It’s been said for years, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Here in Washington, finding qualified math teachers continues to be a tough issue for many local schools and districts. But thanks to education veterans Mary Alice Heuschel and Sue Schmitt, the Renton School District isn’t waiting around for long-term solutions that don’t address their short-term needs. They’re going, and going strong.
“When I first came to the district last year (the 2006-2007 school year), we had multiple unfilled math positions,” said Renton Superintendent Heuschel. “I exhausted every opportunity to find a math teacher. Initially, we survived with a sub until I was able to hire a brand new teacher out of Colorado. But it wasn’t an ideal situation and I knew I couldn’t keep going through this every year.”
So at the beginning of this school year when Renton was confronted, yet again, with three unfilled math positions, Heuschel had already started working on a plan. Last spring, she reached out to Sue Schmitt, College of Education Dean for Seattle University, and the two collaboratively formulated a program to put more highly qualified math teachers in Renton classrooms.
“Mary Alice and I met to discuss innovative strategies for helping more of her existing teachers earn their math endorsement,” said Schmitt. “She assigned two people and we assigned two people to spend the summer working on a concept. We said, ‘how can we take the requirements the University uses for certification and combine them with existing teachers’ classroom expertise?’”
With Jane Goetz, curriculum director from the Renton School District, and Seattle U’s senior math educator Mark Roddy as project leads, the team concluded their work in September. Schmitt then ran it through a series of tests to ensure it met national standards. The new program provides teachers with an endorsement, which is an approved addition to their teaching certificate that signifies they are qualified to teach math.
“When we designed this program, we took the math instruction needed to obtain an endorsement, mapped it to state standards, tailored it for what the teachers were already teaching, and covered it in 20 continuing education credits.” Schmitt said.
The program standards are rigorous. The 20 teachers selected will be evaluated in the classroom as well as through testing. Each teacher must also pass the Washington Educator Skills Test -Endorsement (WEST-E) in math. But when asked how different this is from a traditional math teacher education program at Seattle University, both agreed the difference is significant.
“It’s not a minor, it’s not a major, it’s not a degree or certification—it’s an endorsement,” says Schmitt. “The uniqueness of the program is that it’s co-taught and co-planned. Renton’s staff and teachers are delivering the courses and best practices. Our math educators are guest-teaching and offering advice on curriculum and alignment to national standards. This translates into a very meaningful curriculum for teachers, based specifically on what the district already teaches. The value to us is working with master teachers to tailor curriculum design.”
Heuschel also noted the significant convenience for teachers only having to commute to the school district offices versus a university in Seattle.
Currently, Renton is developing criteria for teacher selection. The district has sent out invitations for applications and, if selected, successful candidates must make a three-year commitment to teach mathematics in the district. From December 2007 to July 2008, the endorsement program will be taught at Renton’s district offices, every Tuesday and Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m.
But Renton isn’t the only district in this situation. The shortage of highly qualified math teachers has become a serious dilemma at state and national levels.
“Math is so important to our students and society. As a University, we wanted to know how we could help meet the needs of our school system particularly in high needs areas and high demand fields. Addressing teacher shortages in math is at the top of most school districts’ lists right now. If we don’t all jump in and do as much as we can, it will only get worse,” Schmitt said.
Heuschel has agreed to allow Seattle U to keep everything they create for use and replication in the future, although she would like time to perfect the program to make sure it is “of the highest quality.” In return, Seattle U is offering teachers the course at a reduced cost. Currently, Heuschel is working to garner support from several private companies to make the program free to participating teachers.
“I hope that this program gets some attention because so many businesses have been saying we care about math and we need more math-skilled employees. Here is a wonderful opportunity for them to support their future workforce and make sure they are competent in math,” said Heuschel with an air of strategic optimism. “This program has been expensive with time, but not money. And the access to Seattle U’s staff has been terrific. I couldn’t be happier.”
To find out more about this program, contact Mary Alice Heuschel at MaryAlice.Heuschel@renton.wednet.edu and Sue Schmitt at sschmitt@seattleu.edu. If you’re a teacher interested in this or another endorsement program, learn more about how to apply for a conditional loan which is forgiven when teachers agree to teach in the endorsement for two years.
Is there an innovative program to solve math teacher capacity issues in your district or region? Tell us about it at info@partnership4learning.org.
Who Decides Whether a Student is Headed for Family-Wage Work or Something Less?
Education is the key to a high quality of life, economic vitality and individual prosperity. Since its inception, the ultimate goal of the College & Work Ready Agenda has been to ensure all Washington students receive a quality education that prepares them for college and the world of work. Unfortunately, there is currently a dramatic disconnect between our state’s high school diploma and the skills needed to enter and succeed at a rigorous job certification or apprenticeship program, a two-year community or technical college, or four-year baccalaureate institution.
In a new report, Improving the Odds: Preparing Washington Students for Family-Wage Work, the College & Work Ready Agenda advocates for a K-12 education system that prepares all students to compete for family-wage jobs. As the State Board of Education continues to deliberate about changes to the high school diploma, we hope this report will help inform this important debate.
For additional information about this report please read this recent blog post or visit www.collegeworkready.org.
New Math Materials Available!
Math matters. But sometimes it may not be clear to parents and students exactly why. So in addition to the
English and now
Spanish versions of our Math and Science Matter brochure, the Partnership has created these easy-to-print and -copy materials:
Frequently Asked Questions about math and
Questions for Parents to ask their child's teacher about math. Download these documents, make copies and share them with others! And be sure to check back with us for more materials, coming soon!
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