9353449 Driscoll This is 3-year project by the Education Development Center (EDC) that continues a collaboration with 6 of the Urban Mathematics Coalitions (UMCs) in major cities around the country. It consist of two 2-year cycles (staggered by one year). Each cycle will have 16 participants at each of 6 sites--impacting a total of 192 teachers over its 3-year life. To encourage cross-grade dialog, participants are selected in teams consisting of both middle and high school teachers. The aim of the project is to prepare the participants to become change agents and assume leadership positions in a systemic reform of mathematics teaching, curriculum, and assessment in their respective districts. The project consists of 3 phases: In Phase 1, teachers are asked to initiate 4 "structured experiments" (i.e. open-ended problems) in their classrooms, and meet some 10 times during the semester to reflect on, critique, and discuss what these experiments reveal about the nature of mathematics, and how it can be effectively taught and learned. They also develop individual "action plans" for further changes in their teaching practices. Phase 2 consists of an intensive 4-week institute, in which the teachers themselves do mathematical inquiries at their own level, continue their discussions of the teaching of mathematics, and learning and practicing leadership skills. In phase 3, they examine and help reshape their district's reform plans, continue changing their own classrooms practices, and--with support of project staff--begin outreach programs in their districts. An external evaluation seeks to document and understand the strengths and weaknesses of the project, which is based on the assumption that reform must come from within the system itself. Cost-sharing is 22% of the total NSF contribution.
