CU team wins Math Teacher Education-Partnership
By Barbara Darling
A team that includes University of Colorado Boulder professors and local school-district administrators and math teachers has been selected to be a partner in the Mathematics Teacher Education-Partnership from among 40 applications nationwide.
The team, known as the Colorado Partnership for Secondary Mathematics Education, will identify needs within secondary math education and strive to increase the number of well-qualified secondary math teachers entering the field.
The MTE-Partnership is a collaboration rooted in the Science and Mathematics Teacher Imperative of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. The national MTE-Partnership aims to have a substantive impact on the preparation of secondary mathematics teachers.
“At the heart of these efforts,” said Assistant Professor David Webb of the CU-Boulder School of Education, “is the creation of a network of educators committed to having a voice in productive ways to recruit and prepare secondary math teachers.”
The larger nationwide partnership is driven, in part, by the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (or STEM) initiatives from multiple sources, including President Obama’s “Educate to Innovate” campaign.
As a leader in STEM education and innovative STEM programs, CU-Boulder already has spearheaded several ground-breaking programs being emulated nationwide. These include the Colorado Learning Assistant Program, which provides teaching experiences in higher education in math and science; and Streamline to Mastery, which offers professional development for new K-12 science teachers.
CU-Boulder is also one the first awardees of a grant from the National Math and Science Initiative to model its teacher education programs after UTeach, a highly successful math and science teacher preparation program at the University of Texas at Austin.
The CU-Boulder team includes Webb, Associate Dean for Teacher Education Jennie Whitcomb, and Master Teacher Kimberly Bunning from the School of Education; and Professor Eric Stade and Associate Professor Robert Tubbs from the Mathematics Department in the College of Arts and Sciences.
The other team partners who round out the Colorado Partnership for Secondary Mathematics Education are Connie Syferd, St. Vrain Valley School District’s assistant superintendent of student achievement; and Jackie Weber, Boulder Valley School District’s director of mathematics.
The work that the Colorado Partnership for Secondary Mathematics Education undertakes will be shared with other MTE-Partnership members, providing a broad perspective for collaboration and for potential reforms to improve secondary math education teacher preparation, training and retention, as well as student learning.
“This national effort provides a cross pollination of best approaches among various groups to improve secondary mathematics teaching and learning,” said Webb. “We look forward to this opportunity to strengthen our joint efforts between CU-Boulder and our school district partners, as well as learn from and inform other university-district partnerships across the United States.”
Barbara Darling is director of communications in the CU-Boulder School of Education.
April 2012
A team that includes University of Colorado Boulder professors and local school-district administrators and math teachers has been selected to be a partner in the Mathematics Teacher Education-Partnership from among 40 applications nationwide.
The team, known as the Colorado Partnership for Secondary Mathematics Education, will identify needs within secondary math education and strive to increase the number of well-qualified secondary math teachers entering the field.
The MTE-Partnership is a collaboration rooted in the Science and Mathematics Teacher Imperative of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. The national MTE-Partnership aims to have a substantive impact on the preparation of secondary mathematics teachers.
“At the heart of these efforts,” said Assistant Professor David Webb of the CU-Boulder School of Education, “is the creation of a network of educators committed to having a voice in productive ways to recruit and prepare secondary math teachers.”
The larger nationwide partnership is driven, in part, by the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (or STEM) initiatives from multiple sources, including President Obama’s “Educate to Innovate” campaign.
As a leader in STEM education and innovative STEM programs, CU-Boulder already has spearheaded several ground-breaking programs being emulated nationwide. These include the Colorado Learning Assistant Program, which provides teaching experiences in higher education in math and science; and Streamline to Mastery, which offers professional development for new K-12 science teachers.
CU-Boulder is also one the first awardees of a grant from the National Math and Science Initiative to model its teacher education programs after UTeach, a highly successful math and science teacher preparation program at the University of Texas at Austin.
The CU-Boulder team includes Webb, Associate Dean for Teacher Education Jennie Whitcomb, and Master Teacher Kimberly Bunning from the School of Education; and Professor Eric Stade and Associate Professor Robert Tubbs from the Mathematics Department in the College of Arts and Sciences.
The other team partners who round out the Colorado Partnership for Secondary Mathematics Education are Connie Syferd, St. Vrain Valley School District’s assistant superintendent of student achievement; and Jackie Weber, Boulder Valley School District’s director of mathematics.
The work that the Colorado Partnership for Secondary Mathematics Education undertakes will be shared with other MTE-Partnership members, providing a broad perspective for collaboration and for potential reforms to improve secondary math education teacher preparation, training and retention, as well as student learning.
“This national effort provides a cross pollination of best approaches among various groups to improve secondary mathematics teaching and learning,” said Webb. “We look forward to this opportunity to strengthen our joint efforts between CU-Boulder and our school district partners, as well as learn from and inform other university-district partnerships across the United States.”
Barbara Darling is director of communications in the CU-Boulder School of Education.
April 2012