Math Ed. Strategies for Inner City Kids
GSE
will be among three participants in a five-year, $10 million
NSF grant to
create a center for improving math education in city schools.
The Center will focus on discovering how urban children learn
mathematics, equipping urban teachers with effective instructional
strategies and developing a research-based model for successful
mathematics education in America's cities. The project, MetroMath:
The Center for Mathematics in America's Cities unites Penn,
lead-recipient Rutgers, and the City University of New York
(CUNY) Graduate Center, with other institutions, and the school
districts of New York City, Philadelphia, Newark, and Plainfield
(NJ).
According to Dr. Janine Remillard, a GSE assistant
professor and co-principal investigator of the project, participants
will develop research-based initiatives to increase the knowledge
of mathematics teachers and school leaders through the programs
at each university in the partnership.
"The Center's mission will be to develop a
core of leaders in math education working with urban schools
and urban communities," says Dr. Remillard. "The interdisciplinary
design of the Center assumes that improving math education
requires knowledge from a variety of perspectives in mathematics
and in education, urban studies, and cognitive science."
Participating
faculty bring expertise in a wide range of specialties, including
mathematics, mathematics
education, cognitive science, urban studies, and urban
education. Educators from a number of public school districts
and institutions in PA, NJ and NY will be involved.
Dr. Joseph
G. Rosenstein, a Rutgers mathematics professor, is the principal
investigator. Other team members
are Dr. Jean Anyon, professor of urban education at the CUNY
Graduate Center; Dr. Gerald A. Goldin, professor of mathematics,
physics, and mathematics education at Rutgers; and Dr. Roberta
Y. Schorr, associate professor of mathematics education at
Rutgers-Newark.
Over five years,
the Center will offer two-year seminars and mentored internships
for 50 graduate students
and 100 working teachers, each of whom will earn a special
certificate. These seminars will be aimed at developing teachers' knowledge
of mathematics, how it is learned and how it may best be taught,
as well as enhancing their leadership skills and understanding
of urban communities, and to prepare them for further career
possibilities. To prepare teachers for the graduate-level seminars,
the Center will offer professional development programs for
over 300 teachers.
The Center will involve urban communities
in supporting mathematics education by soliciting parents to help
in mathematics instruction and to advocate for strong schools
in their communities. Churches and civic associations will
be tapped to promote successful mathematics learning, an approach
that has worked in literacy campaigns in the past.