Math Shifts Symposium for High School & College Practitioners October 31, 2014 -­ College of DuPage -­ Room SRC 2000 -­ 8:00-­12:00 The purpose of this symposium is to analyze and study, from a practitioner’s perspective, major shifts that are occurring in mathematics education, with a lens focused on the the successful transition from high school to college. While a June 28 New York Times editorial indicted both K-­12 schools and U.S. colleges for PISA math scores that leave the U.S. “battling it out for last place among developed countries, along with Hungary and Lithuania”1, there has been little attention paid to the pragmatic concerns that must be addressed in order to implement a major shift in math expectations and performance at both the high school and college level. This shift took on a new sense of urgency this summer, when ISBE announced it would implement the PARCC Algebra II / Integrated Math 3 end-­of-­course assessment as an accountability measure for high schools. This new assessment has two different sub-­tests that include a “performance based test” in early spring and an “end-­of-­year” test in late spring. Students’ scores on the PARCC assessment can exempt them from placement in remedial level college courses, and some expect that these exams may be used for college admissions decisions within the next five years. The new PARCC exams are built to assess student mastery of skills identified in the Common Core State Standards standards that Illinois adopted in 2010. Many suburban high schools administered the PARCC field tests last spring, and the feedback we received from our students who participated reflected a broad consensus that these tests are very different than the math exams they had taken previously. Not only do the tests expect a much higher level of proficiency from our students, but they expect them to apply math in scenarios, not just complete operational / “naked” problems. The agenda for the symposium centers on three key shifts that are being asked of math educators as a result of this changing landscape. Panel participants are actual professionals from the field who are currently grappling with these changes in suburban high school and Sponsored by college classrooms. 1
“Americans Think We Have the World’s Best Colleges. We Don’t.” from The New York Times, June 28, 2014 8:00 -­ 9:00 -­ Panel 1 -­ The New Tests Assessing The “New Math” Learn about the skills the Common Core math standards emphasize and how the PARCC test questions ask students to apply these skills to novel real-­world scenarios. While this emphasis on applied math problems is not really “new” it is certainly a departure from the focus on operational / “naked” math curricula that was prominent prior to the Common Core. Hear from high school and college math educators about the instructional shifts these combined forces demand in their classrooms. Jim Bradley, Professor, College of DuPage Robert Cappetta, Professor, College of DuPage Matt Foster, Math Specialist, Waukegan Public Schools Chad Shepherd, Math Department Chair, Pontiac High School Paul Stevenson, Math Teacher, Downers Grove South High School Scott Miller, Math Department Chair, Naperville Central High School Susie Morrissey, Professor, Illinois Institute of Technology Joann Purcell, Math Teacher, Downers Grove North High School 9:00 -­ 10:00 -­ Panel 2 -­ Forcing Kids to Love Math! :) Listen to mathematics educators from the high school and college levels discuss the challenge of making math education appealing to students with a broad range of interests. Policymakers obviously think it is important that American students become more proficient at applying math skills, so how do we motivate students to feel the same? Jim Bradley, Professor, College of DuPage Erica Hotsinpiller, Professor, College of DuPage Sachin Jhunjhunwala, Math Teacher, Evanston Township High School Jeff Keller, Math Teacher, Lincoln-­Way High School Scott Miller, Math Department Chair, Naperville Central High School Gorjana Popovic, Professor, Illinois Institute of Technology Candice Sagliano, Math Teacher, Lake Park High School Neil Weisman, Math Teacher, Oak Park River Forest High School 10:00 -­ 11:00 -­ Panel 3 -­ Opening the Gates to Positive Experiences in Math Courses Too often, at both the high school and college level, math courses are seen as rite of passage courses that serve as gatekeeping mechanisms to sort “math kids” from “not math kids”. How can we make this threshold less imposing to help students stay on a rigorous course pathway in high school and make a positive high school to college transition? Listen high school and college level educators discuss possible strategies for keeping more students in rigorous high school courses and reducing the number of students who begin their college math experience in a remedial, non-­credit bearing course. Jim Bradley, Professor, College of DuPage Robert Cappetta, Professor, College of DuPage Peter Decraene, Math Teacher, Evanston Township High School David Elliott, Math Department Chair, Glenbard East High School Jonathan Heldman, Math Department Chair, Downers Grove North High School Mary O’Sullivan, Director of Mathematics, J.S. Morton High School Chris Rugg, Math Division Head, Elk Grove High School Kristen Yoshida, Math Teacher, Hinsdale South High School Kathy Young, Math Department Chair, Lemont High School 11:00 -­ 12:00 -­ Buffer Time if Panels Go Long / Table Conversations / Networking