 |
Partnership Representatives:
Kathleen Peasley, Grand Ledge Public Schools
Sandy Wilcox, Michigan State University
Overview of Partnership Work:
Partnership work between Michigan State University (MSU) and Grand Ledge (MI) public schools has been underway since early 2005. A local advisory committee was established
to guide the work of the partnership. A Mathematics Learning Community of more than twenty teachers, representing each grade level K-8 and the high school mathematics
department, has been meeting regularly. The early phase of the work has focused on grades K-8 and transitions between curricula programs.
A major interest for the district is to learn more about the transitions between the four different mathematics curriculum programs used at each of grade
bands K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. To begin this work, the Learning Community analyzed the three curriculum programs of the elementary and middle grades.
The analyses focused on the development of meaning, representation, operations and uses of fractions and rational numbers. The analysis has provided
an interesting picture of the offerings in each grade and makes rather apparent some disjuncture at the transitions. One glaring difference in the
transition is the use of different words and language to talk about the same ideas in the different curricula. Three full day professional development
meetings have been devoted to a discussion of high-quality rational number thinking tasks for the elementary and middle grades and development of a
framework for the curriculum analysis. This will be a continuing theme of our work together over the fall semester of 2006, although we will shift
our focus to issues of teaching this content domain and whether and in what ways the curriculum-in-use might be adapted in light of our analyses.
The district participated in the CSMC Cross-Site Study, and in spring nearly 90% of the teachers of mathematics completed the survey on beliefs,
preparedness, and practices. In addition, 30 elementary and middle school teachers volunteered to complete a 10-lesson Materials Use Log. The
analyses of these data, in part, informed the agenda of work for the 2005-06 year.
Additional work at MSU focuses on developing school leadership capacity through the development of a new master's degree program that targets teachers
in the MSU internship program and on using assessment to further student learning. In June 2005, 12 Grand Ledge teachers were among the participants
in the 4-day Balanced Assessment (BA) Workshop, sponsored by the Mathematics Assessment Resource Service (MARS) and MSU. These teachers have been
instrumental in supporting teachers in their building in using a Balanced Assessment Task with their students, collecting studentsŐ work, and
discussing this work at department meetings. Presentations have been made by the teachers to the Grand Ledge Board of Education and recently
three of the teachers made a presentation at the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics meeting in St. Louis on their work with CSMC.
|
