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Math Science Partnership Project

Math Science Partnership Project: PD3

A major development for PCMI in 2003 was the receipt of a three-year Math Science Partnership Initiative grant from the National Science Foundation. Totaling some $5.5 million over three years, the funding provides for an expanded Secondary School Teachers Program in the summer and for the design and implementation of a comprehensive in-year program of teacher professional development in three school districts in the United States: Cincinnati (Ohio), McAllen (Texas), and Seattle (Washington). The in-year program is known as PD3, which stands for "PCMI and Districts Partner to Design Professional Development." In each district, the PCMI three-fold model of 1) continuing to do mathematics, 2) analyzing practice, and 3) becoming a resources to one's peers, will be tailored and implemented as the official professional development program for math teachers in selected middle and high schools in each district. Teachers and administrators from each of the three school districts will participate fully in designing professional development offerings that, based PCMI's three-fold model, will be unique to the needs of their own teachers and curriculum. PCMI's was the only Institute Prototype award given in the Math Science Partnership program's 2003 cohort of grants.

2003/4 Annual Report

During the first year of PCMI's National Science Foundation Mathematics Science Partnership grant, teachers for the project were recruited from three sites: Cincinnati, OH; McAllen, TX; and Seattle, WA.

The Seattle site project has three high schools with approximately 25 mathematics teachers participating. The site is directed by James King, assisted by Lani Horn, from the University of Washington; Rosalind Wise, Seattle Public School curriculum coordinator; and Art Mabbott, who is the project liaison to the Seattle Public Schools.

The McAllen site includes all of the district's middle and high school teachers, approximately 60 in all, and is directed by Garland Linkenhoger, assisted by Cindy Mitchell, curriculum coordinators for the McAllen school district, and Miguel Paredes from Texas Pan American University. Also involved with the McAllen site is Max Warshauer, Texas State University, San Marcos.

The Cincinnati site involves approximately 25 teachers from three high schools and is directed by Kimya Moyo, curriculum coordinator from the Cincinnati Public Schools; David Minda and Charles Groetsch from the University of Cincinnati.

During the Spring of 2004, student achievement and teacher data were collected from the sites. The results will be processed by the project's evaluation team from Michigan State University and shared with the schools and teachers as a first step in using data to make decisions about what and how they teach and to help focus project efforts to build the capacity of teachers to use data to improve instruction. The leadership team in conjunction with the evaluators also established a set of indicators for identifying potential teacher leaders.

The goals for PD3 are as follows: 1) The PCMI model becomes a template for professional development in the district; 2) Teachers co-design and implement professional development, and interact with University faculty and School and District leadership to promote a school culture that values mathematics and teaching; and 3) Teachers observe and support each other's teaching.

Teachers from the three sites were full participants in the PCMI High School Teachers Program of the Summer Session 2004 and also worked as a group to make plans and a timeline for implementing PD3 goals. Teacher evaluations were extremely positive about their summer experience and they have been using many of the activities from the summer program in their work with colleagues in their district and schools. These teachers will form an initial pool of leaders identified in the proposal as key elements in helping others in their schools work to improve their practice.

Two meetings of the PD3 leadership team were held in the 2003-2004 year; one in McAllen TX and the second in Cincinnati. Part of each meeting was spent getting to know something about the schools at that site. Each site has incorporated the work of the teachers who attended PCMI and developed a set of activities addressing the particular needs of the district and aligned with the project goals. For example, Seattle has established a video club through which teachers analyze teaching, McAllen has a cohort of teachers taking a university program to strengthen their content knowledge, and are engaged in rethinking their curriculum focus. Cincinnati is holding biweekly meetings with project teachers designed around areas of need and beginning with a lesson study initiative.

Issues that the project faces as it moves forward are the following: involving in meaningful ways all of the teachers in each of the project schools; coping with the instability of schools, teachers, administrations, and school foci as well as student mobility; working within competing demands on teachers' time and other school improvement initiatives, the amount of time needed for the data collection instruments and the need to make the results available and meaningful for the teachers; finding ways to support teachers as leaders; and identifying measures to gauge their leadership and impact on colleagues and the mathematics programs in the schools.

 

PD3 project space at MSPnet  http://iaspc.mspnet.org/index.cfm/
PD3 project space at Math Forum http://www.mathforum.org/pcmi/msp/