The University of Louisville

National Research Center Relocates

Math-in-CTE Technical Assistance Newsletter

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education has awarded the University of Louisville

a 5-year, $20.5 million grant to create and manage a National Research Center for Career and Technical Education. This

grant, authorized by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, continues the Department’s com-

mitment to supporting high-quality career and technical education. The new National Center is charged with conducting

scientifically based research, dissemination, and technical assistance that successfully address the education, employ-

ment, and training needs of students in career and technical education.

The new National Center for Career and Technical Education at the University of Louisville has several partner institu-

tions that will work with them to achieve the goals of the grant. These partner institutions include the University of Min-

nesota, Cornell University, Clemson University, the Academy for Educational Development, the Southern Regional Educa-

tion Board, the National Association of State Directors of CTE, the Association for Career and Technical Education, and

the National Occupational Competency Testing

Institute.

The College of Education and Human Develop-

ment, in which the National Center is based, is one

of five Commonwealth Centers of Excellence of

Kentucky and the only such center in the field of

education. The College was recently ranked among

the top 50 of the 250 best public university colleges

of education in the country.

This grant is the second largest federal grant ever

awarded to the University of Louisville.

The University of Louisville

is a state-supported re-

search university located in

Louisville, Kentucky's larg-

est metropolitan area and the 16th largest city in the

nation. The University has three campuses.

The 287-acre Belknap Campus is three miles from

downtown Louisville and houses 7 of the university's 11

colleges and schools. The Health Science Center is situ-

ated in downtown Louisville's medical complex and

houses the university's health-related programs and the

University of Louisville Hospital. On the 243-acre Shelby cam-

pus in eastern Jefferson County are the National Crime Pre-

vention Institute and the Information Technology Resource

Center.

Under the leadership of its 17th president, James R.

Ramsey, the University of Louisville has become known for

teaching, research, and service to its community and the

advancement of educational opportunity for all citizens.

With an enrollment of 21,000, its academic programs attract

students from every state and from all over the world.

“We will be focusing our efforts on three major components of ef-fective education: engagement – reducing dropouts and increasing school and program completion; achievement – strengthening aca-

demic and technical knowledge and skills; and transition – increasing the movement of stu-dents from high school to postsecondary educa-tion and from education into the workplace. All of these will be done in a balanced agenda of high school and postsecondary research.”

Dr. James R. Stone, III Director of the new National Center

Volume 2, Issue 1

April 2008

From left to right: Arlene Gibson (Detroit) and

NRCCTE facilitators Vicki Mivshek and Mary Fudge.

Page 2 Math-in-CTE Technical Assistance Newsletter

It has been an exciting year for the Center with its relocation to the University of Louisville! I am pleased to report that, in the midst of the transition, Math-in-CTE technical assistance has continued to grow and expand in five states. New implementations were launched in North Dakota and the Detroit Public Schools in Michigan. Kentucky, Oregon, and the Miami-Dade County Public Schools each moved into a second year of Math-in-CTE with expansion into new content areas. Math-in-CTE facilitation teams also conducted Jump-Start initiatives in Las Vegas at ACTE and Ft. Worth, TX. These unique sessions provided teachers and state/district leaders with an opportunity to experience the model and build their team capac-

ity in advance of full implementation of the model.

If you are reading about Math-in-CTE for the first time, I encourage you to visit our website at www.nccte.org to learn more about this research-based curriculum integration model and the science behind it. Of course, the most compelling aspect of my work is hearing news from the states and districts we serve. In this edition of the newsletter,

we feature updates on Math-in-CTE technical assistance at sites from coast to coast. Read on and enjoy!

Dr. Donna Pearson, Associate Director

Math-in-CTE Teachers from the criminal justice program standing in front

of their maps: (left to right) Cassandra Ballard (math); Cynthia Moore

(criminal justice ); Marshall Thomas (math); and Tina Cushnie, Adriana

Gondalez, and Michael Tamburrino (all criminal justice teachers).

Miami-Dade County Schools first offered Math-in-

CTE in the 2006-2007 school year to teacher teams rep-

resenting agriscience and the culinary arts. Under the

direction of Dr. Rose Martin, the Miami-Dade County

Public Schools leadership team made a bold move in its

second year to offer professional development to teach-

ers in six new content areas, including: early childhood,

health, manufacturing, drafting, criminal justice, and

business and marketing. This year alone, more than 70

Miami-Dade teachers have participated in the Math-in-

CTE professional development workshops.

Mapping the math in the CTE curricula is the gene-

sis of any successful implementation of the integration

process. The criminal justice teacher teams, pictured

right, mapped the math in a full set of courses. Kudos to

these dedicated teachers!

Miami-Dade County Public Schools expands Math-in-CTE into six new areas

Detroit district leader, Harrison Duke, walks

through a math-enhanced lesson with accounting

teacher, Joyce Mitchell.

Detroit teachers enhance the math in business and marketing

Detroit Public Schools launched

the Math-in-CTE model this past year

in business and marketing, treating

the two as separate content areas.

While the two are frequently clus-

tered as one program, the content

across courses can vary greatly . The

Detroit teachers formed into two

separate groups, one in business

and one in marketing, in order to

identify a more common core from

which to identify math concepts and

develop sets of lesson plans.

Math-in-CTE: The Learning is Multiplying!

The Math-in-CTE model provided a conduit that allows the Detroit Public Schools Business and Marketing teachers to plan and work together to push

students to higher performance levels. I would like to thank the National Research Center for Career Technical Education team for providing a clear

vision of the Math-in CTE pedagogic framework and the CTE teachers for their high-quality work in developing rigorous lesson plans and for their

strong support during the 2007-2008 school year.

Arlene Gibson, Director of Career and Technical Education, Detroit Public Schools

Page 3 Volume 2, Issue 1

As is the case in many states and districts, the need to raise high school math achievement is significant. According to the Oregon De-partment of Education, at the end of 2004-2005, less than half of Ore-gon’s high school students met the state’s standard for math achieve-ment, while 60% of high school students met standards for science,

55% met standards for writing, and 53% met standards for reading. Of the 16 public school districts in Oregon, 10 districts reported 50% or less of their 10

th graders meeting the state math standard (http://

www.ode.state.or.us/).

This all-too-familiar story can be heard from educational leaders and agencies across the country. The issues are complex and require multiple strategies to solve. The research-based Math-in-CTE curricu-lum integration model, when implemented as it was tested, provides one such way for CTE teachers to help students improve their math

abilities.

Lane County ESD leaders, Kristen Gunson and Mark Wreath, origi-nally launched a Math-in-CTE pilot program in August 2006. With as-sistance from NRCCTE facilitators, they continued to lead the Oregon implementation over course of the current academic year. Teacher teams from the participating high schools brought diverse experi-

ences and circumstances to the project, as they expanded in the pro-

gram areas of manufacturing and business and marketing.

Under the direction of Tom Thompson, Oregon Department of Education, plans are underway to sustain and expand the use of the model into 2008-2009. The state also plans to collect and analyze data to demonstrate the impact of their integration efforts on teach-

ers and students alike. Stay tuned for more news from Oregon!

North Dakota launches new initiatives in agriculture and FACS Agriculture and family and consumer science (FACS) teachers and their math teacher partners met with facilitators throughout

the year to launch the Math-in-CTE model in North Dakota . Be-

cause both of these fields of study cover a wide array of courses

and content, the agriculture group focused on the power and tech-

nology courses and the FACS teachers enhanced the area of foods.

Last November, the CTE-math teacher teams began the task of

developing lessons in which the math naturally occurring in their

curricula was enhanced to show relationships of math concepts to

other areas, including how it may be portrayed on a standardized

test. During the follow-up workshops in January, each CTE-Math

team presented one lesson they had developed to the rest of the

group and received constructive feedback on improving the lesson.

Revisions were made and more lessons were created.

Math-in-CTE in North Dakota has been conducted as a re-

search project by Dr. Brent Young and Dr. Mari Borr of North Da-

kota State University. Both the CTE teachers and their students

were tested on their math abilities before lessons were constructed

or taught, and these groups will be tested on their math abilities

again at the end of the spring semester.

A hallmark of the North Dakota group was the considerable amount of math they mapped and subsequently developed into

lessons. Brent, Mari, and the state staff have been impressed with the effort the CTE and math teachers have put into this project.

They report, “Our teachers have been extremely dedicated, have created many exemplary lesson plans and have been a remarkable

group of professionals to work with!” Congratulations North Dakota!

Brent Young conducts a Math-in-CTE workshop with the

North Dakota agricultural teachers and their math teacher

partners.

Oregon promotes integration through Math-in-CTE

Oregon manufacturing teacher Steve Schilling (above) displays a teaching tool he created to support students’ understanding of measurement. Below: Experienced Math-in-CTE teachers like Steve served as “table captains” to answer ques-tions and provide support for new members throughout the second year of implementation.

National Research Center for Career and Technical Education

College of Education and Human Development

University of Louisville

Louisville, KY 40292

502-852-4727

Newsletter editor: Jennifer Sawyer

Please email your pictures and stories to jennifer.sawyer@louisville.edu

May 13-15, 2008 Math-in-CTE State Team Training, Louisville, Kentucky

May 16, 2008 Miami-Dade County Public Schools End-of-Year PD

May 17, 2008 Oregon End-of-Year PD

May 22, 2008 NACTEI Conference Presentation on Math-in-CTE , Drs. Pearson and Schneider

May 30-31, 2008 Detroit Public Schools End-of-Year PD

May 31, 2008 Kentucky End-of-Year PD

If you would like to receive more information about Math-in-CTE, or if you are interested in requesting technical assis-

tance, please contact Dr. Donna Pearson at: donna.pearson@louisville.edu

Upcoming Math-in-CTE Technical Assistance Events . . .

With the goal to sustain and grow the Math-in-CTE model in Kentucky, state leaders

have gone both deep and wide. Kentucky began its Math-in-CTE program two years

ago with CTE-math teacher teams in automotive and health.

Last summer, leaders invited back the original teacher teams for a second year of

professional development for the purpose of expanding the enhancements to multiple

courses across each of the programs. At the same time, they expanded the state leader-

ship team and implemented the model in two new content areas, manufacturing and

office technology.

Kentucky leaders have been collecting data throughout the year and hope to ana-

lyze them for impact on students’ math abilities.

Kentucky expands Math-in-CTE to manufacturing and office technology

The Kentucky leadership team presented

awards to the teachers at the end-of-year

celebration. From left to right: health

teacher, Donna Lynch, with Dr. Ronald

Spangler and Elizabeth Bullock.

A Kentucky teacher’s thoughts on Math-in-CTE:

Even though most of us already taught math in our classes, we did not coordinate and con-

nect the similarities of the two classes. [We] learned mostly math language in what we were

teaching. Learning the math terms made it easier to teach our students, and the students

understood it better and saw the connection.

Frank Brown, Auto Technology Instructor