$3.9 mil grant gives Expanding Community of Math Learners room to grow

Teachers in grades K-6 will now get some of the extra knowledge and help they need to teach the math expected and required in today’s classrooms.

Responding to the need for help with mathematics education and reform, the National Science Foundation has agreed to fund a $3.9 million program, Expanding the Community of Math Learners.

The five-year project involves six Seattle-area school districts and the UW College of Education, business school, and departments of mathematics and statistics and educational outreach.

The Expanding the Community of Math Learners project will prepare 300 elementary math teachers in the Bellevue, Lake Washington, Mercer Island, Northshore, Seattle and Shoreline school districts. In turn, these teachers will help with training sessions for the some 2,500 of their colleagues in the six districts.

The first meeting for these lead teachers will be this summer.

The project will help deepen educators’ math content knowledge and understanding of the ever-changing classroom curriculum and education reforms. Teachers will get instruction and assessment through professional development and community outreach programs.

The NSF grant is the second for the Math Community programs. In 1996, $2.7 million was awarded to the Creating a Community of Mathematics Learners program for middle and high school math teachers in the same six districts. This new grant expands the program to complete K-12 mathematics education reform effort. ¶