Reform Efforts in Developmental and Gateway Math Courses

Are you looking for a ‘one-stop’ summary of reform efforts?  Perhaps you have been told you need to do a redesign, and wonder if there is a better alternative.  Maybe you have been teaching in a redesigned curriculum with intense use of technology, and are looking for something that works  better for your students.  The purpose of this post is to provide a quick summary of some national efforts and a few state-based efforts.  [Some of this was shared at the end of the June 6, 2012, webinar on reform in developmental and gateway math courses.]

New Life Project  (AMATYC Developmental Mathematics Committee) — project information at http://dm-live.wikispaces.com

The New Life Project developed a general curricular model to replace the traditional developmental mathematics courses, based on applying the work of prior professional work (such as MAA, NADE, Numeracy Network, and others) with a goal of fundamental change not only in the curriculum but in the profession.  The work is fundamentally based on the more progressive ideas in the AMATYC Standards ( Beyond Crossroads, http://beyondcrossroads.amatyc.org/).  Colleges and faculty implementing the New Life work adapt the general model to their specific local needs and resources; no grant money is involved with the project.  The New Life model can be used for targeted groups, or for all students.

Dana Center New Mathways Project — information at http://www.utdanacenter.org/mathways/

The New Mathways Project is an evolution of the Statway™ and Quantway™ work, which was a shared development by the Carnegie Foundation (see below) and the Dana Center (University of Texas – Austin).  The Dana Center used additional faculty and college input to elaborate a model for 3 basic paths — Statistics, Quantitative Literacy, and STEM, each sharing a new Student Success course.  The New Mathways Project includes development of all instructional materials, which is about to begin.  The project web site has a very useful implementation guide which will help any reform effort.

Carnegie Foundation Pathways (Statway™, Quantway™) — information at http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/pathways-connection

The Pathways Project was begun in 2009, which parallels the work of the New Life Project; the initial math learning outcomes for the pathways came from the New Life work, and several people were involved with both efforts.  Currently, the Pathways are “closed systems” — access to the curricular materials and homework system is limited to colleges which are members of the “Networked Improvement Community” (NIC); members of the NIC work together to implement a generally uniform curriculum.  The Pathways implementations are limited to targeted groups of students — those who need a statistics course or those who need a quantitative reasoning course.  The development of the Pathways was grant funded; colleges joining at this stage will be paying modest fees to support the work of the NIC.

AMATYC Right Stuff for college algebra — information at http://www.therightstuff.amatyc.org/

The Right Stuff project developed alternative lessons for a college algebra course used for general education, with NSF funding.  A strength of this effort is the concrete modules that instructors can implement; the project also has a web page of other resources for college algebra (see http://www.therightstuff.amatyc.org/resources/).  At this time, there is no known effort at the national level to broadly change the college algebra courses … though MAA has issued a number of reports and calls for change.

State effort — FOCUS (Texas State University ) — information at http://www.math.txstate.edu/devmath/FOCUS.html

State effort – CAP (California Acceleration project) — information at http://cap.3csn.org/

State effort — RPM (Rethinking Precollege Mathematics, Washington) — information at http://rethinking-precollege-math.wikispaces.com/

If you are aware of other efforts (national in particular, or especially in college algebra  & gateway courses), please let me know!

 
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