At the Lynch School, a community of mathematicians and educators come together to mentor beginning teachers, bolster math curricula, and improve the substance and quality of math teaching in high-need, urban schools.
Lynch School Associate Professor Lillie Albert and two Boston College math department colleagues in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences were awarded $1.6 million in 2013 by the National Science Foundation to train, support, and help retain math teachers in Massachusettsā public schools.
Their project, āExemplary Mathematics Educators for High-Needs Schools,ā is part of the Lynch Schoolās efforts to prepare qualified and effective math and science teachers and of the mathematics departmentās interest in improving Kā12 math education. Solomon Friedberg, the James P. McIntyre Chair of Mathematics, and Associate Professor of Mathematics Chi-Keung Cheung are project co-investigators.
The project is made up of eight beginning teachersāwho were masterās students when the program beganāmentored by one of eight experienced teachers and one of six practicing mathematicians who add to their subject-matter expertise and familiarize math professors with the problems and demands of teaching high school math. It is supported by colloquia on teaching math and math practice seminars.
Six years later, hereās what theyāve learned.