The Diversity in Mathematics Education Center for Learning and Teaching (DiME-CLT) is building an integrated program to develop and enhance the instructional workforce from kindergarten through graduate school. The program consists of three interrelated components: a doctoral/postdoctoral component; a teacher education component for teachers and instructional leaders; and a comprehensive research agenda. These components are integrated by a strong focus on the ideas of algebra and issues related to learners with diverse cultural, language and cognitive backgrounds.
The Center is a consortium led by mathematics and education faculty of three research universities, two school-system partners, and a group of teacher professional development providers -- the University of Wisconsin--Madison, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California, Los Angeles, the Madison Metropolitan School District, the Berkeley Unified School District, and the California Subject Matter Project. The University of Wisconsin is the grantee institution.
Two cohorts of 15 students are being recruited into the doctoral programs at the three institutions (five per institution). Four new courses are being developed to become a common core for these programs. Master's programs and existing in-service work with the Madison and Berkeley schools and the California Subject Matter Project are preparing a diverse group of mathematics teachers to assume leadership roles in their schools, districts and states.
The centerpiece of the DiME-CLT is the community of scholars, including the faculty, doctoral and masters students, participating teachers, and undergraduates, who engage in the collective analysis of cases of mathematical learning and teaching using Web-based software. Cases are developed and placed on the common Web site and participants analyze the cases in multiple ways using different sets of theoretical lenses. This cross-institutional, cross-disciplinary collaboration is being studied as part of the Center's evaluation; the results of that study are being published so that other institutions can launch their own efforts at preparing people to teach mathematics to an increasingly diverse student population.
