Professor Helping Teachers Prepare for New Math Standards

Teachers from the Santa Maria-Bonita school district at the 2012 summer institute.

SAN LUIS OBISPO — For the second year, Mathematics Professor Kate Riley has received a $250,000 Improving Teacher Quality (ITQ) grant from the federal government. The grant funds teacher preparation for the upcoming nationwide standards for K-12 mathematics, called the California Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which were adopted in August of 2010. The state plans to start testing students based on the standards in spring 2014.

The grant allows Riley to continue leading monthly workshops for 34 fifth- through eighth-grade teachers from the Santa Maria-Bonita school district. The purpose of these workshops is to help inform teachers of the new California CCSS and to enhance teachers' conceptual understanding of the mathematical ideas aligned with the new standards.

Conceptual understanding refers to the grasp of mathematical ideas and the connections between them. It helps students link related concepts and methods in appropriate ways and understand the why and how of mathematical ideas, which in turn helps their retention.

The new standards place a stronger emphasis on students both comprehending the mathematical procedures and developing a conceptual understanding of mathematics. For example, students will be asked not only to be able to divide fractions but also to demonstrate division of fractions using different representations, such as drawing a picture or using concrete materials.

Riley sees the workshops providing multiple layers of help for the participating teachers. "The teachers are learning about the standards, but they're also deepening their mathematics content knowledge. They're coming together and talking about how students conceptually learn mathematics."

Throughout the year, the teachers collaborate to develop and test lesson plans based on the material presented in the workshops. They then act as ambassadors to educate their colleagues in their district about the standards. These leadership teams are part of an effort to sustain and expand the professional development opportunities offered by the grant.

And all of this learning will be passed on to their students in hopes of improving achievement in mathematics. "They're facilitating the learning of mathematics in everything they do," Riley said.

Professors Todd Grundmeier, Elsa Medina and Julie Herron assist with the teacher workshops. The workshops will conclude with a summer institute in 2013.

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