Mathematics partnership third year
September 26, 2014
“Math Transition into the Common Core Era” will kick-off its third year of workshops in October at UW-River Falls. The project, funded through the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, provides professional development for middle and high school math teachers in western Wisconsin over three years.
A major focus of the $471,969 grant is to prepare teachers to implement the content and practice standards associated with the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics.
The grant’s funding is part of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Title II Improving Teacher Quality Grant Program. The main partners in the grant are UWRiver Falls and the Rice Lake Area School District. Additional partners include UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse, and 14 other school districts in western Wisconsin. Currently there are more than 50 teachers involved in the project.
“It is exciting to see the impact our project has on everyone involved when we get to visit each teacher’s classroom to observe what has been discussed and modeled in our workshops, and then implemented with their own students,” said Sherrie Serros, professor of mathematics at Eau Claire and co-project director.
“It has been a pleasure to work with teachers genuinely devoted to the teaching profession and the learning of their students,” said Kathryn Ernie, emeritus professor of mathematics at UWRF and co-project director. “An exciting outcome of this project is that teachers have become a professional learning community across multiple districts, supporting, sharing, and learning from each other.”
The project is being evaluated by Barb Bennie, associate professor of statistics at La Crosse. “Through the first two years of grant workshops, we have observed significant gains in knowledge and worthwhile reflection on and rethinking of teaching practices among participants,” Bennie said. “We look forward to seeing this growth continue in the coming year.”
For more information on the program, contact Erick Hofacker at 715-425-3347 or erick.b.hofacker@uwrf.edu.