Dana Center Higher Ed In Brief â€“ November/December 2017

November/December 2017

A Message from Doug

Editor’s note: In May 2017, Doug Sovde joined the Dana Center as our new director of K–12 Education Strategy, Policy, and Services.

Over the past few years, more and more educators and education systems have joined the mathematics pathways movement. Administrators and faculty in higher education and in K–12 systems see the disconnect between mathematics course offerings and our students’ interests and goals and are taking concrete actions to bridge it.

To prepare all our students for success in college and career, we as educators have an equity-based moral imperative to address the problem from kindergarten through (at least) the early years of college.

Mathematics pathways should guide learners even before they’ve begun their college careers. That is, we need pathways to help our students transition from high school to postsecondary studies.

This week, the Dana Center releases the first in a series of briefs that explore and define what we call the “launch year” challenge—as in our students’ launch out of high school and into college and career.

These briefs outline recommendations for how we—as educators, policymakers, administrators, advisors, and leaders in K–12 and postsecondary education—can best collaborate to serve our students better. Read The Case for Mathematics Pathways from the Launch Years in High School through Postsecondary Education.

We will follow up over the next few months with new installments in this series. Upcoming briefs will discuss launch years course content and recommend a process for building successful collaborations between high school and college.

Be sure not to miss future installments. Stay tuned for our emails and follow us on social media.

Doug Sovde, M.Ed.
Director, K-12 Education Strategy, Policy and Services
The Charles A. Dana Center

What We Are Doing

STARTING TOMORROW – The Dana Center Presents at AMATYC

Members of the Dana Center’s expert teams, along with associates and colleagues from around the country, will present a range of applicable, action-oriented thinking and research at the 43rd Annual Conference of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC). A few of our topics include:

Showing the data from several mathematics pathways implementations and learning how best to assess new initiatives
Defining and discussing the meaning of rigor in mathematics instruction
Using inquiry-based applications to help students discover deeper meaning in pre-calculus

If you or your colleagues are visiting sunny San Diego for AMATYC 2017, be sure to join us!

Learn more about Dana Center sessions at AMATYC.

DCMP Teams Deliver Support for Co-Requisite Implementations in Texas

In September and October, teams from the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways (DCMP) delivered a series of interactive webinars and in-person workshops to lead the charge in co-requisite implementation in Texas. This technical assistance provided initial guidance to institutional teams planning co-requisite implementations at scale. These efforts emerged as a nimble response to the passage of Texas HB 2223 in June, which defines a three-year timeline for statewide co-requisite implementation.

Over 300 stakeholders—mathematics faculty, department chairs, advisors, vice presidents, and other campus leaders from institutions and organizations across the state—convened to collaborate and plan the best ways to meet the requirements of this challenging and exciting mandate. We look forward to helping Texas institutions in successful co-requisite implementations in the future.

Learn more about the Dana Center's co-requisite implementation support efforts.

“We cannot thank the Dana Center enough for the incredible two-day workshop and helpful information that you provided all of the colleges in the Gulf Coast and Southeast Region. Our math faculty here at Lee College were so motivated by your ideas on how to better implement HB 2223 that they asked us to schedule a collaborative afternoon workshop…where all developmental educational and credit math faculty are bringing forward new ideas that inspired them. They were very eager to share the information with the entire division and get started as soon as possible. Please know that the information you shared was very valuable and had a lasting effect on Lee College. I know many of the other colleges felt the same.”

Christy Ponce, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President, Lee College
Baytown, Texas

We’re Getting New Digs!

The Dana Center staff has been growing at an astonishing rate in recent years. The resounding success of our initiatives brings increased demand for our services, curriculum, and thought leadership. Staff capacity continues to grow to meet that demand, and our office space on The University of Texas at Austin’s main campus has become tight.

As of today, we’re moving to a new office space! The new Dana Center office will be located in a spacious, sunny building that is an extension of UT Austin’s storied J.J. Pickle Research Campus. Please update your mailing lists now and, when you’re in Austin, come in for a visit!

The Charles A. Dana Center
3925 W. Braker Lane, Suite 3.801
Austin, TX 78759

What We Are Reading...and Listening to...

“Reclaim the mathematical lives of a million students a year…”
The Dana Center’s founder and executive director, Dr. Uri Treisman, is featured in an episode of the new audio podcast “The Pathfinder” by the Texas Community College Teachers Association (TCCTA) and the Texas Success Center. In this interview, Uri reflects on his approach to teaching, discusses instructional rigor, and expresses some ambitious goals for mathematics pathways and their impact on students.

Listen to Uri’s episode or explore more episodes from The Pathfinder podcast.

Demystifying Mathematics Pathways
What are the cultural changes needed as the uptake in mathematics pathways expands across the country? What are the implications for the student experience? How are faculty and organizations impacted? Dr. Rob Johnstone and Kelley Karandjeff, EdM, of the National Center for Inquiry & Improvement, explore these and other new “momentum” questions for the second installment in the “Guided Pathways” series.

Read “Guided Pathways II: Addressing 10 New Questions as the Movement
Gains Momentum.”

Spotlight Resources

This month, we are featuring two closely related (and recently updated!) DCMP resources. As always, these resources are available from the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways website.

Updated Texas Transfer Inventory
The Texas Transfer Inventory is our most popular download (available in both PDF and Excel formats). Updated with 2017–2018 catalog data, our transfer inventory contains detailed mathematics course requirements for every degree offered by all public institutions of higher education in Texas. College advisors and administrators frequently use this resource to guide students towards enrollment in mathematics pathways that will transfer and apply to university degree programs.

Download the 2017–2018 Texas Transfer Inventory here.

Texas Transfer Inventory – Program Comparison Dataset
This updated companion to the Texas Transfer Inventory is a dynamic research tool using the same data featured in the transfer inventory. In the Program Comparison Dataset, mathematics degree requirements are sortable. Users can easily look up data by degree across institutions, by alphabetical sorting, or any number of methods for “slicing and dicing” this crucial information.

Explore the Program Comparison Dataset here.

Mathematics Pathways – A National Movement with National Leaders
The mathematics pathways movement continues to garner national attention. Along with this attention, there is increased demand for support in building awareness of and engagement with the movement as it continues to grow. The Dana Center believes it is imperative that mathematics faculty who reflect the full spectrum of the higher education community lead the multiple mathematics pathways movement. To this end, The Dana Center welcomes its second cohort of Mathematics Pathways Leadership Fellows.

DCMP Leadership Fellows are selected because of their unique expertise and demonstrated leadership in implementing aspects of the mathematics pathways approach at both the institutional and state levels. They bring a valuable lens to the work through their varied positions as two- and four-year mathematics faculty and administrators, and from their active participation in mathematics professional associations.

Please join us in welcoming the 2017-2018 DCMP Leadership Fellows:
Richelle (Rikki) Blair, Professor Emerita of Mathematics, Lakeland Community College
Linda Braddy, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Tarrant County College
Nicholas Horton, Professor of Statistics, Amherst College
David Kung, Professor of Mathematics, St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Alycia Marshall, Associate Vice President for Learning & Academic Affairs, Anne Arundel Community College
Lucy Michal, Professor of Mathematics, El Paso Community College
Ricardo Moena, Professor of Mathematics, University of Cincinnati
Michael Oehrtman, Professor of Mathematics, Oklahoma State University
Roxy Peck, Professor Emeritus of Statistics, California Polytechnic State University
Michelle (Chelle) Younker, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Owens Community College

Learn More About the DCMP

Visit the DCMP Website

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