Mathematics Professional Learning Project

Read Course Syllabus

The Mathematics Teaching Project is a grant-supported project that analyzed aggregated teacher performance assessment data from NBPTS’ mathematics assessment and created a professional development program based on that analysis. The professional development program is organized around National Board standards and the Five Core Propositions and relied on National Board Certified Teachers in EA and AYA Mathematics for product design, development, and evaluation.

The project began with an analysis of teacher assessment data for the middle and high school mathematics entries of the National Board assessment. This analysis led NBPTS to focus on a subset of assessment entries. The entries included video of the teachers in their classroom and a reflective analysis of the videoed instruction, and student work samples and teacher analysis of those work samples.

This work was aligned with the data drawn from the skills and experience of trained assessors who examine these entries and with recommendations from the project’s external advisory committee. This phase provided the project with rich information on areas where mathematics teachers experience challenges – information based on what teachers actually do in the classroom and that is not readily available nationally by any other means.

The result of the analysis was the design of a series of community-based, facilitated online professional development courses, in collaboration with Education Development Center. The initial courses will be released in 2010. The remaining courses will be developed based on funding availability.

The online courses are intended for all middle and high school mathematics teachers from pre-service through veteran teachers. The content area used for exemplars in the courses is algebra. The course is not designed to prepare candidates for National Board Certification, but to improve teaching practice and student learning outcomes for all mathematics teachers.

The Mathematics Professional Development Teaching Project was supported with a generous grant from the Oracle Corporation®.