A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

In some sense, the history of reform at Fruitvale High School, one of two high schools in a city of almost 200,000, parallels the reform of math education which has been occurring over the past 20 years at a national level. In the 1970's, a confluence of ideas produced an impetus for the reform of math education. The "new math era" of the 1960's was seen as a failure as educators saw test scores fall and conceptual understanding among students falter. The pendulum began to swing towards a "back to the basics" movement in the 1970's. This "back to the basics" movement then led to the current focus in mathematics education on conceptual understanding, which was seen as a weak point in the "back to the basics" movement. This pull between the "back to the basics" emphasis on factual knowledge and the current emphasis on conceptual knowledge is an unresolved struggle in the mathematics department at Fruitvale.

Some of the questions pervading the mathematics community at large, as well as the Fruitvale mathematics department are: How much and what kind of basic content knowledge must a student have? What is the place of computational expertise vs. conceptual understanding? How much rote knowledge must students possess in order to be successful in their conceptual understanding? What is the place of technology in the mathematics classroom? What does a foundation in mathematics look like? What kinds of skills must students have before they can solve problems in context?

These questions have been in the minds of a select group of Fruitvale mathematics teachers since the mid-1980's. Two Fruitvale teachers attended national leadership institutes, one in 1986 and one in 1988. Through these activities, these teachers began working with math educators from around the nation, and brought new ideas back to Fruitvale. They began developing courses which, through the use of technology, were designed to enhance students' understanding of mathematics. A group of three teachers also developed courses which have been successful in restructuring the mathematics learning experience through strategies such as team work, discovery learning, and the use of content embedded in context.

To a high degree, the impetus for mathematics curriculum reform at Fruitvale has come from the initiative and experience of three teachers involved in the activities described above, all of whom saw the need to redefine the body of knowledge called mathematics. In general, their passion has caught on with other teachers in the department, and the tone within the department is one of willingness to take risks, write proposals for funding, try new materials, and work to involve students in mathematics.

Yet not all teachers share the same reformed-oriented philosophical viewpoint of the goals and basics for mathematics. Also, some of the teachers in the department have begun to resist changing the curriculum because they do not feel that they are a part of the decision making process around those changes. These philosophical and power struggle issues are two of the sticking points in the progression of curriculum reform at Fruitvale.

Another difficulty in the process of curriculum reform is that the new materials and philosophies tend to shake up the traditional roles of teachers and students. Those teachers who believe that mathematics should be done differently are confronted with uncertainty about how to implement their vision of the reformed mathematics classroom. The new materials tend to demand that students construct their own knowledge and be active rather than passive learners, as well as for teachers to be the facilitators of the students' active learning. However, the teachers are trained to be the deliverers of knowledge and they employ such strategies as lecturing to get information across to their students. The new materials render strategies such as lecturing inappropriate, and yet teachers are uncertain as to what other strategies to use. They want to put the students in an active role, but they do not know how to do this. As a result, the teachers' visions for reform in mathematics is impeded by their lack of training in new, facilitator-oriented pedagogical techniques.

Another challenge to the reform at Fruitvale is that while curriculum materials are being revised, assessment practices are not. Some teachers continue to use unit and chapter examinations as their form of assessment. Other teachers see assessment as an ongoing process and utilize a variety of methods to assess students' skills and knowledge. But all teachers feel that the most important assessment measure is that which is provided by the SAT, as the community wants students to be successful on this standardized test. As yet, there has been little success in bringing the community on board in the efforts toward mathematics reform.

In addition, at both the school and district level, administrative support for mathematics reform has grown less cohesive over the past few years. While there is interest and perhaps even vision on the part of the school and district administration for reform in mathematics, there is a lack of agreement in how to bring the reform into being.

In all, the greatest impediments to reform at Fruitvale are the fragmented nature of the reform efforts in the context of the district, and the lack of a cohesive, school-wide or community-wide vision regarding the direction of the reform. In order for the reform to go forward at this site, the discourse regarding what mathematical understanding is and what body of knowledge kids should have when they finish high school must continue. The process is ongoing as these educators strive to change the tradition of high school mathematics.

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