Middle and high school teachers part of the UCSC Educational Partnership Center’s GEAR UP partnership programs in Pajaro Valley and north and south Monterey County receive professional development services in mathematics, developed in conjunction with County Office of Education’s content and instructional strategies coordinators and the California Reading and Literature Project. The professional development emphasizes the mathematics standards and concepts that students typically struggle with in college preparatory curricula, including accommodations to support English learners. These standards and concepts include: manipulation of fractions, which is the basis for algebraic thinking; number sense, including turning word problems into symbols and equations; solving equations for unknowns; algebraic and geometric terms and principles; and mathematical functions. Each year, teacher development activities specifically address in depth content knowledge and strategies for the most central key concepts, based on assessment data and student work from the participating students. The professional development includes the use of complex instructional strategies to encourage the development of group study skills and language ability related to mathematics targeted to the specific, identified needs of the cohort.

Program home page: http://epc.ucsc.edu/site/GEAR_UP_EAOP/62