A two-day summit for high school math teachers

The reality that many of us face is depressingly clear for ourselves, our society and our students: High school math is driven by high-stakes assessments (SAT/ACT, AP, and state exams) over which teachers have no control but for which they are held accountable, parents who understandably rarely see beyond maintaining the privilege of their own children at the expense of the underperforming and underserved, and tradition, the tendency to cover material at pace and continue to do what we have always done despite the massive changes in the mathematics needed for today’s workplace, lifelong learning and effective citizenship.  Thank goodness for the extraordinary subset of high school mathematics teachers who fight against these debilitating forces every day behind closed classroom doors and put their students’ best interests and the realities of their, and our, future first.  In doing so, they foster a broad societal quantitative literacy, modernize an outdated curriculum, and develop an appreciation of the power and beauty of mathematics.  All too sadly, these heroes are too few in number, too often ostracized by their colleagues, and deemed to be trouble-makers by their administrators.  In fact, they are our only hope for significant improvement.  They need our support, and their numbers must grow, as we limit the impact of large-scale, high-stakes assessments, parents and tradition. 

This conference is for these heroes – to celebrate you, support you, and learn and plan together with you.  The agenda below summarizes our plans to help to empower conference participants by:

• building consensus on the case for reform of high school mathematics;

• sharing general and specific shifts in curriculum, instruction and assessment to be considered;

• providing structured and informal time for sharing; and

• providing structured time to start to develop and review plans for moving forward.

For questions and additional information please contact Steve at SLeinwand@air.org or Eric at milou@rowan.edu

For questions and additional information please contact Steve at SLeinwand@air.org or Eric at milou@rowan.edu

Let us know if you'll be attending!