Yakima Valley Partnership

part of the Transition Math Project centered in Yakima, Washington

Partners

Educational Service District 105 – Yakima Central Washington University – Ellensburg Yakima Valley Community College – Yakima Heritage University – Toppenish Grandview School District Wapato School District West Valley School District Others – Mabton, Sunnyside and Yakima

School Districts

Project Overview – Timeline

4 year process Sleeping Lady Retreat

Math/Science Partnership Grant

Phase II Transition Math Project grant

Project Overview – Our Needs Create a forum for partners to collaborate and learn

from each other. Increase capacity for sustained local leadership in

mathematics. Create teacher/instructor partnerships for teaching

mathematics. Increase the pedagogical and content knowledge of all

teachers of mathematics. Increase student achievement and understanding of

rigorous mathematics content Help parents understand importance of rigorous

mathematics content in the lives of their students.

Project Overview – Sections

Teacher and Instructor Observations Structure Data collection form

Summer Institutes and School Year Content Training for Secondary Teachers Summer of 2008 2008 – 2009 School Year Summer of 2009

Project Overview – Sections

Bridge Course Development Wapato High School and Grandview High School West Valley High School Course Articulation agreements between partner high

schools and higher education institutions Communication with Parents and Community

Radio spot on Spanish station Wapato Family Math Night

Project OverviewContinuity and Lessons Learned

Leadership

Challenges

Lessons Learned

Design of Course Materials Content:

Examination of current high school curriculum and alignment with College Readiness Standards. Probability & Statistics Modeling with a variety of different functions

Attention to the College Readiness Student Attributes as well. Intellectual engagement (willingness to approach a complex problem, active

exploration, desire to generalize), perseverance (work on problems that require time, thought, and organization)

High School teachers’ knowledge of student past performance on college placement tests. Continued practice with algebraic manipulation

Understanding of College expectation and placement procedures. Campus visits to area colleges and “practice” with actual placement tests.

Design of Course Materials

Pedagogy “ILAP”-like: ILAPs are Interdisciplinary Lively Application Projects. Specifically, in-depth modules rich with context.

“Rich Tasks”: Many problems Offer a variety of approaches Are open-ended Invite exploration and further research Allow students to make and test conjectures

Probability and Statistics:

1. Red Fish, Blue Fish, One Fish, Two Fish...  An introduction to exploratory data analysis using fish counts at Bonneville Dam.

2. Getting to Know Your Class:  A classroom survey to gather data that can be referred to in later parts of the course.

3. How Many Birthdays Today?: Using basic counting skills and strategies, compute the likelihood of two people in your class having the same birthday.

Probability and Statistics:

4. To Switch or not to Switch, That is the Question!  Exploratory activity in basic probability to investigate the famous "Monty Hall Problem“.

5. Accuracy and Apparent Accuracy in Medical Testing: An in-depth look at the factors surrounding "false positives" in medical screening.  Notions of sensitivity, specificity, apparent sensitivity, and apparent specificity are investigated.

Introduction to Modeling:

1. The Battle of Trafalgar: Mathematics Meets History: Uses the setting of the battle of Trafalgar to give students an introduction to the concept of modeling.  Uses proportional analysis and recursive calculations to study two different battle strategies.

2. Let it Grow, Let it Grow, Let it Grow,...  Explores the exponential (Mathusian) and logistic models of population using both real and imaginative data.

Introduction to Modeling:

3. Cool! Introduces students to Newton's Law of Cooling and examines how to fit such a mode to real data.

4. What's Your Function? Uses logarithms and the notion of linear fits to help decide which types of functions (linear, power, exponential) best fit given data. 

5. Fish and Fishing: An Ecological Model of Fish Harvesting A more in-depth look at population modeling.  The logistic model is expanded on to include yearly "harvest" figures resulting in very interesting dynamics.

Visit to CWU1. Welcome from Mathematics Department Chair

Description of placement procedures and mathematics requirements at CWU

2. Expectations College professor explains his expectations of college students.

3. Mini-lecture from Math 101 A Math 101 instructor introduces material that was recently covered in his college class.

4. “Fun” math activity: Demonstration of how linked strands (two ropes) could be used to model rational numbers

(including infinity!) Exploration of infinity: Infinite numbers of guests arrive at a full hotel, but everyone gets their

own room!

5. Current college student testimony: A college student (who recently graduated from one of the partner schools) gives his take on

college expectations.

6. Campus Tour7. Lunch in the Dining Hall

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfHCzxDpMgs

Readiness Math Course at Wapato High School

Yakima Valley Project Partners: Central Washington University Heritage University Yakima Valley Community College Educational Service District 105 Grandview High School West Valley High School Wapato High School

Development of Course

Pilot course (Spring Semester 2009 materials developed – ILAPS from CWU – Dr Stuart Boersma

Fall/Spring 2009/2010

Course grew into a year-long course due to the great need for more upper-level math courses for juniors and seniors at Wapato High School

How did we generate student interest in the course?

The need existed for another upper-level math course for juniors and seniors due to students not passing the Math WASL requirements.

There were no other upper-level math courses offered other than the traditional Pre-Calculus to Calculus Track.

More students are interested in going to college and they are realizing they need to take more high school math classes than the two-year graduation requirement.

Student Reflections on this Course Overall I felt that college readiness math course material did

inform me of what I would be expected to know to be able to pass a college level math course.

CRM also helped me to know what I struggled with in order to better prepare myself for the next time around in taking the placement test.

At CWU during a field trip we were able to attend a real college math class.

We got to listen to instructors from CWU on college level math and they also gave us some examples on what the work might look like.

I liked the hands-on projects and also speakers from other colleges who informed students of what is required.

Data Collection

Compass Test 20 students took part in the pre and post Compass testing at

YVCC. All CRM students placed in remedial classes according to the results.

6 students experienced slight improvements (single-digit growth)

3 students experienced marked improvement (double-digit growth)

Pre Test Compass average 28.8 (Algebra)

Post Test Compass average 31.4 (Algebra)

MPT-G Pilot College Readiness Test

Wapato High School CRM students participated in the University of Washington MPT-G Pilot test – spring 2009

Based on results: 9 out of 18 seniors placed into college level math course 3 out of 8 juniors placed into college level math course

Plan for Sustainability

Need for an upper-level math course that offers rigor, problem-solving, and assessments at the college readiness level.

Continued District/Building support of the Algebra II prerequisite for students coming into College Readiness Math.

Continued support and communication with our Transitional Math YV Project Partners to make college success possible for all students.

Collaboration & Articulation Agreements

Collaboration Central Washington University (CWU) Heritage University (HU) Yakima Valley Community College (YVCC)

Articulation Agreements CWU and HU – Students who take the Wapato College

Readiness Math Course and pass the class with a B grade or better will place into a non-STEM college-credit bearing mathematics course without taking the placement test.

YVCC – Students who take the Wapato College Readiness Math Course and pass the class with a B grade or better will place into Math 95 (Intermediate Algebra).

Next Steps

Benefits Connection to statewide Transition Math Project

Whatcom County Project WAMAP

Impact in our region Sustaining our work

Grant through Higher Education Coordination Board to build content knowledge for middle school teachers

Continued collaboration between partners

Questions?