Math/CTE Partnership Institute: Building Partnerships for
Increasing Opportunities in Math
Through a Washington State Transition Mathematics Project grant, the Washington State Tech Prep Program and a grant from the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation, Pierce County Careers Connection has created the Math/CTE Partnership Institute: a series of four workshops (April 2008, October 2009, February 2009, and May 2009) for teams of mathematics and Career and Technical Education teachers. The workshops support increasing basic skills and academic achievement in mathematics, as well as the development of applied skills and critical thinking. Through intentional partnership-building between math and Career and Technical Education teachers, and the development of cross-discipline lesson plans and courses, this work encourage the introduction of applied math skills into traditional math classrooms, and the enhancement of rigorous mathematics in technical education classrooms .
The Math/CTE Partnership Institute is based on the premises that:
- one of the best ways to illustrate the relevance of math and communicate math expectations to students, isto enhance math in applied disciplines contextual learning, as exemplified by Career and Technical Education programs, benefits all students and is critical for at-risk students who are not succeeding in traditional math classes educators will need to work together to align teaching practices to the new Washington State mathematics standards and high school graduation requirements
Washington Governor Christine Gregoire endorsed the workshop series as a means of supporting students through a focus on math applications and learning across disciplines.
In 2006 and 2007 Pierce County Careers Connection was award a partnership grant by the Washington State Transition Math Project. The main goals of the Pierce County Project are to:
- Increase the capacity for South Sound student to attain college and work readiness in mathematics
- Engage business, industry and labor partners in helping to prepare a math literate workforce in the South Sound
- Provide an opportunity to students to learn about careers and about math needed for career success
- The focus of the work is to:
- Work with business partners to develop scenarios of workplace math from a range of career areas—the Career Math Toolbox
- Facilitate classroom visits by industry professionals, and connect industry professionals to classroom by email, video and internet
- Use the internet to make all career math tools developed through the grant, including the Career Math Toolbox and the Construction Math Toolbox (developed by the Construction Center of Excellence through a TMP grant), available and accessible to educators throughout the state
- Exploring a professional development opportunity for teachers to recognize and enhance mathematic content of their courses
For more information about the state Transition Math Project go to:
http://www.transitionmathproject.org/
Workshop Summary
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