Stephen F. Austin State University and twelve independent school districts
establish the Texas Middle and Secondary Mathematics Project as an effort
to positively impact student achievement in mathematics through better
preparation of teachers to teach mathematics. The partner school districts
serve over 40,000 students, with variable percentages of minority students
(non-white students range from 9% to 64% of student population in the
different districts) and high percentages of economically disadvantaged
students (28% to 67% of student population). As is true in Texas as a
whole, the teacher workforce in partner districts does not match the diversity
within the student population, and many new teachers of mathematics are
not certified in the discipline and have not majored in mathematics.
The
Texas Middle and Secondary Mathematics Project expects to improve the
capacity of mathematics teachers in grades 4-12 to impact student performance
within the partner districts by:
* increasing the number of qualified
and certified mathematics teachers directly as sixty middle school and
thirty high school mathematics teacher will be produced;
* preparing
teachers to become Texas Master Mathematics teachers who will, in turn,
provide leadership and mentoring for other teachers; and
* increasing
student performance at higher levels in mathematics through classroom
experience and summer institutes for students.
In addition, an underlying
premise of the partnership is that higher education mathematics faculty
are not generally accustomed to thinking about the pedagogical needs of
the middle or high school teacher. Therefore, the Project will improve
the awareness and involvement of mathematics higher education faculty
regarding preparation and professional development of teachers by involving
mathematics faculty from a variety of higher education institutions across
Texas in the effort, and noting evidence within college/university mathematics
departments of curricular and programmatic changes designed to better
meet the needs of grades 4-12 mathematics teachers.
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