Oregon State University (OSU), in partnership with Teachers Development
Group (TDG), Portland State University (PSU) and ten school districts
and supporting partners George Fox University and five community colleges
( Central Oregon, Chemeketa, Clackamas, Mt. Hood, and Umpqua) is developing
the Oregon Mathematics Leadership Institute to create a sustainable and
generative leadership capacity within all core partner K-20 institutions
to provide support for systemic mathematics reform and to meet the following
goals: 1) increase mathematics achievement of all students in core partner
schools; 2) close achievement gaps for underrepresented groups of students;
3) provide challenging mathematics coursework that support state and national
standards through coherent evidence-based programs. To achieve these goals,
the project is deepening participating mathematics teachers' mathematical
content knowledge and enhancing both mathematics teachers' and administrators'
practice, professional efficacy, commitment to, and retention in the profession.
The
Partnership is developing a cadre of teacher leaders in mathematics who
are part of a larger reflective learning community that includes university
faculty, graduate students, community college faculty, school administrators,
and other mathematics education professionals. Activities include: 1)
a series of three-week residential summer Mathematics Leadership Institutes
for K-5 mathematics specialists and middle school/high school mathematics
teachers emphasizing rigorous and relevant mathematics content, leadership
development, and effective pedagogy, 2) the coordination of online and
on-site academic year activities for building a statewide learning community
of K-20 professionals, and 3) provision of an infrastructure for sustaining
and regenerating this professional community and disseminating its expertise
and resources. The core academic work in the summer institutes consists
of substantive mathematical content courses using instructional models
that emphasize the reflective discourse and collaborative problem solving
embraced by challenging school mathematics curricula. These mathematics
courses are developed by higher education disciplinary faculty working
together with master teachers and district leaders and are based on the
teacher preparation recommendations of the Conference Board of the Mathematical
Sciences. Mathematics coursework is complemented by daily seminars/colloquia
on leadership skill development, recent research in pedagogy, alternative
assessment techniques, evidence-based evaluation, and current applications
of mathematics. Academic year activities (both onsite and online) are
intended to foster reflective discourse, collaborative research and evidence-based
evaluation efforts among all K-20 partners in the learning community.
The involvement of community college mathematics faculty in both the summer
institute and academic year components of the project is building leadership
capacity among these faculty and facilitating preservice teacher recruitment
among more diverse populations of college students. Involvement of preservice
teachers in the summer institutes is facilitating mentoring relationships
with participants and future practicum placements in schools using challenging
curricula. Involvement of school administrators in components of the summer
institutes provides a model for local school team building.
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