TMP Receives Additional Gates and State Funding
The Transition Mathematics Project (TMP) recently received funding through 2009 to continue its focus on increasing the number of high school graduates ready to succeed at college-level math. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is investing $3.6 million over three years. In addition, TMP received a one year $275,000 appropriation by the Washington state Legislature in the 2006 supplemental budget.
TMP, a collaborative statewide venture involving educators from K-12 schools, community and technical colleges, baccalaureate institutions, community-based stakeholders and business leadership, will continue its unique cross-sector approach to reducing math remediation and improving math success for all students. Project leadership will be provided by the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC), the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) and the Council of Presidents (COP), which represents the presidents of the state’s public universities. To learn more about TMP’s goals and next phase of work, visit our website at www.transitionmathproject.org.
Standards in Final Form
Inaugurating TMP’s next phase of work is a solid set of College Readiness Mathematics Standards. The standards represent the collective effort of a cross-sector, regionally diverse group of math educators, education leaders and business community members. Now in final form, the standards can be viewed as a print document or through the TMP website as a downloadable .PDF. The document includes an in-depth prologue describing the standards development process, detailed descriptions of the eight process and content standards, four student attributes, lists of contributors and a newly revised statement on the appropriate use of technology in mathematics. To see the standards, or to request copies, visit the TMP site www.transitionmathproject.org/standards.asp. Over 8000 copies have been distributed to date.
Lucky 13 for TMP
Thirteen may be regarded as an unlucky number to many people but to TMP it represents capacity-building and new opportunities all across Washington state. Based on the recommendations of a cross-sector review team, thirteen newly funded cross-sector partnerships have been awarded one-, two- or three-year grants. The grantees will address one or more of TMP’s goals and will implement the new College Readiness Standards in useful, replicable ways (see Project TIME spotlight below). The thirteen partnerships met this August to solidify and refine their project plans, connect with other local efforts and hear from state and national experts. Mary Kennedy, Uri Treisman and a host of Washington’s own math leaders descended on the Sleeping Lady Retreat Center for four days of interactive sessions and planning time.
To learn more about this annual event that brings together math educators from all sectors, refer to our online description. And to read about the TMP supported project’s, visit the TMP site.
Partnership Spotlight:
Green River’s Project TIME Grant Off to a Great Start!
On August 30, 2006, on the Green River Community College campus, Project TIME hosted its Kickoff Dinner and Symposium for Green River’s $257,000 Transition Math Project grant. Over 70 attendees representing area school districts and colleges, including middle school and high school math teachers, college math faculty, K-16 administrators and school boards made the effort to meet, dialogue and demonstrate their commitment to excellence in math education for all students.
Project TIME (Transitions in Math Education) is a collaborative effort including Green River Community College, K-12 school districts (Kent, Auburn, Enumclaw, Sumner, and Tahoma school districts) and 4-year university partners, Seattle University and the University of Washington, designed to examine issues around transitions in mathematics, from one sector to another. The ultimate goal is the successful transition of all students from one sector to another (middle school to high school, high school to college, etc.). A significant aspect of the goal is helping students learn what mathematics they are expected to know and do in order to be ready for college and employment level mathematics. Communicating the recently published Washington State College Readiness Mathematics Standards was the focus of the August 30th symposium. In addition to implementing the College Readiness Standards, other goals of the project include advising students and parents of these math expectations and of the math courses necessary to achieve these expectations, potentially providing alternative math options for students their senior year, and striving to ensure students are accurately placed when they do go to college. To read more, click here.
Math Placement….Tennis Anyone?
In tennis, ball placement often refers to hitting the ball to a precisely chosen part of the court, ideally a spot the opponent cannot reach. Some would say this is an apt description of how math placement has played out over the years in many states – a bit hit or miss. Having a more consistent and transparent system of placement testing in Washington higher education would help more students prepare more effectively for their transition to college and help ensure success when they get there. Designing placement tools and policies that are aligned with curriculum as well as exit and entrance requirements is a key objective of the math improvement work underway in TMP’s statewide placement initiative.
TMP is leading a cross-sector effort to examine existing placement practices in Washington – especially with the new College Readiness Standards in hand – and to propose and design innovative placement test improvements that involve K-12, the Community and Technical Colleges and the baccalaureates. A TMP math placement advisory team has formed and drafted plans for the upcoming year. To learn more, click here and to become involved, contact Bill Moore (bmoore@sbctc.ctc.edu).
Reaching Parents and Students Math is more important than ever! This, or a version of it, is a commonly repeated phrase used by many opinion leaders to promote student enrollment and advancement in math beyond the minimum required. But how do such messages reach parents and students? Do they resonate with them? Do they spur them on to action? TMP’s Phase II effort is directing resources and expertise to ensure math communication and outreach efforts are clear and meaningful for parents and students.
To do this, TMP will speak directly to a mix of parents and students about what would be helpful, what needs clarifying and what barriers need to be removed to promote math success. Many of TMP’s local partnerships are already engaged in math outreach efforts using customized approaches that combine the Got Math? brochure and Why Math? fliers.
To help build on these efforts, TMP is initiating a series of parent/student focus groups starting this fall and designed to improve the clarity and relevance of math messages for a mix of audiences. Various product improvements and new products are anticipated outcomes. To learn more, contact TMP Coordinator, John House. To visit TMP’s existing communication and outreach tools, visit our online Marketing Toolkit.
Newsletter Archive: