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Focus on Mathematics
Boston University, five school districts in the Greater Boston area (Arlington, Chelsea, Lawrence, Waltham, and Watertown Public Schools) and the Education Development Center, are core partners in Focus on Mathematics, a Math and Science Partnership focusing on mathematics teaching and learning in grades 5-12. Supporting partners include the Center for Industrial Mathematics and Statistics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. The Partnership's approach to increasing student achievement and teacher quality is through three inter-related programs that provide teachers with solid content-based professional development, place students into rigorous courses and curricula, and establish a mathematical community in which mathematicians and precollege educators work together to put mathematics at the core of 5-12 mathematics education.

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Project Contributions

New Ways of Understanding Math
Teacher John Bookston discusses his work with mathematics. Through Focus on Mathematics (FoM) content-based professional development, teachers from five Greater Boston school districts are deepening their knowledge of and skills…
Website: Assessing Secondary Teachers' Habits of Mind
Boston University, Education Development Center, Inc., and St. Olaf College are collaborating on Assessing Secondary Teachers' Algebraic Habits of Mind (ASTAHM) to develop instruments to assess secondary teachers' mathematical…
Focus on Mathematics (FoM): a Math and Science Partnership (MSP) funded by the National Science Foundation in 2003, devoted to improving student achievement in mathematics.
Posted by: Una MacDowell . Focus on Mathematics (FoM) is a Math and Science Partnership (MSP) funded by the National Science Foundation in 2003. Our partnership is devoted to improving student achievement in mathematics through…
4th Annual Focus on Mathematics Expo
Posted by: Ava Berinstein. The 4th annual Focus on Mathematics Math Expo exhibited a representative sample of the dedicated work undertaken by over 2,700 students in grades 4 through 12 in our five partner...
Focus on Math: Summer Institutes 2007
Posted by: Ava Berinstein. Focus on Mathematics is committed to professional development in accessible mathematics for all teachers. Therefore, this summer's institutes explore the mathematical topics of number, algebra, and geometry,...
Video: A mathematical community working to strengthen student achievement
Posted by: Ava Berinstein. 18-minute Video (Quicktime) This 18-minute video offers an in-depth look at how the Focus on Mathematics MSP improves teachers' and students' engagament with mathematics. "In Focus on Mathematics (FoM),...
Math workshops add depth to curriculum
Posted by: Ava Berinstein. WALTHAM -- Eileen Herlihy said in the United States students are taught how to solve math problems and then learn through repetition. That makes it difficult for people to apply...
Raytheon's MathMovesU Raises Awareness
Posted by: Ava Berinstein. Raytheon Company's MathMovesU initiative is helping to excite middle school students about math by showing them how it plays a role in the things they find interesting. MathMovesU enlists an...
PROMYS for Teachers, 2006
Posted by: Ava Berinstein. PROMYS for Teachers (PfT)is a collaboration of Boston University's Department of Mathematics with the Education Development Center in Newton, Massachusetts. Glenn Stevens (BU) and Al Cuoco (EDC) are working...
Master of Mathematics for Teaching: 5 new MMT Graduates!
Posted by: Ava Berinstein. A basic goal of Focus on Mathematics is to transition to a place where most of its professional development activities are designed, organized, and run by expert teachers in collaboration...
FoM Summer Institutes, 2006
Posted by: Ava Berinstein. Three one-week Summer Institute sessions were offered to the Focus on Mathematics school district partners: Arlington, Chelsea, Lawrence, Waltham, and Watertown. 42 teachers from our five districts participated....
3rd Annual Focus on Mathematics Expo Highlights Creative Achievements By Boston-Area Students
Posted by: Ava Berinstein. "The 3rd Annual Student Mathematics Exposition will highlight the most creative achievements in mathematics by middle and high school students in the Boston-area. The event will showcase research projects...
Origami, Red Sox and Tic Tac Toe
Posted by: Ava Berinstein. "Watertown High School junior Garen Chiloyan said he would likely be spending any other rainy Saturday indoors watching movies. But this past Saturday, the statistics student spent the day in...
Students Get Creative at Mathematics Fair
Posted by: Ava Berinstein. "One hundred-sixty projects were submitted that covered a wide-range of math topics, such as Platonic Solids, The Golden Ratio, Cryptology, Topology, Pascal's Triangle, and Probability. Twelve projects...
Making Math Count
Posted by: Ava Berinstein. In January's annual State of the Union address, President Bush warned that American students are continually falling behind countries such as India and China in science and mathematics achievement. The...
Math Initiatives Show What Can Be Done
Posted by: Ava Berinstein. Glenn Stevens, (Principal Investigator, Focus on Mathematics, MSP) writes a letter to the editor of Education Week in response to a provocative front-page article entitled "U.S. Leaders Fret Over Students'...
Students get creative at annual Math Expo
Posted by: Ava Berinstein. Over 200 middle school and high school students participated in the Arlington Math Fair. Ottoson Middle School students worked with Mathematics Professor Emma Previato (Boston University) throughout the...
Local students put math to work on projects they created
Posted by: Ava Berinstein. Over 200 students from eight schools in Lawrence developed math projects for school Math Fairs this semester. The Focus on Mathematics "Research Projects Initiative" has given many students the opportunity...
Students Pick up Math Expertise
Posted by: Ava Berinstein. "Sixteen eighth-grade students from the Ottoson Middle School in Arlington, Mass. are working on how to solve mathematical problems ranging from paper folding; the DiVinci code; and hitting a video...
Math Teachers Go Back to School
Posted by: Ava Berinstein. These programs look at a mix of high school and middle school math teachers, including five school districts (Arlington, Chelsea, Lawrence, Waltham, and Watertown) as they participated in a Focus on Mathematics Seminar led by Carol Findell (Boston University) on: "Teaching Geometry Through Paper Folding (2004)."
Math No Problem For These Kids
Posted by: Jill Vollmuth. Boston Globe article about the Focus on Mathematics Math Expo at the Boston Museum of Science on June 12, 2004.