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Change Leaders for Improving Secondary Mathematics Teacher Preparation

Wendy M. Smith, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Transforming Institutions , June 13, 2023

Sponsored in part by NIC-Transform, funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (DUE-2141730 and 2141737). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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Historical Background

The Mathematics Teacher Education Partnership (MTEP) was launched in 2012 by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.

  • To improve the quality & quantity of secondary mathematics teachers
  • 40 campuses, organized into Research Action Clusters (RACs)
    • address particular problems of practice
    • engaged hundreds of mathematicians, mathematics teacher educators, K-12 personnel, and other partners
  • Over $9 million in funding from NSF and foundations
  • ~100 presentations and dozens of articles www.mtep.info/bib

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Networked Improvement Community (NIC) Design

  • Focused on a well-defined aim
  • Guided by a clear plan of action (driver diagram)
  • Disciplined by the rigor of improvement science (Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles)
  • Networked to accelerate progress

Why might NICs be an effective way to tackle the problem of improving secondary mathematics teacher preparation?

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Launch of MTEP 2.0

  • Motivated by a concern that although substantial progress was being made by the RACs, mathematics teacher preparation programs weren’t making the necessary transformational change.
  • MTEP 2.0 was launched in Fall 2020:
    • A network of secondary mathematics teacher preparation programs that are working to transform their programs to better align with the MTEP Guiding Principles – www.mtep.info/gp – which are aligned with the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE; 2017) Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics.
    • 19 teams including 44 programs engaged in local improvement work.
    • 2022 NSF grant to build and study the MTEP 2.0 network.

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MTEP 2.0 Overall Aim

By 2025, 65 MTEP 2.0 programs, including 11 under-resourced institutions and/or minority-serving institutions, will be:

  • actively engaged in an explicit, localized, prioritized improvement process
  • toward alignment with the AMTE Standards and MTEP Guiding Principles
  • in order to increase the number of well-prepared beginning secondary mathematics teachers, foregrounding issues of equity and access both in the objectives and practices of the programs

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MTEP NIC Design

  • Each Local NIC includes > 1 teacher preparation program + > 1 secondary school
  • mathematics teacher educators, mathematicians, + other relevant roles (state depts of ed, SpEd)
  • RACs involve individuals across Local NICs
  • Hubs keep everything connected

In MTEP 2.0, the NIC design is used by:

Local NICs and teams

Cross-program collaborations - research action clusters [RACs]

The MTEP 2.0 network as a whole

HUBS

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MTEP 2.0 Primary Drivers

Hubs

Change Agents

Change agents leading transformation efforts

Knowledge Building

Building overall knowledge about program transformation

Knowledge Sharing

Generating, capturing, and promoting knowledge useful to MTEP 2.0 teams

Network Building

Scaling up and nurturing a national network of Program NICs

Responding to Context

Engaging stakeholders across Program NICs in creating, assessing, and responding to policies

Public Awareness

Building external awareness and support of the MTEP network

Support

(Brian Lawler & Gary Martin)

Outreach

(Marilyn Strutchens)

Research

(Alyson Lischka)

Admin

(Wendy Smith)

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Support Hub Goals

The Support Hub supports Change Agents in organizing, growing, & sustaining their NICs, providing:

  • Technical support for the operation of the NICs
  • Support for specific improvement efforts being undertaken by NICs
  • Building networking support across NICs
  • Facilitating cross-NIC knowledge sharing

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Accomplishments

  • Change Agent development and support (structure, pay, expectations), orientation, and check ins
  • Organize regular interaction webinars (NIC-Casts) and sessions at AMTE Pre-conference to support teams in their improvement efforts
    • and workshops designed to build leadership skills
  • Organize virtual summer conferences since 2020
  • Assign change coaches to each team, to provide 1-1 support to change agents

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Plans

  • Events focused on support, including:
    • Workshops designed to increase networking across Local NICs
    • NIC-Cast Schedule for Fall
    • Continuing check-ins with Change Agents
  • Deepen Change Coach community, strengthen connections
  • Increase engagement with Change Agents in planning future MTEP events

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Cross-Hub Organization

A Cross-Hub Planning Team consisting of the Hub leaders coordinates work across the Hubs and addresses cross-hub issues.

  • Established a clearer organizational structure to coordinate among the hubs [increase distributed leadership]
  • New website—www.mtep.info
  • Strategic planning for MTEP

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Ongoing Challenges

  • Helping change agents find time & get credit for their MTEP 2.0 work
  • Sufficient communication without too many meetings & long emails
  • Onboarding new members, sustaining NICs through key personnel turnover
  • Balancing short-term PDSA cycles with longitudinal grant-funded research

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Questions?

MTEP Co-Directors

W. Gary Martin martiwg@auburn.edu

Wendy M. Smith wsmith5@unl.edu