RMEv3n3 10-26-04
FEATURE
Acclaim Cohort 2: The Gathering Robert Mayes, WVU
And so they came in the summer of 2004 to Athens, Ohio. They came from Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, and North Carolina. They were high school teachers, administrators, and college instructors, at the beginning of their careers and starting second careers, married and single, rural and urban. They came with a common purpose, to become leaders in mathematics education within the Appalachian region. These 18 professional mathematics educators came to participate in the ACCLAIM Doctoral Program in Mathematics Education, an initiative of ACCLAIM, a National Science Foundation Center for Learning and Teaching.
Cohort 2 began their journey with an intense five week summer academy at Ohio University. On June 21, 2004, they gathered as strangers. They lived and worked together for five weeks; as they explored the deeper meanings of rural mathematics education, expanded their view of geometry beyond Euclidean bounds, and
As individuals the cohort had weaknesses. Some of them sought to improve deficiencies in mathematics. Others sought to strengthen their knowledge of teaching, learning, and assessment. All of them discovered a deeper connection between rural place and mathematics. Though the first week was difficult, they banded together, shared resources, and supported each other. The first few days of the summer session lunchtime was filled with questions, doubts, and fear of failure. They questioned if they had time to attend the first faculty outing. By the second outing they were more confident and secure they would succeed, or at least survive. Lunches and dinners increasingly became a time for banter and academic debates. Classes became academic communities with open discussion from diverse viewpoints, where not long before they had been arenas for defending points of view. As a group they found strength.
The last day of the summer academy was suddenly upon all of us. Cohort 2 provided the ultimate complement, a show lampooning the professors, with an excellent caricature of our two rural educators and a game show that had the hallowed halls of learning echoing with laughter. Afterwards the professors and students shared some conversation and song as contemporaries. There were tears the next day as everyone departed, tears of stress, of sadness, and of joy. While the summer gathering has ended, the journey for Cohort 2 is just begun. They are together again this fall, but now in virtual classrooms consisting of computer mediated environments. But the bonds formed in the summer are strong, and though they may not see one another, they can still hear the comradeship in the distorted voices over the computer speaker. The community
FEATURE
Working Towards an Intellectual Project: A Rural Life With Mathematics
This essay uniquely takes up issues of rural mathematics education as lived by the author. It was submitted as the first draft of a project—the Intellectual Project Paper— for a course in rural education given in the summer of 2004. The
assignment aimed to help students define their intellectual commitments, but even the instructors completed the assignment. The students submitted revisions, including Wayne: first drafts were autobiographically heavy and struggled to articulate a connection between lived experience and defined commitments. Part of the difficulty of this assignment was, in fact, the need to define commitments. This essay embeds a series of shocks and epiphanies that conveniently, and most often very painfully, help us humans to define our commitments.
Wayne Craft
ACCLAIM Doctoral Cohort Two
My life began September 26, 1970. I was born to poor parents who lived in rural Burkesville, Kentucky. My dad worked at seasonal jobs for some of the farmers who owned large acreages. My mother worked in local textiles for minimum wage. From a financial standpoint my family was relatively poor. My parents had not benefited from any “old money” that had trickled down to some of our relatives. Everything material that we had was earned the hard way – in the fields and the factories. We were poor in 1970, but it would get much worse.
food and clothing, but not much else. Sometimes I received small allowances, but these times were few. The community came to our aid after the tornado. We lived in a “spare” house that belonged to a close family friend who was the pastor of the Methodist Church. Times were difficult.
Just as my family started to recover emotionally and financially, another
devastating event occurred that would radically change the direction of my life. My plan before 1986 was simple: get out of school as soon as possible, get a job, and live a life of luxury. At the time my mom earned around $8,000 annually before taxes. I knew of jobs that paid even more. If I could get a job paying $16,000 a year, I would live “high on the hog” as we used to say. But it was not meant to be. In 1986 my mom died as a result of a brain tumor. My life was in disarray. I was confused and I had many questions. Why would God take Mom from me? Was I in any way responsible? What was I going to do without her? I was much closer at the time with my mom than with my dad. I felt isolated, sad, angry, hopeless, and helpless.
This newest crisis forced me to think and re-evaluate my life plans. After great urging from my mom’s sister, I decided to attend college – the first person from my family to do so. I entered the University of Kentucky in the fall of 1988 with an
school and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Mathematics Education with a minor in Physics Education from the University of Kentucky in 1996. I began “teaching” in the fall of 1996 as a Goals 2000 Mathematics Resource Specialist.
At first I did not view teaching as very much different from other occupations. I would show up for “work”. They would give me a check in return. This cycle would continue until retirement. The difference after retirement is that I don’t go to work, but they still pay me. What a pathetic way this is to think of any occupation, yet many people hold these views throughout their careers. Within a few years I started seeing things differently, and began to appreciate my profession more. Teachers provide education. Education gives students more opportunities. Teachers can have a profound impact on the lives of their students, both positively and negatively. I need to be the best teacher possible for these students, many of whom are in difficult circumstances that resonate with me. I became more passionate about teaching and more compassionate toward my students.
better facilities and better technology to name a few resources, and the list could continue. Administrators in the surrounding districts did not think that it was fair to compare students in the Fayette District to their students. In fact they argued in court that the entire educational system in Kentucky was unconstitutional. They won and KERA became law.
KERA’s implications are enormous. The entire financial structure for education changed. Post-KERA funding is based on average daily attendance and not necessarily the amount of taxes collected at the local level. In essence, tax dollars from Fayette County, and other counties with larger tax bases, help fund smaller districts. New schools are being built in poor rural communities, as a direct result of KERA. These same schools have increased their technological capacity, but still lag behind districts such as Fayette in terms of implementation.
Another complaint with CATS is the validity, or lack thereof, of the test. The test was recognized as invalid in 1998, and the results were thrown out. This occurred after billions of dollars were spent developing, reviewing, administering, scoring, and revising the test. This waste of resources angers me as a taxpayer. The assessment is based on the national core content standards, but there is limited predictability of the content. A teacher might teach 99% of the content well, only to have the remaining 1% tested. Predictably, the students do not perform well, and the school is designated in “crisis.” This is an extreme case, but it illustrates my point. Along the same lines, and to show another flaw in this system, consider this case. School A scores 98 in the first year of a biennium, and 90 in the second year. School B scores 36 in the first year of a biennium, and 45 in the second year. School A with a much higher average score over the two year period is considered a school in decline, even though a different group of students were tested in the second year, while school B is making progress. School A, in the old system would receive “assistance” from the state and possible sanctions, while school B would be a “reward” school. Admittedly, some changes have been made to address some of these issues, but I still regard this as an invalid assessment mechanism. One of my goals is to help develop a better form of state assessment. Involvement in the ACCLAIM doctoral program will be of great benefit toward the advancement of this cause.
woodworking/construction, and mathematics and science education. I see this as an opportunity to help make mathematics and science meaningful to these students, as they apply these concepts in the design and construction of a stringed musical instrument. I hope that they will also see connection to many other disciplines such as art, language arts, business, technology, social sciences, and humanities. One goal is to increase the enrollments in upper level math and science course offerings. My reasoning is that these students will see a purpose for learning the content taught in these classes because it can lead to success in the stringed instruments class. If they know and are familiar with the content, this will help them perform better on CATS and other standardized tests. The concept of using this class to improve scores on standardized tests is loathsome in some ways, because I think this class should stand on its own merit, but is desired from a practical standpoint.
FEATURE Rural For Me
Sue Nichols
Sue Nichols becomes the editor of the Rural Mathematics
Educator with this issue. Sue is a member of the first ACCLAIM doctoral cohort, and she will be completing her dissertation under the auspices of Ohio University’s degree requirements. During their last summer of coursework, the doctoral students wrote informal essays about their experience of putting mathematics education together with rural education. This is Sue’s confession of that experience (a confession is a literary form, and not an admission of sin to a “confessor,” but examples of the genre always deal with its author’s struggles toward the true or the good, and with the inevitable missteps). This confession is full of good spirit and humor—and when you’ve finished reading, you’ll know who Sue is. (CBH)
Rural. I have a rural background. I was raised on farms, lived way out in the country, and rode the school bus for one hour and fifteen minutes to get into the nearest town where my school was located. We heated with wood that we chopped with an ax and grew all our vegetables. I was sixteen before I owned a new article of clothing.
however, have to put it on the back burner and think about it later. I did not have time to think about it then as I had just found out that my father was dying of cancer and my daughter was getting ready to deliver a baby soon. I missed my kids and my dad and was having a hard time concentrating on this rural family value system hogwash.
Another rural phenomenon, according to Dr. Alan DeYoung, was a dedication to place. Rural families tended to stay where they were born and raised and wanted their children to also stay at home or at least nearby. I wasn’t sure where this man got his information but it was totally wrong. For a moment I began wondering why I was there pursuing an advanced degree. The whole endeavor seemed so futile. Where was I going to get a job near my home that required a PhD anyway? I didn’t want to move away from the kids, my dad, and my friends. I like where I live.
better until he said, “How do you want me to answer?” Yes, that is a question mark at the end of that quote.
It was a long five weeks of rural sociology coursework, but gradually things got better. That happened when I started understanding that Dr. DeYoung wasn’t suggesting that there was anything wrong with all those “rural issues.” I remember telling him one day in class “…before I came here, I was okay. Now I find out that there is something wrong with my life.” He said, “Why do you say that?” (Notice the question mark again.) I gave up. No more questions for Dr. DeYoung. (I am suspicious that he does that on purpose to keep students from asking questions that have no definitive answer.)
I noticed subtle changes in my thinking over the next couple of years. It finally occurred to me that I was truly beginning to see the rural influence everywhere in my life when one day I was driving through my small town and noticed several workmen
boarding up a small farmer’s market. There was a going out of business sign hand-painted on a piece of plywood. “Darn that Wal-Mart Supercenter,” I thought. That thought was quickly followed by, “Dr. Theobald… rural… Growing Up American… TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!!!”
my life determined to overcome the stereotype assigned to rural folk—that being of a not so smart, naïve, little country girl. I now realize that in reality, the biggest perpetrator of that stereotype was me.
The role rural plays in my future is still uncertain. I have been given a wonderful opportunity to work with the ACCLAIM professional development teams and the
research components of the ACCLAIM grant. How exciting! It is so very close to what I envisioned as my future goals. I am in awe just thinking of the people with whom I will be meeting and working. The individuals associated with this grant are amazing and to be given an opportunity to work with them on any level is such a gift.
That said, I will tell you that the cohort model of this program works. If there was ever any doubt as to that on the part of anyone, then let this summer be lesson to them. I was offered this position and became so excited. I went home and talked to my
superintendent, who flatly refused to consider letting me out of my contract for even a year. I really wanted that job. What a relief…. My superintendent would not let me out of my contract so now I didn’t have to consider taking the job and leaving my classroom where I feel safe and at home. I just stay in my place and life goes on. I went back to Louisville and reported my “sad news.” Dr. Bush asked me if I would consider quitting my job permanently. My heart stopped. Quit my job?!? Was he kidding? “Think about it,” he said.
when the grant ends and I have no job? Could I get another one? Every question that raced through my mind was quickly dealt with or dispelled by one or another member of this cohort. They were rooting for me, supporting me, and believing in me. My success was their success. I do not know if I would have had the courage to accept this position without the support of these people. These people who three years ago I did not know are now supporting me, encouraging me, and offering to talk me through any bad times or times of uncertainty. “Call me,” they are saying. And now this is my future.
The original topic of this essay was to address the question “How has rural
impacted your life?” There is no question as to the influence of rural in my past. When I look to my present and my future I see an even greater continuing impression of a rural phenomena on my life. One that I did not expect. I find it truly amazing that this particular group of people who make up this cohort of doctoral students with whom I have studied and have come to depend would have ever come together for any reason. We come from far away, join together for the summer to study rural mathematics
education, and then go back to our places to change the world… our world. We are rural, and although we are so far apart, we are connected. I foresee that relationship continuing long after our degrees have been conferred and this program has ceased to be. Can there be any greater impact than this?
FEATURE
Theorizing Place-Based Education: An Essay Review Sue Nichols
Craig Howley
Hutchison, D. (2004). A natural history of place in education. NY: Teachers College Press.
Sobel, D. (2004). Place-based education Connecting classrooms and communities. Great Barrington, MA: The Orion Society.
Reviewing two books devoted to place-based education is more difficult than it might seem, but the constraint of reviewing them with an eye as to their relevance for rural mathematics education makes it a daunting task. These two books, moreover, are very different, and the differences start with sharply different perspectives on the main catch-phrase, “place-based education.” The books are useful to practitioners, but we have one serious concern, the same for each, which we will unpack as the review proceeds.
Differing Perspectives on Place
The Hutchison book begins with a phrase from phenomenologist Christian Norberg-Shulz (1980, p.18), who defines place as “space plus character.” The discussion continues with a more thorough explanation of place within the context of
character), and critical sociology (the power relations within a society that determines its culture). The first chapter is steeped in eclectic theorizing.
The remainder of the book is devoted to how place interacts with education. The overriding notion of place throughout the remainder of Hutchison’s book tends to deal more so with physical location or setting. In the end his conceptualization is more about “space” and less about “character.”
On the other hand, Sobel does not theorize place but puts forth “place-based pedagogy” as a synthesis of place and pedagogy as if the theoretical work were not necessary to the practical work of place-based education. He describes a “pedagogy of place” as a theoretical framework that emphasizes the interpenetration of schools, community, and environment (Sobel, p.11). The book is rich with examples of this vision of place-based education and samples of related programs unfolding in schools throughout the United States. With few exceptions, the examples used could more properly be described as environmental education. Noteworthy and inspirational, these programs leave readers feeling empowered to start an environmental education program in their schools, and Sobel goes so far as to give the reader a list of strategies for
Mathematics in Place-Based Education
Mathematics connections are evident in the second book, and they seem to adhere to the call for a high quality of mathematics education for all students and relevant
standards:
Our students deserve and need the best mathematics education possible, one that enables them to fulfill personal ambitions and career goals in an ever-changing world. (NCTM, 2000, p.4)
In this passage, NCTM singles out personal ambition as motive for learning mathematics; students certainly need to value the mathematics they are learning, and ambition is one path through which students might be led to value mathematics. Career goals, however, span a range of options for students in rural schools, some of which can lead rural students away from their own localities. Many educators—in response to this
observation (this is especially true in our experience in Appalachia) will say, “So what?” Our reply is something like: “If our young people leave, what will become of this
place?”
For instance, local economic enterprises exhibit mathematics that can easily be tied to the numbers, algebra, and data-analysis strands of the NCTM standards. Place-base Education gives several nice examples of this approach.
One example is a joint venture between a vocational center associated with Littleton High School in New Hampshire and Chutter’s General Store. The store owners were operating an online Internet sales business, but with revenues failing to cover overhead costs, in addition to their primary sales at the storefront location. The store owners donated the basement of the store for much needed classroom space for economics classes in exchange for students operating the online sales business. This development benefited both parties, and students, according to this report, became deeply engaged in mathematics (Sobel 2004, p.2.)
Another example involved students in Louisiana working with data analysis and most likely proportionality in stocking waterways and ponds with mosquito fish in a bid to control mosquito populations (Sobel 2004, p.3) The mathematics standards are apparently being met and students are becoming engaged in their communities.
In what sense does this activity constitute place-based education? We remain uncertain because the subsequent discussion fails to theorize place, let alone an education that honors place.
Why Have a Schooling That Honors Place?
familiar and well-developed approach to education employed by teachers who may or may not be engaging placed-based education—but probably aren’t.
These strategies, nonetheless, are commonly recommended whenever place-based education is considered. This confusion of strategies and philosophies is arguably
distracting for teachers interested in a form of education that honors the local places in which their schools are set—and, in which if they are rural teachers, they live their everyday lives.
In mathematics, for instance, a linkage to place at the level of an activity can be as simple as posing problems in familiar contexts (this first example follows Sobel’s
environmental view of place) or, on a slightly grander level, having problem-solving groups use scale to build models of classrooms and furniture under the guise of
maximizing classroom space (this second example follows Hutchison’s view of place as familiar space).
The examples in these books are good ones; but their precise connection to place, and the purposes of an education that honors place are not well articulated in either one. Both provide perspectives on the issue of place, and provide many practical examples for activities and even for building programs. Practitioners will find in them some useful tips.
do what they set out to do, but each overlooks the work of building. Now, theory-building does not itself require a book-length essay drawing exhaustively on the grand and middle-level theorizing of Max Weber, Talcott Parsons, Raymond Williams, Jane Jacobs and others. Not at all. It does require judgment and argument about why educators should honor place, about the related commitments (and antagonisms), and about the features that distinguish such an education from distant sorts (education that disregards place) and near-cousins (e.g., outdoor education).
Most distressing to us, predictably, is the absence of a rural theme in these two considerations of place. We doubt that the authors have in mind the sorts of places that most rural people do—educators and lay people alike.
It is always wise to survey an issue from many different directions as one develops an understanding of a topic. These books are helpful in that respect. Place-based education is starting to look like a new educational trend, however, and that development is disturbing for several reasons. First, by the time a new idea becomes a trend, it is likely to lose critical power, and this loss of power is already evident in the confusion of the construct with similar educational approaches (e.g., outdoor education). Second, attempts to sustain any “trend” veer inevitably toward co-optation: that is, to trendiness, and trendiness foretells the short duration of any trendy thing. Third, in schooling trendy practices abandon the development of theory because its prior
References
Hutchison, D. (2004). A natural history of place in education. NY: Teachers College Press.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics. Reston, VA: Author
Norberg-Schulz, C. (1980). Genius loci: Towards a phenomenology of architecture. New York: Rizzoli.
FEATURE
Reprinted by permission of the author (article circulated on the listserv of the National Rural Education Association)
The Cost Effectiveness of Small Schools Fred Yancey
Retired Superintendent, Washington State [email protected]
There exists a myth that however beneficial small schools may be, they are prohibitively expensive. There is an efficiency of scale that makes larger district more cost effective.
For example, recent research out of New York University’s Institute for
Education and Social Policy and researchers studying Nebraska found that the cost per student annually in districts with 600 students was $1,410 more than what was spent by schools with more than 2,000 students. This is in line with the long held ideas that education in small districts is much more expensive than education in larger districts. However, their findings went further. The cost per graduate in a smaller district was lower. What does this mean?
virtually disappear when the substantial social costs of non-graduates and the societal impact of college educated citizens are considered. They are further reduced when one adds costs that large schools add when they add tiers of administration, more security people, and additional maintenance and operations personnel.”
The costs to society for students who drop out of high school before graduating are enormous. Almost half the people who are heads of households receiving public assistance are dropouts. Dropouts are three times more likely to receive assistance than graduates who did not go on to college. The US Dept. of Education reports that “67% of recent high school completers not enrolled in college were employed, compared with 45% of recent high school dropouts.” Dropouts are three and one half times as likely as high school graduates to be arrested, and 82% of inmates in the adult criminal justice system are dropouts.
The most recent report from OSPI, the Washington State Office of the
Superintendent of Public Instruction reports that the drop out rate was 6.6% in Grade 9, and 10.1% in grade 10. The statewide average was 7.7%. And the Class of 2002 had 10.4% of its students drop out over the 4-year period. The OSPI office does not
cost effective than larger districts. This data clearly does not support the myth of the economics of larger scales.
FEATURE
Mathematically Incorrect Websites
Sigrid Wagner Mathematics Specialist
Ohio Resource Center
The Ohio Resource Center for Mathematics, Science, and Reading scours the Internet to locate good lesson plans and other high quality educational resources for teachers. ORC Review Boards carefully screen identified web-based resources for accuracy of content, alignment with research and national and state standards, and 12 other criteria specified in the ORC review rubric. The resources recommended on the ORC website represent some of the best material ORC has found on a wide range of topics.
In the course of the screening and review process, ORC has come across an unfortunate number of Internet lessons that are either inaccurate or terribly confusing. What is most surprising (and disturbing) is that some of these horrible examples appear on websites sponsored by large governmental agencies or highly esteemed professional organizations, exactly the kinds of websites that users would assume to be accurate and trustworthy. Here are some hair-raising examples of lessons found on otherwise reputable websites:
Now maybe in Canada, when you paint a house—and pay the painters more because of the high ceilings—maybe you only paint the floors. That’s what the solution to the problem posed on this website implies (see the solution at the very bottom of the page).
2. Next, consider an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) webpage: http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?DocID=250
In studying the volume of cylinders, this lesson asks the question, “How is a cylinder scaled up by double?” [whatever that means] and answers, “By doubling the height and circumference.” Since this is a lesson on volume, will students conclude that doubling the height and circumference will double the volume? Certainly no confusion here.
3. Not even the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) is immune. Try: http://illuminations.nctm.org/lessonplans/6-8/linking5/index.html
Here is an applet that teaches students in a dynamically visual—thus highly memorable— way that surface area increases more and faster than volume when the sides of a prism are increased. Had they only extended the graph, students would see that the volume soon dwarfs the surface area.
4. Finally, take a look at a lesson on Math Forum, quite possibly the oldest and most venerable mathematics website of all:
HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING IN OUR NECK OF THE WOODS
Teacher Development Initiative
Update by: Karen Mitchell, Marshall University
Many significant and first-time events have occurred within the Teacher Development Initiative since the last RME update. ACCLAIM Professional
As of September 20, 2004, the Appalachian Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AAMTE) has 75 charter members. The general purpose of the organization is to promote all aspects of the improvement of mathematics teacher education in central Appalachia. Membership in the organization is open to all individuals who reside or work in central Appalachia and who are interested in the purpose and goals of the organization. In the next month members will vote on the ratification of the
organization’s constitution and bylaws; a subcommittee of members will prepare a slate of officers; and work will continue to pave the way for the organization to receive affiliate standing with the national organization, Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators. Individuals who are interested in becoming an active member of AAMTE should send an email to [email protected] for additional information or an application form.
enthusiastic about the information that they received from James Schultz and Craig Howley on the ACCLAIM research agenda. P. Mark Taylor did an excellent job of facilitating all the general discussions.
In spite of the fact that most of central Appalachia was under a flood warning and Interstate 64 was closed for 5 hours, 95 participants attended the third annual
Mathematics Teacher Preparation in Appalachia conference in Huntington, WV, on September 17-18, 2004. This conference is designed for any individual who is involved with mathematics teacher preparation at the middle school, high school, or college levels in the Appalachian regions of West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. As a result this conference provides the right environment for mathematics educators,
conference was on target in meeting its two primary goals of providing opportunities for community building and providing useful professional development.
In September 2005, the theme for the faculty conference will be field experiences. For the first time we will be soliciting proposals to speak from the members of the
regional mathematics education community. A formal request for proposals will be posted on the ACCLAIM website on December 6, 2004. Proposals that address the nature of the experiences that provide the best preparation for mathematics teachers who work in Appalachia and teach at grades 5-16 are appropriate for this conference. Listed below are some examples of topics for proposals that would satisfy the criteria for this conference.
• Innovative rural field experiences for pre-service students • Faculty mentoring at the college level
• Teaching seminars for graduate students
• Coaching and mentoring for middle or high school teachers
• Unique collaborations among mathematics and education departments that result in successful field experiences
• Professional learning communities
ACCLAIM Hosts Meeting for Math-Related Centers Vena Long, University of Tennessee from the PI
ACCLAIM hosted a retreat for all Centers for Learning and Teaching that deal with Mathematics on October 11-13, 2004 at Whitestone Inn, Paint Rock, Tennessee. Principal investigators (PI s) from seven of the eight such centers attended along with some of their colleagues. NSF, CLTnet and SRI (external evaluators) were also
represented.
NSF provided supplemental funding to ACCLAIM to support this endeavor, which was aimed at furthering communication between centers. Topics of discussion included shared research opportunities, recruiting and supporting graduate students, distance learning, and professional development. CLTnet will provide the means for continued conversation after this gathering.
Capacity Building Update by: Vena Long
The Capacity Building Initiative is celebrating the intersection of our two doctoral cohorts—known within the Center as ’02 and ’04, but labeled by the first cohort as the “real” cohort and the “imaginary” cohort. At the AAMTE meeting in Huntington, WV the two groups met, shared their personal lifeworlds, and empathized with each other through the shared pain of their ACCLAIM experiences.
The ’02 cohort, in charge of the program and led by Brian Boyd, reviewed the rural component of the program. Faculty members from the various participating
institutions were on hand to interact with the group, and Mary Lindquist, past president of NCTM and keynote speaker for AAMTE, also shared with the ACCLAIMERs.
Doctoral committees have been formed for all of the ’02 cohort, and plans are being made for comprehensive examinations in the summer. Sample questions will be solicited from the mathematics professors and the rural education professors to share with the various committees as examinations are being prepared.
Research Initiative Update Update by: Craig Howley
September 25, 2004
Current collaborations, research and publications
The Center’s sponsored studies continue to unfold. Two are underway and a third has been approved.
Study of rural community perceptions . In the last issue, we reported briefly on the work undertaken by Dave Lucas and his team of students, who traveled to an Appalachian community to interview students and adults about their experiences of mathematics in life and mathematics in school. The study addressed the following themes through a series of structured interviews and other techniques:
Interpretations of math: What is mathematics in the view of rural people? Math in school when children or youth: What do people have to say about their formal math education?
Math out of school when children or youth: Did people encounter math – quantitative thinking, number relationships, calculations, problem-solving, measurement of various sorts – outside school when they were students? Where, why, and with what meaning or influence on them?
Math for future adult life: How does mathematics education assist in the production of the “college-going student” in rural communities, and what meanings are attached to this identity?
Math in present adult life: Where does it happen, why, and with what meaning or effects?
Math for community: To what extent does better knowledge of mathematics among rural community members contribute to the improvement of rural communities?
We received the final report in June, and it is being prepared for publication. The story of this project, and the involvement of “non-traditional” undergraduate students as novice research assistants is, we think, as interesting as the report itself. Look for that story in a subsequent issue of The Rural Mathematics Educator.
Study of rural principals’ engagement of reform. The study of rural principals’ engagement of mathematics education reform is also well underway, with many of the planned interviews completed. The research team, which includes ACCLAIM doctoral students Brian Boyd (cohort 1) and Ron Smith and Victor Brown (cohort 2), is planning to meet in Cincinnati in December to discuss data analysis. The research questions for the study are as follows:
• How do principals of remote rural and cosmopolitan rural high schools think about standards-based mathematics?
• How do principals of remote rural and cosmopolitan rural high schools construct their role with regard to the deployment of standards-based mathematics reform in Ohio?
“Cosmopolitan” rural high schools are defined as rural or small-town schools (specified as such by the National Center for Education Statistics) located in counties that attract more commuting workers than they lose to other counties. “Remote” rural schools are defined as rural (and not small-town) by NCES and are located in counties with a net commuting loss to other counties.
Mathematics, meanings, and identity in a rural high school. A doctoral student outside the ACCLAIM partner institutions recently applied for and received support for a case study of mathematics, meanings, and identity in a rural high school. Rick Anderson, at Portland State University, is collecting data this fall in a rural high school in Oregon. These are the questions posed by the study:
• What are the characteristics of the mathematics education experienced by rural high school students?
• What does their mathematics education mean to rural high school students, their parents, and mathematics teachers?
• How do the meanings differ for the high school students, their parents, and mathematics teachers?
Cohort 2 Comes to Athens
Ohio University hosted the 18 new doctoral students in ACCLAIM’s second cohort from June 21 to July 30. It was a formative experience for everyone, including some of the faculty. We’re proud of the commitment, the hard work, and the openness to new ideas exhibited by our students. See the related story in this issue.
Research Agenda
A team from the research initiative will soon be publishing 48 research questions developed as part of the Center’s further development of its research agenda. The questions have been developed over the past two years by Research Initiative investigators, in collaboration with efforts of researchers around the nation
Another NSF Rural Mathematics Project
RESOURCE REVIEW
USDA County Typology Codes Updated to Include Both Urban and Rural To provide policy-relevant information about diverse county conditions to policymakers, public officials, and researchers, ERS has developed a new set of county-level typology codes that captures differences in economic and social characteristics. This release revises the preliminary codes released in May 2004.
The 2004 County Typology Codes were developed for all 3,141 counties, county equivalents, and independent cities in the United States. Their primary function is to help differentiate among nonmetro counties, but metro counties are also coded to facilitate comparisons.
The 2004 County Typology codes classify all U.S. counties according to six non-overlapping categories of economic dependence and seven non-overlapping categories of policy-relevant themes. The economic types include farming, mining, manufacturing, services, Federal/State government, and unspecialized counties. The policy types include housing stress, low-education, low-employment, persistent poverty, population loss, nonmetro recreation, and retirement destination.
A preliminary version of these codes was released on the ERS website in May 2004. This is the final version and includes revised farming-dependent counties, along with five economic types that have not previously been released. For more information: http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/rurality/typology/. The policy types remain unchanged
UPCOMING EVENTS January 27 - 29, 2005
The Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE), Ninth Annual Conference (Dallas, Texas)
February 25-26, 2005
ANNOUNCEMENTS Rural Education Dissertation of the Year
The Rural Education Special Interest Group (SIG) seeks nominations for its 3rd Dissertation of the Year Award. The winner of the award will be recognized at the Rural SIG reception at the Annual AERA Meeting in April, 2005 in Montréal. Doctoral dissertations completed between September 1, 2002 and August 31, 2004 are eligible to be nominated. An eligible dissertation may be nominated by its author.
The awards committee will accept nominations from any research tradition in curriculum, teaching, learning, educational policy and related areas in which the rurality of the research context is conceptualized in the dissertation's design and report of findings.
The nomination must include the dissertation author’s current contact
information (including postal address, phone, email address, current higher education and work affiliation) and, if different, the nominee's contact information. In addition, the nomination must provide the name of institution and date of the award of the doctoral degree.
Job Opportunity
Western Carolina University invites applications for the Director of the Office for Rural Education. Required: A doctorate in one of the professional education disciplines within the College of Education and Allied Professions; successful track record of
obtaining grants; and a working knowledge of B-12 education and university settings. For position details go to http://www.wcu.edu/, click on Quick Links, and then click on Jobs. Western Carolina University is an EOE.
Federal Investment in Rural America Falls Behind
A new study from the W.K. Kellogg foundation comparing total per-person federal spending in rural areas to total per-person federal spending in metro areas during the period 1994-2001 concludes that during this period, the federal government spent more than two times (and sometimes up to five times) as much per capita on metropolitan community development as it did on rural community development.
http://www.wkkf.org/Pubs/Federal_Spending_for_Rural_00376_03977.pdf
Up to $2,000 for lessons that connect mathematics to other fields
should be on showing the connectivity of mathematics to other fields or to the world around us. Recipients must be members of NCTM, have three or more years of
mathematics teaching experience, and currently teach mathematics in grades 9-12 at least 50 percent of the school day. http://www.nctm.org/about/met/pappas.htm
JRRE Moves Online
With Volume 19, the Journal of Research in Rural Education has converted to an online open-access journal (http://www.umaine.edu/jrre/index.htm).
JRRE has just published Volume 19 Number 1, "State-Mandated Testing and Cultural Resistance in Appalachian Schools: Competing Values and Expectations," by Arlie Woodrum, Ohio University. The article can be accessed directly from
http://www.umaine.edu/jrre/19-1.htm.
Southern Governors on Rural High School Graduation Rates
The Southern Governors' Association unveiled the final report for the "New Traditions: Options for High School Excellence" initiative during their annual meeting. The report outlines an analysis of the problems facing Southern rural high schools, observations made during site visits to designated high performing rural schools, and strategies to address some of the most pressing challenges that rural schools face, including some of the nation's lowest graduation rates.
makers, appointed by their governors, to focus especially on the needs of rural and small town high schools.
By issuing a report as a stimulus to policy making in the states to bolster public education, the SGA signals that the region intends to lead the nation toward the goals of improving high school graduation and college-going rates. Governors in the South have already taken the lead in sponsoring statewide initiatives. As a result, the South has made great strides in raising student achievement and holding schools accountable. The full report is at: http://www.southerngovernors.org/indexPDF/SGANewTraditions.pdf
New Research Centers
Education Week has reported the funding of three new centers, which they refer to as a new generation of education research centers. One addresses rural education. To read more:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2004/09/22/04choice.h24.html?querystring=new%20
Publication Opportunities
Would we be interested in your work? The answer is yes if the words “rural” and
“mathematics” appear often in your manuscript. We welcome distinctive and non-trendy scholarship. Empirical work (quantitative or qualitative) is a priority, but we will
consider theoretical pieces, historical research or biography, and very well argued commentary as well. Contact Craig Howley at [email protected] or Jim Schultz at [email protected] for more information.
Disclaimer
The Rural Mathematics Educator is produced at Ohio University and published electronically by the Research Initiative of the Appalachian Collaborative Center for Learning, Assessment, and Instruction in Mathematics (ACCLAIM).
The Research Initiative is housed in McCracken Hall, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701-2979.
Office: 740-593-9869 Fax: 740-593-0477
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://acclaim.coe.ohiou.edu
ACCLAIM is funded by the National Science Foundation as a Center for Learning and Teaching. The Center is a partnership of the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation (Lexington), Marshall University (Huntington, WV), Ohio University (Athens), the University of Kentucky (Lexington), the University of Louisville (Louisville), the University of Tennessee (Knoxville), and West Virginia University (Morgantown).
