2015 MATHEMATICS ACADEMIES
DESCRIPTION: Five-day, face-to-face summer academies, offered at two sites in July 2015,
bring special and general education teachers together to focus on mathematics. Fall and spring
one-day follow-ups will be offered.
CONTENT: Enhanced teacher content knowledge and instructional practices in mathematics
resulting in student achievement gains in math for all students is the 2015-2016 focus. Attending
teachers deepen their understanding of mathematics to further embrace the rigor of the
NxGCSOs while moving from a rote understanding of procedures to a deeper understanding of
concepts. Increased content knowledge increases teachers’ confidence in delivering grade-level
content. Each Math Academy provides an environment in which teachers learn to problem solve
in a learner-centered environment, actively engaging in discourse with peers around the math.
Academies facilitate teachers’ meta-cognitive reflection on their own teaching practice and
provide access points for them to change their instructional practices. Teachers complete
specially-designed modules/units on the MATHia and/or Cognitive Tutor Software, making
connections between content-deepening tasks, the software and classroom instruction. The five
math content academies offered at each site are:
Fraction Sense and Operations (Grades K-5) – Solve, analyze and discuss mathematical tasks
and consider the effects of different levels of tasks on student achievement; analyze the
Standards for Mathematical Practice and how they can be addressed through high-level tasks
and student-centered instruction; develop a conceptual understanding of fractions as equal parts
of a whole; investigate multiple representations of fractions; compare fractions; examine
relationship between equivalent and simplified fractions; extend fractions to ratios; create models
to represent fraction operations and develop meaning for the traditional algorithms; convert
between mixed numbers and improper fractions; and represent ratios using models.
Proportional Reasoning (Grades 4-9) - Solve, analyze and discuss mathematical tasks and
consider the effects of different levels of tasks on student achievement; analyze the Standards
for Mathematical Practice and how they can be addressed through high-level tasks and studentcentered instruction; understand ratio concepts and use ratio reasoning to solve problems;
distinguish between fractions and ratios; compare proportional and non-proportional
relationships; analyze proportional relationships and use them to solve real-world and
mathematical problems; explore a variety of informal strategies for examining proportional
relationships; recognize connections between proportional relationships, lines and linear
equations; and extend the understanding of ratios and proportions to include scale models.
Probability and Statistics (Grades 6-12) - Solve, analyze and discuss mathematical tasks and
consider the effects of different levels of tasks on student achievement; analyze and summarize
the Standards for Mathematical Practice and how they can be addressed through high-level tasks
and student-centered instruction; differentiate between mathematical and statistical thinking and
reasoning; understand the role of probability in the study of statistics; determine experimental and
theoretical probabilities; conduct probability simulations of simple and compound events using a
variety of tools; differentiate between categorical and quantitative data; create, compare and
contrast displays of categorical data and quantitative data; determine, compare and contrast
various measures of center and variability; use data displays and measures of center and
variability to compare groups; informally and formally fit curves to data, including least square
regression, and analyze fit; differentiate between correlation and causation; determine
associations in categorical data by examining joint, marginal and conditional frequency and
relative frequency distributions; understand the purposes of and differences among sample
surveys, experiments and observational studies; understand the role of randomization in
statistical design and the interpretation of data; understand the characteristics of and use the
normal distribution to calculate probabilities; and develop and use margin of error to make
inferences about data.
Functions (Grades 8-12) - Solve, analyze and discuss mathematical tasks and consider the
effects of different levels of mathematical tasks on students’ achievement; analyze and
summarize the Standards for Mathematical Practice and how they can be addressed through
high-level tasks and student-centered instruction; define functions and their characteristics; use
and connect verbal descriptions, diagrams, algebraic representations, tables and graphs of
functions and non-functions; explore mathematical and non-mathematical functional situations;
understand rate of change as a characteristic of functions; compare and contrast the physical
representations of linear, exponential and quadratic functions; explore and analyze the multiple
representations of function families; understand the advantages of various algebraic forms of
functions; model operations on functions graphically; understand how new functions are built from
other functions graphically and algebraically; understand composition of functions from a
graphical perspective; understand functional transformations from a graphical and tabular
perspective; and understand how to use multiple transformations and how they lead to inverse
functions.
Integrated Math I & Math II (Grades 9-10) – Identify the critical content areas of Integrated Math
I and II and examine the vertical alignment of these concepts across grade bands; experience
NxGCSOs mathematical tasks and research-based instructional strategies from a student
perspective; understand more fully how to implement the NxGCSOs with appropriate rigor and
depth; enhance teacher content knowledge and mathematical understandings; identify the
attributes of a rich, problem-based approach and how it can support access to the Standards for
Mathematical Practice; use technology to investigate and model real-world data; build teacher
capacity for facilitating a learner-centered classroom; and self-reflect around current teaching
practice and how that aligns with the NxGCSOs classroom.
PARTICIPANTS: Special and general education teachers who teach mathematics as selected by
LEA.
COST: WVDE pays for training costs, materials, breakfast and lunch each day of the math
academies. Districts are responsible for travel, lodging, evening meals and stipends.
DATES:
July 13-17, 2015 – Bridgeport Conference Center, Bridgeport, WV
July 20-24, 2015 – Holiday Inn and Suites, South Charleston, WV
REGISTRATION:
The county administrator registers participants online at:
http://wvde.state.wv.us/forms/2015/osp/summer-academies/math/
This link will be accessible April 17, 2015.
CONTACT:
Mary Pat Farrell, Coordinator
Office of Special Programs
304.558.2696
mfarrell@k12.wv.us
2015 MATHEMATICS ACADEMIES
HOTEL INFORMATION
You are registered for the five-day Math Academy. Breakfast and lunch will be provided by the
WVDE. School districts are responsible for participants’ travel, lodging, evening meals and
stipend costs. Blocks of rooms have been secured at a reduced rate for those needing lodging.
Participants are responsible for making room reservations. Always consult with county
supervisors for district fiscal procedures.
Registration and breakfast will begin at 7:30 a.m. each day with professional development
beginning promptly at 8:30 a.m. and ending at 3 p.m. A welcome email detailing the logistics and
learning expectations will be sent to all registered participants prior to the scheduled math
academy. If you have any questions, please contact Mary Pat Farrell at mfarrell@k12.wv.us or
304-558-2696.

July 13-17, 2015
Bridgeport Conference Center, 300 Conference Center Way, Bridgeport WV 26330
1. Call Wingate Hotel, 350 Conference Center Way, Bridgeport, WV 26330 at
304-808-1000
2. Provide block code CGMATH - Cost is $88.00
3. The cut-off date for making hotel reservations is June 10, 2015
Or
1. Call Microtel Inn and Suites, 201 Conference Center Way, Bridgeport, WV 26330 at
304-808-2000
2. Provide block code 413-141549 – Cost is $83.00
3. The cut-off date for making hotel reservations is June 1, 2015

July 20-24, 2015
Holiday Inn and Suites, 400 2nd Avenue SW, Charleston, WV 25303
1. Call Holiday Inn and Suites at 304-744-4641
2. Provide block code EDN – Cost is $105
3. The cut-off date for making hotel reservations is June 22, 2015