- Curriculum and Instructional Materials
- Teacher Professional Development
- Public Outreach and Communications
Yakima Valley Project (YVP)
The Yakima Valley Partnership’s (YVP) Transition Math Project
The Educational Service District 105 (ESD 105) oversees the Yakima Valley Partnership/Transition Math Project (YVP). ESD 105 represents 25 public school districts and 23 private schools in South Central Washington, and serves over 60,000 students. The YVP has focused its efforts on coordinated professional development, both for its Core Leadership Team, which oversees YVP activities, and its Professional Learning Community, which facilitates content-rich events and services for mathematics teachers from middle schools to regional universities. These efforts are varied to ensure teachers can participate in ways that fit both their available time and specific classroom needs and practices.
YVP Partners
The Yakima Valley Partnership (YVP) includes Educational Service District 105, Yakima Valley Community College, Central Washington University, Heritage University, and the Wapato and Yakima School Districts.
TMP Accomplishments
YVP has developed two math bridge courses that articulate from three high schools to colleges and universities, and the Core Partnership Team of YVP reviews these articulations regularly to ensure currency and connection to the College Readiness Standards. These bridge courses were specifically designed to incorporate a culminating project within the Yakima Valley community, grounding the relevance of mathematics in a variety of experiences beyond school.
The YVP sponsored a Math Night at Wapato High School in November 2008 with every higher education institution in the South Central Washington region in attendance.
YVP ran a week-long summer institute for middle and high school teachers, connecting the K12 mathematics standards to the College Readiness Standards. At this institute, members of the YVP team taught exercises and workshops. Over the course of the 2008 -2009 school year, YVP is facilitating six follow-up sessions focused on the CRS content standards.
YVP deployed innovative outreach and interaction with South Central Washington communities by sharing their message of math success and college readiness in a radio interview with the Spanish station KDNA. Bryce Humphreys, dean of the Grandview campus of Yakima Valley Community College, discussed a range of college readiness topics, including the need and background of the TMP project; the importance of learning math for success in college; the high number of students placing into developmental math courses in college; and the importance of high school students taking math all four years of high school.
YVP also partnered with the Yakima Greenway Foundation, which revitalizes the Yakima Greenway through a variety of local ecology projects. In each of these external outreach activities, YVP members have stepped forward to contribute their talents and to organize students as participants.
Contact: Kristen Maxwell at kristenm@esd105.wednet.edu