Mathematics and science secondary education in the NYC school system is
confronted with a number of serious problems: (1) shortages of mathematics
and science teachers, especially experienced teachers in schools characterized
by poverty and by students historically underrepresented in mathematics
and science; (2) extremely low retention rates among teachers; (3) high
failure rates among students who take the 8th grade mathematics exam and
required-for-graduation state mathematics and science Regents examinations;
(4) lack of preparedness of high school graduates for college level work;
and (5) schisms and poor communication between schools, between (some)
university campuses, and between science, mathematics and education faculties.
To address these problems, the MSPinNYC will use the strategy of a Micro/Macro
approach for reform at both the local level and system wide. At the local
level, twelve hub schools will be created. Each hub school will be a
clinical site for teacher training, and an exemplar for excellence in
mathematics and science education. The hub schools will be developed
by teams of college faculty and secondary teachers working closely together
in a novel model for professional development to create cultures within
the schools invested in teaching as a collaborative enterprise and research-driven
classroom practices. Collaborative teaching teams of faculty and teachers
will work during the summer with high school students who have failed
a Regents exam. These teams will continue through the school year with
collaborative lesson development and collaborative research on classroom
learning. Schools of Education will be changed to include more collaborative
teaching practice and a greater reliance on the scholarship of teaching.
New pipelines for recruiting talented mathematics and science undergraduates
into a career of teaching will be created. To create reform system wide,
the MSPinNYC Macro approach will include an Advisory Board of statewide
policy makers, a Council of eminent scholars in mathematics and science
education, and a 'jobs-alike' structure to bring together the leadership
at the public school and college levels. Important questions of policy
will be raised and addressed, informed by both the scholarly and the local
perspectives. The MSPinNYC Micro/Macro strategy provides a new model
to approach systemic reform in large and complex systems.
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