Division of Mathematics Learning and Teaching

Boston University will establish Focus on Mathematics, a targeted partnership including five school districts, the Education Development Center, and, as supporting partners, two other university centers. Our goals are not what makes us distinctive: we wish to raise student achievement in mathematics and to ensure that all K–12 students in our districts are able to think mathematically, to solve problems, and to look at the world through mathematical eyes. Although creative and valuable contributions have been proposed and implemented over the decades, we are still far from achieving these goals for all students. What makes us different is an approach, jointly developed in the partnership, that we call mathematics at the core:the stance, rooted in research, that student achievement will improve if and only if those involved in mathematics education put the discipline of mathematics and the study of how mathematical thinking develops at the core of their work. Focus on Mathematics will develop a mathematically sophisticated 5–12 teaching corps in our districts—a corps built with the collaboration of teachers, administrators, mathematicians, and mathematics educators— and we’ll show that such a faculty, steeped in mathematics, can and will implement rigorous, student-centered programs to achieve our goals for all students. We’ll do this by building on prior work to establish a mathematical community and culture among and within our partner organizations, one in which lunchtime, hall, or faculty lounge discussions about a geometry problem, a conjecture in arithmetic, or a student’s intriguing idea are commonplace. This community will develop an orchestrated program of content-based professional development and mentoring, focussing on the mathematical advancement of every student in our care. In this partnership, developing deeper mathematical understanding will be everyone’s work; teaching and learning will be everyone’s professions. Students will experience the kind of world-class mathematics that can only come from teachers who are life-long learners of mathematics and who are a part of a community of experts in mathematics, teaching, and learning.