Contact Information:
Mathematics Leadership Program
c/o Kay Caruso
Education Development Center, Inc.
55 Chapel Street
Newton, MA 02458
Tel: 617-969-7100
kcaruso@edc.org
SummerMath for Teachers
Mount Holyoke College
South Hadley, MA 01075-1441
Tel: 413-538-2063
Fax: 413-538-2002
jpaquett@mtholyoke.edu
Lenses on Learning (LOL)
Lenses on Learning
Our professional development materials, seminars, research, and outreach activities are designed to enhance the capacity of principals and other school and district leaders to support mathematics learning and teaching at their sites.
Principals play a critical role in strengthening the school's mathematics program in a number of ways, including the following:
- Engaging with teachers and fostering a shared commitment to improving mathematics learning outcomes for all students
- Supporting strong mathematics professional learning programs and systems for teachers
- Setting expectations for teachers to integrate practices highlighted in professional development into their mathematics classrooms
- Relating mathematics initiatives to the wider context (e.g., the school improvement plan, district priorities) to ensure continued focus in the face of competing priorities
- Representing mathematics initiatives to, and defending them with, a variety of constituencies even before results begin to be reflected in gains in student achievement.
Our research shows that administrators' understanding of how they can best support the mathematics program at their site are significantly influenced by their own ideas about teaching, learning, and the nature of mathematics.
Central to our work are the Lenses on Learning professional development materials, designed to enable administrators to reexamine their assumptions about mathematics teaching and learning; extend their knowledge of conditions that are conducive to student learning of mathematics; and transfer new ideas and understandings into their own settings and practice.
These materials are intended for use in seminars attended by principals and other leaders in elementary, middle, high school, and district settings. There are three sets of published Lenses on Learning resources:
For K-8 administrators and central office staff:
Lenses on Learning: A New Focus on Mathematics and School Leadership (Pearson)
Lenses on Learning, Supervision: Focusing on Mathematical Thinking (Pearson)
For site-based middle and high school mathematics leadership teams composed of key leaders in administrative and instuctional roles:
Secondary Lenses on Learning: Team Leadership for Mathematics in Middle and HIgh Schools (Corwin)
These professional development seminars include opportunities to do the following:
Work with problem-based mathematical tasks
Reflect on video clips and written cases that provide insights into instruction and students' mathematical thinking and learning
Examine student work
Discuss readings that link the topics addressed in the seminar to research about critical issues in mathematics education
Examine various leadership tasks and responsibilities that contribute to an effective mathematics program
Participants form an intellectual community among themselves as they reflect on a range of new ideas in light of their current thinking, and consider the implications for their practice as instructional leaders. They also carry out guided assignments in their schools related to the ideas explored in the seminars.
The Lenses on Learning programs are based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. 9254479, 9731242, 0101897, 0335384, and 0353277. 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 (NSF).