Math: Getting It Project / The MATH: Getting It Project

The MATH:

Getting It Project

Project Overview

For Parents

For Teachers

Professional Learning

Summer Workshops

Research

Resources

What is the Math: Getting It Project?

The Math: Getting It Project is a partnership of three Pierce County school districts, two universities, and the Pierce County Staff Development Consortium, who have a common goal of improving mathematics education for all students.

Why do students stop getting it?

The Math: Getting It Project addresses a troubling problem in mathematics education: Students frequently do not ‘get it’ when they progress beyond 4^th grade into fraction concepts, and later when they reach pre-algebra and higher mathematics courses.

Why? Compelling research points to the persistent absence of

instructional strategies designed to deeply embed core mathematical structures in student thinking, primarily when students first learn fractions but also throughout K-12 math learning programs. These strategies, however, are crucial to the improvement of math achievement at every level.

Research shows that when students use fraction circles (pictured at left) and other math manipulatives to learn fraction concepts, math achievement improves

The overarching goal of this project, which is to improve student achievement in mathematics, will be met when we address the Getting It problem by:

· improving teacher content knowledge

· implementing instructional strategies designed to deeply embed core mathematical structures in student thinking

· improving teacher and principal understanding of how students learn mathematics

· improving teachers’ understanding of how students think about mathematics

· increasing productive principal-teacher and teacher-teacher dialogue about mathematical content and effective instructional strategies

Math: Getting It Project Partners