Mike Conklin was awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics And Science Teaching, and Scott Cooley has also won the award for the 2014-15 school year. See details on the People page. Congratulations to both!
Welcome to the Riverpoint Advanced Mathematics Partnership-Algebra Project (RAMP-A). RAMP-A was a unique partnership grant jointly funded by Washington State’s OSPI MSP Title IIB grant funds and Washington Student Achievement Council, Title IIA funds. See this 3-minute video explanation of the project.
The primary goal of RAMP-A was to improve the teaching and learning of Algebra 1 in project schools in eastern Washington, and specifically, Algebra 1 as described in the Common Core State Standards.
Initiated through an ongoing collaboration in the Spokane region, the three-year project started in August 2012, and includes the Eastern Washington University Mathematics Department, Washington State University-Spokane Department of Teaching and Learning, Northeast Washington Education Service District 101, seven public school districts, and one private nonprofit high school. Teachers participated in six intense one-day workshops and a three-day summer institute each year, met within school-based PLCs, and participated in an online community. The materials at this site are the materials used in those workshops.
RAMP-A builds on two prior collaborations in the region: one that provided professional development for high school and college teachers working together in professional learning communities (PLCs) to improve students’ transition from high school to college mathematics, and another that supported secondary school teachers’ improved mathematical knowledge for teaching through engaging in rich tasks. Both PLCs and rich tasks are important components of RAMP-A. Beyond these components, the conceptual framework of RAMP-A integrates an understanding of teacher learning and change, the use of rich tasks to support deep and coherent mathematical understanding, and mathematical practices and the use of student thinking to develop lessons and units. Within this framework teachers learned to develop instructional goals and use math tasks to help students develop coherent understandings of mathematical concepts within Algebra 1, use them in their classrooms, and reflect on what they have learned. The links below show posters that illustrate the key ideas of the project.
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