Vermont Mathematics Initiative

Building Capacity across Vermont for High-Quality Mathematics Instruction

Phase 2

▪ The Phase 2 design.  With Phase 1 of VMI having produced a substantial corps of mathematics teacher leaders who are in over 95% of all school districts, Vermont is ideally positioned to implement the next stage of the overall plan to improve student learning across the entire state, which is referred to as “Phase 2” of the VMI.

Begun in 2006-2007, Phase 2 and is designed to reach all elementary and middle school teachers in the state with an 80-hour (6 graduate credits) mathematics course experience.  The course focuses on:

· developing a deep understanding of arithmetic

· emphasizing the intimate relationship among arithmetic, algebra, and geometry

· understanding and using the concept of a function, including the many guises in which functions appear in the K-8 curriculum (e.g., patterns, organized lists, graphs, processes, input-output machines, formulas, …).

All of these topics are taught in the context of building strong problem solving skills.

▪ The Phase 2 written materials. The content for the Phase 2 course, written by the Ken Gross, is drawn primarily from the first two courses in Phase 1 of VMI, Mathematics as a Second Language and Functions and Algebra, and the learning and transfer to the classroom is sustained regionally and in districts through mentoring by the teacher leaders.

Both in its underlying philosophy and course implementation, Phase 2 includes many of the same features that have been essential to the success of Phase 1. These features include the partnership of mathematicians and educators in developing the curriculum and in teaching the course in districts, support for the transfer of content to the classroom, rigorous mathematics at the core of the experience, and many forms of support for teachers and the district.

▪ Transfer into the master’s degree program. Teachers who complete the Phase 2 course and wish to continue their mathematics training can transfer into the full master’s degree program and count the 6 hours of Phase 2 credit toward the 36 hours required for the master’s degree.