations and preparation of articles and chapters about the curriculum.
  
  
• Provide summer institutes and ongoing support for leadership staff from school districts and for national consultants who will work with school districts. These institutes, and related resources and activities (see below), will focus on supporting those individuals who will be responsible for developing implementation plans and providing professional development for teachers in local districts. This work builds upon project collaborations with the California Middle School Mathematics Renaissance Project, the Boston-area Project Transition, the Indiana Middle Grades Improvement Project, and others. A number of district leaders and consultants will participate in institutes held at EDC. Each individual will attend an institute held for several days during one summer and a shorter follow-up institute the following summer. Contact will be maintained during school years via phone, email, and the project Web site.
  
  
• Develop a series of workshop kits and curriculum implementation support materials, to be provided to districts adopting the curriculum.
  
  
• Collect and disseminate information from early adopting districts, including implementation strategies, alternative configurations of the curriculum, teacher reports, collections of students' work, and evidence of impact upon students' learning. The project staff will also gather and synthesize feedback to assist in the development of additional materials and future revisions of the curriculum.
  
  
• Continue ongoing development of a Web site containing information about the curriculum along with on-line discussion forums.
  
  
• Develop a guide to where technology is used in the four NSF-funded middle school curricula. This guide will be made available to others through the Show-Me Center's Web site.