Virginia Mathematics Teacher Fall 2016

Secondary Mathematics Professional Development Center Dr. Agida Manizade, Dr. Laura Jacobsen, Christine Belcher, Robert Thien, Jamey Lovin, Stephanie Brady, Dee Baker

based on work related to our projects in state, national, and international professional outlets. The purpose of this paper is to present materials developed by secondary mathematics teachers, for secondary mathematics teachers. The SMPDC was originally funded in 2010 by a Math and Science Partnership grant from the VDOE and has received six consecutive years of funding through MSP grants. The individual projects’ foci varied each year, based on the goals as identified by VDOE, however, they shared the common themes of: 1. Improving teachers’ mathematical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge; 2. Developing and improving an online PD model; and 3. Developing resources for mathematics classrooms in critical areas identified by the VDOE. In addition, the project Principal Investigators (PIs) published dozens of research papers (e.g., Corey, D.et. al., 2016; Manizade & Jacobsen, 2013; Manizade, & Martinovic, 2016) in national, international, and state outlets. Our purpose for this paper is not to focus on the research findings, but instead the outcomes most relevant and useful for practicing mathematics teachers. We Introduction

Abstract

The Secondary Mathematics Professional Development Center (SMPDC) has been funded by multiple Math and Science Partnership grants through the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) since 2010 through the present. The SMPDC serves high school mathematics teachers as well as middle school teachers teaching high- school-level mathematics classes. The main goal of the Center is to provide a professional development program to teachers interested in improving their mathematical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Our research has shown that teachers who participate in these programs have significantly improved their subject matter knowledge as well as their PCK in algebra, statistics, probability, geometry, and Algebra Functions and Data Analysis. The SMPDC has partnered with public school systems across the Commonwealth, several institutes of higher education in Virginia, the Virginia Math and Science Coalition and NASA. The SMPDC has served 352 mathematics teachers since its original funding in 2010, providing over 700 contact hours of graduate-level professional development

coursework to the teachers. The participants have created several

hundred products available

intend to use this paper to disseminate the knowledge gained by teachers during these projects and provide an opportunity to use the

to teachers across the commonwealth, including lesson plans, unit plans, performance- based assessments, and classroom videos. SMPDC faculty have produced 39 publications and presentations

materials produced

by

their peers. These include, but are not limited to

Figure 1 . Sample performance-based assessment task

Virginia Mathematics Teacher vol. 43, no. 1

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