Advanced Mathematical Decision Making

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Advanced Mathematical Decision Making
An initiative of the Charles A. Dana Center and
the Texas Association of Supervisors of
Mathematics
Transition Mathematics Project Webinar March 23,
2009 Susan H. Hull, Cathy Seeley Charles A. Dana
Center The University of Texas at Austin
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Todays World

• Shrinking, connecting, flattening
• Panic/Participation
• People need strong education, more math and
  science
• Critical thinking/reasoning/problem solving
  skills transferable skills for versatilizing

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Profile of Successful Workers

• Top academic performance
• Creative and innovative
• Able to learn very quickly

Tough Choices or Tough Times,National Center on
Education and the Economy, 2007
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Where are we going?
Bill Gates Do we know where we're going? Are we
clear about our destination ensuring that every
student graduates from high school ready to
succeed in college, career, and life?
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What do all students need?

• Economic security
• More math and science than we thought--within a
  well-balanced curriculum
• Options for future choices and redirections
• Appreciating the need for life-long learning
• Thinking, reasoning, communication and problem
  solving skills for versatilizing
• The opportunity to develop their potential--
  their right as citizens and human beings our
  responsibility as educators

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Two goals

• More workers in math- and science-based fields
  (STEM)
• Every student quantitatively and scientifically
  literate to much more sophisticated levels than
  in the past, regardless of their field of interest

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Ready for College and Ready for Work Same or
Different?
ACT, May 2006
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Whether planning to enter college or workforce
training programs, students need to be educated
to a comparable level of readiness in reading
and mathematicsif they are to succeed in
college-level courses without remediation and
to enter workforce training programs ready to
learn job-specific skills.
ACT, 2006
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So how much math do students need for success in
college, work, and citizenship, and what math is
it?
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Recent Secondary Recommendations

• Achieve New definition of high school math
  (more statistics, flexible organization)
• College Board Standards for College Success
  (more statistics, flexible organization)
• American Statistical AssociationGAISE
  Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in
  Statistics Education (more statistics, flexible
  organization)
• NCTM
• States Washington!

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Emerging themes

• Algebra II is the new Algebra I
• But not your Grandpas Algebra II
• Statistics is (arguably) one of the most useful
  mathematical sciences
• Financial literacy is critical and lacking
• Changing world, changing student needs may call
  for changing our view of math PK-16

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Where do they get what they need?

• High school 4 x 4
• Two-year colleges
• Four-year institutions
• Workforce training programs

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Achieves Advocacy for Rigorous Math for All
Students

• Taking rigorous math through Algebra II
• Reduces remediation in college
• Reduces gaps (by ½) in college completion rates
  between White students and African-American and
  Latino students
• Students better prepared for college careers
• 12th grade math the biggest predictor of college
  success

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The intensity and quality of ones secondary
school curriculum was the strongest influence not
merely on college entrance, but more importantly,
on bachelors degree completion for students who
attended a four-year college at any time. What
you study, how much of it, how deeply, and how
intensely has a great deal to do with degree
completion. Adelman, Toolbox
Revisited, 2005
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The impact of a high quality, rigorous, high
school curriculum on degree completion is more
pronounced, positively, for African American and
Latino students than any other pre-college
academic resources indicator.
Venezia, Betraying the College Dream, 2003
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(No Transcript)
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Criteria for High-Quality Capstone Courses

• Students should solidify and increase
  mathematical knowledge and skills at and above
  the level of Algebra II or its equivalent.
• Arithmetic and algebraic processes
• Continued experience with functions
• Topics from non-traditional areas

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Criteria for High-Quality Capstone Courses

• Students need to go beyond rote memorization to
  analysis and interpretation
• Conceptual thinking
• Justification and reasoning, in context
• Experimental thinking and inquisitiveness
• Abstraction and generalization
• Connections
• Technology applications

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Criteria for High-Quality Capstone Courses

• Students need a variety of applications of math
  across disciplines and in practical situations
• Focus on non-routine, interesting problems
• Emphasis on modeling and problem solving
• Problems with multiple solution pathways
• Encouragement and nurturing of persistence

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Rubric and Rating System

• System for evaluating and comparing 4th year
  capstone courses
• 15 Criteria for High-Quality Capstone Courses
• Rating scale 0 to 3
• Rubric posted at Achieve/Dana Center website
  http//www.utdanacenter.org/k12mathbenchmarks

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4 years of math for all in the U.S. Whats
happening now?

• Districts creating 4th-year courses, depending on
  teacher interest / capacity
• No common standards no consistency across
  districts.
• Higher ed often is not involved in developing
  courses (not true in WA).
• Few resources little professional development.

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Advanced Mathematical Decision-Making
An alternative for post-Algebra II
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More than content

• MATHEMATICAL PROCESSES
• Problem solving
• Reasoning
• Connections
• Communication
• Representation

Principles and Standards for School Mathematics,
NCTM, 2000
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Philosophy/Approach

• Modeling, reasoning, decision-making throughout
• Range of contexts
• Strong financial strand
• Students communicating and presenting
• Projects, extended problems can be strong element
• Appropriate technology to extend mathematical
  understanding and allow complex problem solving

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Resources to download

• Websites
• Achieve/Dana site utdanacenter.org/k12mathbenchma
  rks/resources
• AMDM utdanacenter.org/amdm
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), including list
  of course topics
• AMDM Student Information Sheet
• AMDM Student Expectations
• Overview of Instructional Units

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Considerations

• Must be a coherent part of districts and states
  PK-12 program
• High-quality, comprehensive, coherent
  instructional materials available free for
  download (after the pilot year)
• Need long-term, high-quality professional
  development and training
• Working for Texas State Board approval of AMDM as
  a state-adopted course

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Professional Development

• Current planning
• 3 days in summer (focus on first semester content
  and AMDM course as a whole)
• 2 days during the fall (focus on 2nd semester
  content)
• 3 follow-up days during the year (half-day or
  full day, electronic/online or face-to-face)
• Community of AMDM educators
• Follow-up summer conference (by-demand
  speakers/topics, sharing sessions)

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Summer 2009 (pilots)

• Professional development for pilot sites
• June 16-18 Dallas area (Plano ISD)
• July 27-29 Houston area (Clear Creek ISD)
• July 29-31 San Antonio area (Northside ISD)
• August 5-7 Austin area (Austin ISD)
• Possibility of out-of-state sessions by contract

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Piloting AMDM 2009-2010

• Between 25 100 teachers in 20 70 schools
• A few out of state sites
• Materials available only to pilot sites 2009-2010
• Cost Travel and release time for teachers to
  participate in professional development
• Cost Duplication of student materials
• Out of state participation in TX professional
  development as space allows (IL, IN, MA, WA?)

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Pilot Sites

• Flexible teachers with strong math knowledge
• Commitment to participate in professional
  learning experiences
• Willingness to deal with a bit of ambiguity
• Commitment to provide feedback on materials and
  professional development

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Next steps

• Pilot with materials 2009-2010
• Implementation with materials 2010-2011(professi
  onal development summer 2010)
• Shift to self-sustaining, ongoing professional
  development 2011 or 2012(Support from
  Universities? Others?)
• Continue policy work

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Questions/Discussion

• Your questions/comments

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Contact us

• Cathy Seeley
• cseeley_at_mail.utexas.edu
• Susan H. Hull
• shhull_at_mail.utexas.edu
• Molly Ewing
• amdm_at_austin.utexas.edu
• Charles A. Dana Center, University of Texas at
  Austin
• utdanacenter.org
• Advanced Mathematical Decision Making web site
• utdanacenter.org/amdm