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This summer, RME hired four coaches to implement the series of six workshops that will train 800 Jamaican families on foundational mathematics concepts. These workshops utilize everyday items and real-world applications through games, books, and other activities to engage young children at home. RME researchers spent the past week in Jamaica, working closely with the coaches and modeling the first two workshops to ensure fidelity of implementation. The team will return in December to continue this training with the next set of workshops targeted for delivery in 2017.

In 2013, the Texas Education Agency partnered with Research in Mathematics Education to begin the process of updating the state’s Guidance Document on Response to Intervention (RtI). TEA formed a committee of experts who decided that the latest research on RtI should be synthesized in a format that is accessible to educators and can support them as they implement RtI across grade level and content area.

The team at RME led the app development, coordinated the nationally-recognized content writers and editors, and managed the timeline of the scope of the project. The app is now available on the iTunes Store and will soon be released for Android.

Brea Ratliff, RME’s Secondary Mathematics Research Coordinator was named president-elect of the Benjamin Banneker Association on April 15, 2016. She’ll serve in this position for one year, and then move into her role as president for two years in 2017. The Benjamin Banneker Association is a non-profit organization made up of teachers, researchers, and teacher educators who are passionate about advancing mathematics education for African American children.

Ratliff joined the organization as a member in 2009 and accepted a role on the board in 2013, where she served at the Southwest regional director. The organization works closely with the National Council of Teacher of Mathematics (NCTM) and this year celebrated the 30th anniversary of the association at NCTM’s Annual Meeting & Exposition.

As president, Ratliff will bring her passion for connecting research to practice, and ensuring that educators have access to the multitude of resources available to support their classroom.

Read more about the association at http://bannekermath.org/

 

Research in Mathematics Education continued their work with the Jamaican Ministry of Education and the Inter-American Development Bank to encourage and support mathematical understanding and fluency in the homes of local families, specifically those with children in Grades 1 and 2 throughout the island country. A feasibility study was conducted with one of a series of six face-to-face parent workshops that includes mathematics games, a culturally relevant book, and other grade appropriate content focused on foundational number concepts such as place value concepts and composing numbers to 10.

Families in the St. Catherine Parish of Jamaica were selected by the Jamaican Ministry of Education to participate in the feasibility study. RME experts led the workshop on the first day, working closely with the coach who would then be training the parents. On the second day, the coach spent a full day with parents, working with them as they learned how best to use the materials and how to share them at home with their children. The parents then returned on the final day to share their experiences about the usability and feasibility of the materials.

The RME team received positive feedback about the feasibility of the materials. The RME team will continue to develop learning materials for the remaining face-to-face workshops to best meet the needs of parents who will be helping their children learn mathematics in the home. The team will hire four mathematics coaches in Jamaica over the next couple of months. These coaches will lead the face-to-face parent workshops during the implementation phase of the project.

 

 

Dr. Leanne Ketterlin Geller presented Debbie Hunter Perry with the Research in Mathematics Education (RME) 2016 Research-to-Practice Impact in Leadership Award at the 5th annual RME Conference, held on Friday, February 19.

“Deb’s contributions to the mathematics community are substantial. Her commitment to supporting the learning of every child and the growth of every teacher has been an inspiration for our entire team,” said Dr. Ketterlin Geller.

Perry is the Mathematics Coordinator for Midway ISD, located near Waco, Texas. She has been in education for 25 years, and has served at Midway for 15. She has taught mathematics at the elementary, middle, high school, and higher education levels, and implemented many new training initiatives that engage and empower teachers to deepen their content knowledge in order to make wise decisions about instruction. She was named one of three finalists in 2009 as the Texas Secondary Teacher of the Year, and she is an executive board member of CAMT, TASM, and CTCTM.

Perry was nominated based on her demonstrated commitment to

• cultivating the research-to-practice relationship through implementation of systems-level research-based practices and contribution to research;
• supporting students’ mathematics achievement through leadership;
• supporting teachers professional knowledge of mathematics content and/or evidence-based pedagogical practices;
• innovative thinking focused on supporting teachers and systems through a change process to improve student outcomes; and
• supporting systems-level implementation of data-informed decision making.

Perry accepted the award with her superintendent, Dr. George Kazanas, and assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, Dr. Brent Merritt in attendance.

Dr. Leanne Ketterlin Geller named Dr. Jane F. Schielack as Research in Mathematics Education’s Impact in Teaching & Learning Award recipient at the 2016 Research-to-Practice Conference on SMU campus in Dallas, Texas on Friday, February 19.

Dr. Ketterlin Geller said, “We are delighted to present this award to our deserving colleague, Dr. Schielack. She has made an important impact on the learning opportunities of students and teachers in Texas and across the country – her attention to detail, deep understanding about how children think mathematically, and integrity to the mathematical content has made a difference in the mathematical opportunities for all kids.”

Dr. Schielack was selected because of her:

• Demonstrated commitment to cultivating the research-to-practice relationship through supporting teachers’ classroom practices
• Demonstrated commitment to providing ongoing support for the mathematics success of all students through high quality teaching practices
• Demonstrated commitment to supporting teachers’ professional knowledge of mathematics content and/or evidence-based pedagogical practices
• Innovative thinking focused on supporting teaching and learning in mathematics

Dr. Schielack is a Professor in Mathematics and Education at Texas A&M University and has been closely involved at the state level by working with the Texas Education Agency in developing and revising the state-mandated curriculum in mathematics; making presentations at the state mathematics conference for teachers, and writing and presenting a variety of professional development institutes for in-service teachers.

At the national level, she has authored articles, books, and textbooks focused on helping children understand mathematics. She has served as the academic advisor as well as a writer on several national professional development institutes for elementary and middle school mathematics teachers.

Her work with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics includes participating on the writing team for the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics, co-editing Empowering the Beginning Teacher of Mathematics: Elementary School, chairing the writing group for Curriculum Focal Points for Prekindergarten through Grade 8 Mathematics: A Quest for Coherence, and editing the Focus in Mathematics series for Grades 3-8.

 

RME’s 5th annual Research-to-Practice Conference will be held on Friday, February 19th, 2016. This event began in 2011, and welcomed 140 educators to SMU campus. Now in year five, the conference reached maximum capacity of 350 participants within a week of registration opening.

Istation, Inc. has generously partnered with RME as the presenting sponsor for the conference. Istation is an award-winning, comprehensive e-learning program used by more than four million students and educators around the world. Known for its accurate assessments, engaging curriculum, and trusted teacher tools, Istation helps students in prekindergarten-12th grade achieve academic growth.  Richard H. Collins, chairman and chief executive officer, will help welcome the teachers and administrators as they prepare for this year’s RME conference agenda, Designing for STEM: Teaching Mathematics Outside the Box. 

The RME conference is committed to offering a quality professional development opportunity to Texas educators that is focused on research-to-practice within the complexities of mathematics education both at the system and classroom levels.  For more information, contact us at rme@smu.edu

Dr. Mitchell J. Nathan will serve as the 2016 Research-to-Practice Conference keynote speaker. This year’s theme is: Designing for STEM: Teaching Mathematics Outside the Box.

Dr. Nathan is a Professor of Learning Sciences (Educational Psychology Department) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the Director of the Center on Education and Work, the Director of the IES Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in Mathematical Thinking, Learning and Instruction, and he also holds additional faculty appointments in the Departments of Curriculum and Instruction, and Psychology, and is a faculty fellow in the Wisconsin Center for Educational Research.

Dr. Nathan has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and more than 120 presentations at professional meetings. He has delivered more than 50 international invited presentations. Dr. Nathan was recently inducted in the Teaching Academy for excellence in teaching.

Dr. Nathan was a founding officer of the International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS.org) and founded the Engineering and Computer Science Education section within Division C of the American Education Research Association (AERA). He served on the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council Committee on Integrated STEM Education from 2011 to 2014, contributing to the final report, STEM Integration in K-12 Education: Status, Prospects, and an Agenda for Research. Currently, he is associate editor for The Journal of the Learning Sciences, and serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research, as well as on the advisory board for Purdue’s Institute for P-12 Engineering Research and Learning (INSPIRE), and on the advisory board to the editor for the Journal of Engineering Education within the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).

 

The latest NAEP data indicates that only 33 percent of 8th grade students perform at or above the proficient level in mathematics. This continued urgency to close the gap in mathematics education remains critical – through work in the field in middle school, RME has identified a need for a progress monitoring tool that targets rational number operations and algebraic thinking. RME’s latest project in collaboration with Istation, Inc. is to develop an algebra readiness progress monitoring tool that addresses this gap. Progress monitoring is an efficient and reliable way to capture data at regular and frequent intervals as students move through mathematics instruction. The frequency of the assessments tracks students’ response to instructional change, and teachers can evaluate their development in increasingly complex content throughout the year. The RME team hosted 18 Texas educators on SMU campus in November to design items for this project. Delivery of the project totaling over 5,400 assessment items across grades 6-8 is expected in 2016.

Assistant Professor Candace Walkington is piloting interactive motion technology as a way to help students learn Geometry. This research is recapped in SMU’s Mustang Minute: