Contact: Bob Ratliff
Whether pursuing a career as a soccer mom or with a dot com, knowledge of mathematics is both important and essential.
Sadly, however, America's elementary and junior high school students are falling behind their overseas counterparts in the development of mathematical skills, said Jane Harvill, an assistant professor of mathematics and statistics at Mississippi State University.
"A recent study published by the National Research Center shows U.S. third- and fourth-grade students do well compared to their overseas counterparts," Harvill said. "But by the eighth grade they score below the international average in math and science."
The problem is especially acute in Mississippi. According to a report in Education Week magazine, only 7 percent of eighth graders in the state are math proficient, compared to 23 percent for the nation.
To help the state deal with the problem, Harvill and faculty colleagues at MSU and Mississippi University for Women recently established the Institute for Algebra and Quantitative Literacy on the Starkville campus. The State Board Trustees, Institutions of Higher Learning is providing support for the institute through the federal Title II Eisenhower Professional Development Program.
"Almost three-fourths of Mississippi's 6-8 grade teachers have a K-8 certification," Harvill said. "Currently, requirements for K-8 certification do not necessarily include all the math and statistics courses needed to fully prepare teachers for grades 6-8."
As a first step in remedying the situation, the institute will sponsor an algebra and quantitative literacy workshop June 4-29 on the MSU campus. Workshop participants can receive up to 16 continuing education units or up to six hours credit towards a graduate degree in mathematics education.
A stipend will be provided to all workshop participants. Additionally, a limited number of campus housing allowances are being made available through the combined support of W.H. Freeman Publishers, Duxbury/Thomson Learning, BrooksCole/Thomson Learning, and the McDougal Littell division of Houghton Mifflin Company.
Harvill said enrollment in the four-week program would be limited to 20 teachers from 15 area counties. In addition to Oktibbeha and Lowndes, the counties include Attala, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Clay, Kemper, Leake, Monroe, Montgomery, Neshoba, Noxubee, Webster, and Winston.
"The first two weeks of the workshop will be devoted to algebra, while the second half will focus on statistics," Harvill said. "Each participant also will be introduced to the latest in technological support equipment and receive training in writing grant proposals to fund the purchase of related school materials."
When the training has concluded, workshop participants will keep the written materials, references, computer software, and a TI-83 graphing calculator. During the 2001-02 school year, Mississippi State faculty members will make follow-up visits to the teachers' classrooms to provide assistance as needed.
Instructional videos of the workshop and follow-up sessions also will be distributed to the participants, as well as to all Mississippi universities with mathematics education programs.
For additional information on the workshop, contact MSU mathematics and statistics department head Bruce Ebanks at (662) 325-3414 or ebanks@math.msstate.edu.