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By Ed Ahnert, President, ExxonMobil Foundation
Writing this article is an opportunity for me to communicate with you about the ExxonMobil Foundation’s K-5 Mathematics Specialist Program. While we have recently expanded the scope of this program to include grades 4 and 5, the centerpiece remains—the role of a mathematics specialist in strengthening elementary mathematics for students and classroom teachers. I know that this role might well be called by a different title in some projects, a "math coach" or a "mathematics instructional leader," for example. Regardless of what it is called, we believe that the work and role of a specialist in these grades is quite important.
In 1987, when the Foundation introduced
the K-3 Mathematics Specialist Program as a part of its interest
in this country’s mathematics education, prescriptive
information as to what a math specialist should do was scarce. In
this instance, lack of programmatic detail was the
Foundation’s intention. Those designing the program details
believed these sorts of decisions were best made at the local
level, among local stakeholders who were best informed about the
particulars of their district: teachers, administrators, parents
and interested community members.
We have learned a great deal about how the specialist role has evolved over the years. In 1994, the Foundation supported an in-depth evaluation study. Between 1988 and 1999, a project facilitator, Pat Hess, visited mathematics classrooms at project sites across the country, listening to math specialists describe their work. Jean Moon, as the Foundation’s advisor, consistently seeks to sharpen our understanding of what conditions are generally present in successful projects so that we are wiser in our stewardship of this program. Moreover, the annual meeting for the mathematics specialist program provides another good venue for healthy exchanges about your projects and the role of math specialists.
The expansion from K-3 to K-5 is just one example of our efforts to incorporate changes in the program as a result of ongoing project feedback. It became clear that including grades 4 and 5 would better serve both students and teachers by creating a more comprehensive, inter-connected target for change. I want to use the occasion of this issue of Intersection to share another program refinement with you.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the work of an effective specialist is too demanding and too important as a strategy for change to be viewed as something carried in addition to everything else asked of classroom teachers. The work of helping teachers change how they teach elementary mathematics, how parents understand and, therefore, can better support their child’s progression in mathematics, and how administrators can help or hinder teachers’ efforts to become stronger teachers of mathematics, is full-time work.
Therefore, as we consider future K-5 proposals as well as continuation requests, we will be giving much more serious consideration to the visibility and integration of the specialist role in a district budget. In other words, is the district willing to support a separate budgetary line, or is the specialist designation given to individuals who are full-time classroom teachers being asked to do specialist’s activities as add-on responsibilities? Those doing the work of a specialist should be allowed to do that work, unencumbered by full-time teaching responsibilities. A specialist role defined in this way challenges the organization of many school districts and the organization of their budgets. It also challenges the tendency to undervalue the serious and transformative work undertaken by many specialists. Yet, we are happy to report, more and more districts have met budgetary and perceptual challenges. They have discovered the value of a gifted mathematics educator, with prior elementary teaching experience, who can focus on and take the lead in developing the mathematical and mathematical teaching expertise of elementary teachers.
Another way we listen to you is through project evaluation reports. Evaluation at a number of sites has provided evidence to support the centrality of teacher-based leadership in elementary mathematics. Well-conceived evaluation is a goal all projects should take seriously.
During the past five years, math specialist program guidelines have specified greater attention to evaluation. Where projects have made serious evaluation efforts, the payback has been impressive. Project directors report being much more informed about project activities that make a difference as well as the activities that need rethinking. Moreover, they report being in a better position to know if the project is making a difference for students. Ultimately, the K-5 Mathematics Specialist program must make a difference to students. This is why the program exists.
We appreciate the work numerous projects have taken to make evaluation a core piece of their work. In the future we will expect evaluation to be an important component of all proposals.
Thank you for your ongoing work to improve elementary mathematics education for children and for teachers. I look forward to those occasions when I can learn more about that work.
Joe forwarded the article below about his upcoming departure from the Foundation to pursue a new opportunity. Many thanks, Joe. We’re going to miss you. We wish you the best! Ed.
The following was announced by ExxonMobil Downstream Public Affairs, May 15, 2001: "Effective July 9, 2001, Joe E. Gonzales, currently Program Officer, Exxon Mobil Corporation, Public Affairs Department, Contributions will join Upstream Public Affairs, Operations, Contributions and Community Relations as Staff Public Affairs Representative."
After 18 months at ExxonMobil Foundation as a program officer, I’ve been offered a new opportunity. I will join our corporation’s Public Affairs organization in Houston, TX.
Working at the Foundation has been a tremendous experience. I have had the incredible opportunity to see the broad perspectives of the Foundation’s efforts, more specifically, efforts targeting children’s academic achievement. It has been exciting and internally rewarding.
The most enjoyable aspect of this job has been the close involvement with the people whose lives are dedicated to helping all children succeed. I first introduced myself to you by telling you that I share my life with an educator, my spouse Raquel. Seeing her respond to the everyday challenges she encounters in her classrooms has labeled her a "hero" in my eyes. Over the last 18 months, I’ve been introduced to many who in my mind earn the same accolade—you, the educators in our K-5 math program. Truly your work has been an inspiration; your dedication, a call to greater involvement; your commitment, a challenge to work for the educational success of children in communities everywhere.
My thanks to all of you for the many lessons learned and for the friendships and kindness shared. My best wishes for continued success.
Many thanks to Amy Morse for contributing this article. Ed.
35 – 16. Such a deceptively simple problem —until we explored our ideas together! An ExxonMobil grant offered the Houston math specialists and the Boston math coaches an opportunity to meet together for a special three-hour session during NCTM’s Annual Meeting in Orlando to explore the coaching and support work in which both sites engage district-wide.
At this session, we read and worked
with "a case"—an excerpt from a Boston math
coach’s journal. In the case, she reflects on a recent
workshop with eight teachers in which the teachers and the coach
wrestle with some new ideas about subtraction. The journal entry
revolves around the strategies and ideas embedded in the
group’s exploration of 35 – 16. The coach writing the
case offers a vivid picture of learning—on the part of the
teachers and on the part of the coach/facilitator. At our Orlando
meeting, this thoughtful case served to focus our discussion on
the complexities of coaching and the specialist role in effecting
change in classrooms. We examined images of subtraction, created
rules and contexts for the operation, and eventually turned our
attention to the coach/specialist role and the ways we come to
understand that role.
The Houston math specialists and the Boston math coaches are both embarking on exciting and important journeys in their respective districts. In Boston, the city has taken the first steps in implementing Investigations in Number Data and Space. In this far-reaching effort to restructure math education for Boston’s children, one critical structure is the support of our nine elementary school coaches who work in a variety of ways with 87 schools. The professional development focus in the early stages of the work is on developing leadership in schools through Math Leadership Teams—core groups of three to six teachers in each school. In Houston, five math specialists work in eight schools supporting teachers school-wide in an effort to deepen classroom instruction and raise the level of mathematics discussion among students and among teachers. Houston math specialists have targeted co-teaching with third-grade teachers as an important structure in their work in schools.
Both sites greatly respect the importance of engaging principals and administrators in the work and connect across roles through "Lenses on Learning," a professional development seminar for administrators. In Boston, the coaches are facilitating Developing Mathematical Ideas (DMI) seminars across the district. In Houston, the math specialists are participating in the DMI seminar.
We sought a collaboration that might help us come to understand our roles more deeply. While there are many differences between the districts and the core elements of the respective math plans, there is a striking similarity in the complexity of the role of coach or specialist. Both sites appreciate the value of thoughtful reflection on the work in schools and on the developing role of mathematics support. In Houston and in Boston, coaches and specialists meet for a full day each week to highlight the issues of math reform work, to examine and deepen our own mathematics, and to consider—on many levels—the question, "What comes next?"
In both sites, we discovered, we are
hungry to know more about a myriad of questions: "What is
the nature of support and in what contexts does that support have
the most value?" "What does it mean to know
‘enough mathematics’ to be a coach, a specialist, a
mentor?" "What are the implications for a support
person’s own professional development?" "How do we
understand teacher change and our role in it?" "How do
we navigate the territories of support, judgment, and
learning?" These and many other questions push us to reflect
on our own assumptions and our level of expertise. They also
prompt us to seek out the ideas and strategies employed by others
who wrestle with the same fundamental issues.
And so we came together on April 6 at the NCTM Annual Meeting to meet each other for the first time, to read and work with a journal entry exploring ideas of subtraction and teacher learning, and to share our successes, questions, and developing understanding. This wonderful gathering served as a first step in a shared journey!
Many thanks to Beth Williams in Bedford County, VA, for forwarding this article. Ed.
Administrators in the counties of Bedford and Hanover, Virginia, have much to look forward to this summer. A recently awarded networking grant from the ExxonMobil Foundation will bring Virginia Bastable from the Developing Mathematics Ideas (DMI) Institute at Mount Holyoke College to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville on Friday, June 1.
Virginia will lead a professional development workshop for principals and other administrators from both counties. She will lead us through the current happenings in mathematics reform; help us learn what professional development is needed to support good mathematics instruction; and help us understand the role of administrators in all of this.
We will be learning from Virginia and from each other’s experiences. We will also use this day to begin to establish a network for administrators from across our state.
Thank you ExxonMobil Foundation for this wonderful opportunity!
This article was written by Miriam Leiva, project director of Excel MATH and MATHiNK in North Carolina. Many thanks! Ed.
Congratulations to one of our Project Excel MATH Teachers, Rosemary Klein! She was notified recently that she has been selected as a Fulbright Scholar to visit Japan for three weeks this fall with fellow teachers from around the United States. Only two teachers from each state are selected for this honor.
Rosemary currently teaches third- and fourth-graders at Davidson Elementary School in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System. She has been in our Project Excel MATH and MATHiNK for the past eight years and has been recognized as an outstanding teacher at the regional, state, and national levels. For example, she has received two travel grants from the North Carolina State Department of Public Instruction to study science and culture in Belize; she was a participant on the NSF North Carolina Project TeachSTAT; and she was one of twenty teachers selected at the national level as Exemplary Newspaper in Education Teachers. (See Intersection, June 1999.)
Through our ExxonMobil project, Rosemary has led professional development presentations for elementary and middle-grade teachers in our school system. Currently she is working with me and other teachers on the teaching and learning of reading and on interpreting, reasoning, and solving word problems.
The government of Japan sponsors the Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program to promote understanding between the U.S. and Japan. The program allows American educators, grades 1 – 12, to spend a fully funded three-week study-visit in Japan. It is designed to expose those selected to Japanese culture and education, thereby inspiring educators with fresh ideas for curriculum development. Participants are asked to commit themselves to sharing what they have learned when they return home. During their stay, participants attend seminars in Tokyo, meet with Japanese government officials and educators, and visit urban schools, museums and historic landmarks. Then they are assigned to small groups that spend the next ten days visiting a city outside of Tokyo. There they visit local schools and teachers’ colleges and interact with Japanese teachers, students and parents. The highlight of the study-visit is a homestay visit with a Japanese family.
We look forward to hearing Rosemary’s impressions about Japanese schools and education programs when she returns.
We join Miriam in sending our best wishes! Ed.
Last year, Betty Erickson was awarded this fellowship (see Intersection, May 2000); Gregg McMann was a recipient in fall 1999. Anyone else? Ed.
Long-time readers of Intersection will recognize this column. It was introduced in 1997 to give readers an opportunity to offer commentary about or bring attention to issues that concern—or should concern—mathematics educators. Ed.
By Susan Ohanian, Charlotte, VT
I have had a hard time with Radical Equations: Math Literacy and Civil Rights by Robert Moses and Charles Cobb (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2001), because I worry that Moses might be fighting the wrong battle. I worry that this heroic grassroots freedom fighter might have become a victim to what respected research psychologist, Gerald Bracey, has referred to as "the algebra-scamming" of America. (See "The Malevolent Tyranny of Algebra" in Education Week, Oct. 25, 2000.)
There’s also the problem of writing an article expressing negative thoughts about algebra requirements for a newsletter read by mathematics enthusiasts. But every teacher and every parent must face the larger issue: Does "algebra for all" mean access and opportunity for all? Or does it mean "do it or else?" Increasingly, across the nation the "or else" means students who fail high-stakes exit exams heavy in algebra and trigonometry will not receive a high school diploma. So far, the devastating consequences of such a policy have largely been ignored.
Recently, New York City newspaper headlines screamed that only 56 percent of the city’s 2001 graduating class have passed the state math test so far; the remaining 44 percent have either flunked the test or haven’t taken it. The implication was that teachers are again falling down on the job. After looking at the state math test administered this past January, I am amazed and impressed that more than half of the graduating class has passed it. I definitely couldn’t come close to passing the algebra and trig-heavy exam now and doubt that I could have passed it in high school either. New York State Regents exams are available online. You can test yourself—if you dare.
Robert Moses, founder of the Algebra Project, points out that most people don’t understand the connection between algebra and anything else. He worries that this disconnect is more prevalent among African-Americans than the population at large. And by not studying algebra, African-Americans shut themselves out of a college education. In Radical Equations: Math Literacy and Civil Rights, Moses insists that algebra is the new civil right, a right just as urgent as the right to vote was for Southern blacks in the early 1960s. The first part of the book is autobiographical. Moses talks of his work organizing black voters in the South. The second part of the book discusses the Algebra Project.
Moses’s idea for teaching algebra draws on what students already know. His most famous example is taking students in Cambridge, Massachusetts on a subway ride, a trip with a start and a finish and stops in between. Students took that trip and learned to write the trip mathematically. Moses taught students to mathematize answers to the question: In what direction and how many stops is Park Street Station from Central Square, with L(PK) meaning "the location of Park Street."
Throughout his work in Massachusetts and in Mississippi, Moses emphasizes the point that the regimentation of ordinary discourse provides a way to effect a stable relationship between mathematics and experiential learning. This process levels the playing field, bringing issues of language as symbolic representation to beginning algebra students.
Robert Moses worries that without algebra African-American youth will be shut out of economic success. He argues that we are "growing the equivalent of the sharecroppers in our inner cities—the young people who come through the schools without a functional literacy that can get them access to any real economic arrangement that can support a family."
Obviously there’s no way to appreciate this book without accepting this premise (and threat) about the importance of algebra as a gatekeeper. But even in accepting the premise, we must be concerned about kids studying algebra because they think it is the key to economic paradise. And we must be even more concerned that schools refuse to supply safety nets—or diplomas—for students who fail to learn algebra.
Gerald Bracey warns that officials in states that are pushing algebra into earlier grades should start looking for a correlation between forcing kids to take algebra and increased dropout rates. Dennis Redovich, who runs the Center for the Study of Jobs and Education in Wisconsin, says that only 60 percent of the students who take algebra in Milwaukee pass it. He says the ninth grade in Milwaukee schools is getting larger each year because students who fail algebra don’t have enough credits to move on to tenth grade.
The slogan "all children can learn" is not only simplistic, it is also dangerous. Certainly all children cannot or should not be required to learn algebra. But don’t tell that to people in California. With a nod to the state’s high-stakes exit exam, this past December the Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission recommended for approval only algebra texts for the state’s eighth-graders.
I worry that because we have let the Standardistos steamroll an algebra requirement onto high school exit exams— thereby insisting that if students can’t qualify for university admission, they won’t get a high school diploma—hundreds of thousands of youth will be denied that diploma. Algebra thus becomes a gatekeeper, not just to the university and promised affluence, but to a productive life after high school. We must not forget that we need plenty of people to undertake the jobs that don’t require university training. People cannot become licensed beauticians, plumbers, brick masons, dental hygienists, and hundreds of other occupations without a high school diploma.
Yes, let’s encourage as many students as possible to take higher math, but let’s not damn those who don’t into minimum wage jobs.
If you ‘re interested in talking about the issues Susan raises in this commentary, why not begin a discussion on the EXXONMOBILTNT listserv? It’s the perfect forum.
Not a subscriber yet? Joining is easy. Use the "To" line of an e-mail message to address a message to majordomo@math.byu.edu. Don’t worry about the subject line at all; leave it blank. Put in the body of the letter the words "subscribe EXXONMOBILTNT" (without the quotation marks). You’ll receive an e-mail message once you’ve been subscribed.
Letters of invitation to the Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the ExxonMobil Foundation/NCTM K-5 Mathematics Specialist Program have been mailed out to those who will be representing various projects at that event. The conference will take place from September 20-23 at the corporation’s headquarters in Irving, TX.
If you have been invited but have not yet replied, please do so soon. Many thanks.
Thanks to Lance Menster, Coordinator for School Programs, Houston Annenberg Challenge, for the review that follows. Ed.
Reviewed by Lance Menster
"What is a math specialist?" " What should I be doing?" "I am not a spy!" "My goal is to support teachers in the classroom." These are some thoughts from math specialists working in this role for the first time as part of the ExxonMobil/Houston Annenberg K-5 Mathematics Initiative.
In fall 2000, Susan O’Boyle, Southwest District Instructional Supervisor for Houston ISD, and myself found ourselves in a position to shed some light on these questions with our group of newly identified math specialists. Prior to October, very few resources were in place to address the specific leadership needs of our math specialists, let alone scenarios detailing the challenges and obstacles a math teacher leader might face. With perfect timing, Teacher Leadership in Mathematics and Science by Barbara Miller, Jean Moon, and Susan Elko (Heinemann, 2000) arrived just as our Mathematics Initiative was kicking off.
The book details specific incidents which teacher leaders face in their roles. The cadre of Houston Math Specialists read many of the cases prior to a formal conversation around the ideas and content presented in the book. The question expressed by the group in unison was: "When are we going to get to talk about these cases?" With math specialists understanding through the book that they were no longer alone in their roles, feelings were validated as situations similar to those each one faced were exemplified in a familiar-sounding case detailed in the book. Additionally, the cases shared incidents that provided some insight into how to be proactive rather than reactive around issues math specialists face. Although the cases are separated into science and mathematics content areas, the themes in both sets of cases are universal to any teacher leadership position.
In particular, the case "Who’s the Expert Around Here?" was one of the first integrated into our professional development time. This case raised questions among our group around the themes of working with colleagues, seeking to understand perspectives of resistant teachers, and the kinds of expertise needed by math specialists.
Each case facilitated with the Houston math specialists has centered around expertise needed by a math specialist, how to build support among teachers for reform, and how to negotiate new relationships with teachers in this new role. From a facilitator’s standpoint, each case is followed by a friendly facilitator’s guide to carry out meaningful discussions centered on the needs of the group of teacher leaders. Each case is followed by a list of reflective questions and leadership themes. Additionally, a menu of activities is provided to facilitate a collaborative conversation.
Although there are more cases than time available, we look forward to continuing to explore and incorporate the cases into our professional development. Additionally, one of our project goals is to articulate, communicate, and reflect on our own incidents of practice related to the role of math specialist and then to share our cases with each other. The cases in this book provide excellent models to support this writing process as part of our professional development goals.
In working with teacher leaders, Teacher Leadership in Mathematics and Science has been a tremendous resource in strengthening the role of the ExxonMobil/Houston Annenberg K-5 Math Specialists.
To order this title, visit www.heinemann.com. Ed.
Have you had an opportunity yet to explore all the grants available for mathematics educators through NCTM’s Mathematics Education Trust (MET)? Wouldn’t this summer be the perfect time to check these out and put together a proposal?
Established to fund special projects that enhance the teaching and learning of mathematics, NCTM’s MET awards range from $1000 to the $10,000 Toyota TIME grant, with most at $2000 each.
Proposals for all awards except Toyota’s TIME grant are due by December 5, 2001; Toyota’s is due by January 10, 2002. You can read everything you need to know—including the requirements for applications (which are straightforward, clear, and uncomplicated)—at NCTM's web site.
If you prefer, you may receive the information via fax by using NCTM’s "Fax on Demand." Call 1-800-220-8483. Press 2. Request document #501, and follow the prompts. You may also request the information by phone at (703) 620-9840, X 2113 or by writing to NCTM’s MET, Infocentral Department, 1906 Association Drive, Reston, VA 20191-9988.
See how easy it is to receive info about this? Please apply! Ed.
The unknown thirteenth-century poet had it right, even if he couldn’t spell. In Texas, summer’s been here for several weeks already.
Hopefully this summer will bring you a few moments of leisure and some opportunities for reflection, too. Please consider sharing your reflections about the past school year in an upcoming issue of this newsletter. Deadlines are Monday, June 11, for the June issue; Monday, July 23, for the July/August issue; and Monday, August 27, for the September issue.
Thanks to this month’s contributors. Please send your articles to Jean Ehnebuske, 105 Hideaway Cove, Georgetown, TX 78628; e-mail, jean@intersectionlive.org; phone, (512) 869-1580; fax, (512) 869-8477. Many thanks!
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