Top Ten Math Initiatives for the Next MCPS Superintendent

Overarching Goals

 To have students fluent in arithmetic by grade 7

 To prepare as many students as possible for a real algebra course in 8th grade, and
calculus and real statistics in high school
 To provide more students with the arithmetic, measurement, and algebra skills needed
for rigorous high school and college chemistry and physics courses
 To reduce the need for remedial math courses in college
 To prepare more students for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) majors

Goal: Streamline and strengthen curriculum and instruction

1. Adopt Singapore Math system-wide in grades K-6.

2. Develop and pilot a new year-long high school statistics course. (All real statistics -- hypothesis
testing, not pie charts.)

3. Set of a goal of 1.5 years of math per year forgifted student and for students who are below
grade level in grades K-8.

4. Remove the fluff from Algebra I in order to provide a coherent, focused curriculum which
emphasizes algebraic calculation and word problems, such as problems from the math PSAT.

5. Reinstate the MCPS Honors Geometry course and textbooks taught until the early '90s which
provided serious training in logical thinking and deductive reasoning via proofs of theorems.

Goal: Increase the quantity and quality of information available to students, parents, teachers,
administrators and the public in general about math performance

6. Establish a public and transparent K-7 system of diagnostic testing that tells parents and
MCPS teachers the below/on/above grade math skills that each child has mastered and the
skills he or she is ready to learn next. (MCPS used to have this: the Instructional System in Math --
ISM.)

7. Until the Maryland HSA is strengthened to be a better measure of true proficiency in algebra,
administer the ETS end-of-course algebra test at the conclusion of Algebra I.

8. Participate in TIMSS to allow comparison of the performance of MCPS students to

their counterparts worldwide.

9. Using college placement tests and college exam s, develop a set of diagnostic tests that
predict the need for remedial college coursework. Provide incentives for students to take the
tests and make the results publicly available.
Goal: Increase teacher capacity

10. Improve professional development (which is all too often superficial) by providing incentives
for all teachers, teacher supervisors, and teacher trainers to take specialized math content
training and demonstrate math content competence in programs affiliated with academic
mathematicians. (Models for such programs include the Vermont Mathematics Initiative and the
Massachusetts Immersion Institutes.)