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MetroMath- The Center for Mathematics in America’s Cities is one of 13 Centers for Learning and Teaching funded by the National Science Foundation. MetroMath is a collaboration between The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Rutgers University, and the University of Pennsylvania. The MetroMath Center has identified three key issues in urban mathematics education, aligned with its focus, around which the research agenda has been organized:
If you have questions about MetroMath Center research, please contact Senior Research Associate, Lynda Ginsburg at ginsburg@rci.rutgers.edu. The funded MetroMath Center projects are:
MetroMath Study #1: Community-to-School Mathematics The purpose of this study is to examine mathematical practices outside of school mathematics and their relationship to mathematics learning in schools. We use the term out-of-school practices to refer to a number of activities, structured and unstructured, during afternoons, summers, and weekends that fall outside the time and settings allocated for mathematics instruction in schools. Activities and practices in these different settings may make distinctly different contributions to learning. School-based learning, with an emphasis on mathematical notations, algorithms, and systems of wide generality, may be unparalleled in introducing students to the power of formal mathematics (e.g., algebra; generalized procedures for performing calculations with rational numbers). However, classroom instruction has been less effective at developing an intuitive sense of mathematics that is readily accessible for thinking in other settings and that is fluidly integrated with purposeful activities. The disconnections between in-school and out-of-school mathematics are well documented in the literature. The aim of this study is to examine in great detail the relationship between out-of-school and in-school mathematics activity in order to consider the possibility that greater connections might be forged and that disconnections might be explained.
MetroMath Study #2: The Role of Caregivers in Supporting Conceptually Challenging Mathematics Learning This study will examine the roles that urban parents and other caregivers are given and/or choose to enact to support their children’s mathematics learning, particularly in relation to their children’s homework. It will also examine the children’s mathematics positioning, by others and by themselves, as they cross back and forth between school and home. The goal of this group is to develop a research base that will identify resources and opportunities that could be coordinated to promote the learning of conceptually challenging mathematics, making school mathematics a more effective, powerful, and meaningful experience for urban students.
MetroMath Study #3: Affect and Motivation This study will investigate the development of powerful affect around conceptually challenging mathematics in urban classrooms. The Affect Working Group will implement one study, in two sites, seeking to understand how to create conditions in classrooms that make urban students engaged and invested learners of mathematics. The initial sites have been selected based on evidence these conditions are present. The middle grade level was chosen for a variety of reasons, but most particularly because this is considered a pivotal or critical age for children in mathematics – an age when achievement differences can become exacerbated (e.g., see NAEP data). The study entails identification of affective variables and indicators in relation to the literature and in relation to our prospective research sites in Newark and Plainfield; the formulation of interview protocols and questionnaires for use with professional staff; interviews with teachers and other professional staff; and initial classroom observations.
MetroMath Study #4: Policy Approaches to Recruitment and Retention This study will survey the broad array of strategies and policies that have been instituted in cities across the United States for recruiting, preparing and retaining middle and high school teachers of mathematics to the profession. Strategies considered will include alternate routes to certification, increasing teacher preparation programs, recruitment of career teachers (“Resident Teacher Corps”), programs encouraging temporary coverage (“Teach for America”), and importing teachers. This study will address each of a number of policy approaches to the issues of the recruitment, retention, and professional development of urban teachers of mathematics. The goal of the study is to document and understand the various policy approaches that urban districts are employing to recruit, retain, and develop math teachers. The expectation is that MetroMath will be able to provide information and guidance to urban districts on which policy approaches they might reasonably pursue.
MetroMath Study #5: Alternative Certification of Urban Mathematics Teachers This three-year study is examining the preparation, experiences, and development of urban mathematics teachers through a multi-dimensional lens. The largest alternative certification program in the United States, the New York City Teaching Fellows, currently provides over 60% of all new math teachers in NYC and 1 in 5 NYC math teachers entered the teaching profession via this pathway. We are examining how these math teachers are prepared to teach and engage urban students in conceptually challenging mathematics. We are also studying how these teachers develop their own understandings of urban students' identities, communities, and cultures and how these understandings may affect their math teaching. Math Teaching Fellows are surveyed and interviewed during the 3-year experience. In addition, eight math teaching fellows are being observed in their classes once every two weeks, in which they are videotaped, field notes are taken, and the teachers participate in a lesson reflection and post-observation interview. Finally, mathematics coaches, an important part of the teaching fellows' mentorship, from two regions are studied as to their interactions, mentorship, and beliefs about NYC math teaching fellows. It is anticipated that the data analysis from this study will help to:
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