Our department is in the early stages of a multi-year effort to nurture a culture that values active learning. We focus on the change process, including specific, pragmatic ideas from the literature on grassroots leadership and systemic change. We briefly review Wenger's work on cultivating communities of practice and use Wenger's evaluation of…

"Let's Count" is a preschool mathematics intervention implemented by The Smith Family from 2012 to the present in "disdvantaged" communities across Australia. It is based on current mathematics and early childhood education research and aligns with the Early Years Learning Framework. Let's Count has been shown to be effective…

National studies reveal that 50 percent to 70 percent of community college students are required to take developmental, or remedial, math courses upon enrollment, and only 20 percent of developmental math students ever successfully complete a college-level math course. Taking up the challenge is the "New Mathways Project" (NMP),…

In the United States, Response to Intervention (RtI) is used to promote the use of evidence-based instruction in educational institutions, with the goal of supporting general and specialized educators and enabling these professionals to work together in a comprehensive, integrated manner. In doing so, RtI provides a protocol for identifying…

In 2010, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the Kindergarten Readiness Act into law, which changed the kindergarten entry age so that children must turn 5 by September instead of December to enroll. The new grade level was put into place to promote school readiness for California's youngest learners. It also established a new grade…

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation in the United States is not equivalent to a national curriculum; however, it does set forth some conditions essential for enhancing student achievement at scale (e.g., curriculum standards, assessment standards, and expectations of compliance). The missing component within these conditions is support for…

The papers presented in this paper accompany a core report about the Appalachian Math Science Partnership (AMSP) entitled "The Appalachian Math Science Partnership: A Multi-State Umbrella Partnership Promoting Local Mathematics and Science Reform Report." Each of them focuses on an especially effective strategy or component of the AMSP…

The Appalachian Math Science Partnership (AMSP) is a project within NSF's (National Science Foundation's) Math Science Partnerships (MSP) initiative. Funded at $23 million over five years, the AMSP involved 51 school districts and nine higher education institutions in Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. The AMSP faced two significant challenges in…

The District Facilitator Project (DFP) assists local schools to improve their programs by linking them with exemplary projects in other school districts around the country. DFP provides coordination, technical assistance, and other services to aid implementation in the new location. The following objectives were stated for the program: (1) a…

A project was conducted to develop a program of effective remediation in mathematics for the adolescent learner using the laboratory approach. The project addressed: (1) material development and equipment/supply selection for use within the laboratory which would address individual/small group needs; (2) identification of specific needs of…

The Urban Mathematics Collaborative (UMC) Project was a 5-year effort to reform mathematics instruction in urban schools by empowering mathematics teachers. Targeting over 3,000 high school mathematics teachers in collaboratives in 11 urban areas, including San Francisco (California), Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), and New Orleans (Louisiana), the…

This report proposes a preliminary basic math program that may help mitigate the student attrition problem at Contra Costa College (California). For the purposes of this proposal, Math 101, 115, and 118 are identified as courses to be included in the program. The essential features of this proposed curriculum are summarized as follows: (1) it…

It is argued that course content should be specified as explicitly as possible in terms of what is expected of the student in the future. Four levels of details are addressed: (1) customary course objectives; (2) behavioral questions; (3) behavioral objectives; and (4) exams. The report described the Statistical Test Item Collection System…

"PBS Mathline Middle School Math Project" is a national program offered by the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) to local affiliates to increase middle school teachers' understanding of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards, encourage discourse among teachers, and develop classroom applications based on video models of…

The documents in this collection relate to the Homeless Education Project conducted in the elementary and secondary schools of the West Contra Costa Unified School District (California). The first document is a chart describing the project and its main goals: (1) an accelerated curriculum in reading and mathematics; (2) effective procedures for…