MSP LNC 2013

In this interactive presentation we will examine the entailments of taking a distributed perspective to leading and managing instruction, especially in diagnosis and design work that is essential for instructional improvement. We will discuss essential elements of a distributed perspective and examine some common myths about the perspective. We will explore how a distributed perspective presses for attention to both formal and informal sources of leadership in school organizations. We will pay particular attention to the practice-aspect of a distributed perspective and in particular examine how aspects of the organizational situation, such as organizational routines and tools, shape the practice of leading and managing instruction. Threaded throughout our discussion will be a consideration of how a distributed perspective can inform school leaders' efforts to improve instruction.

Although most MSP project teams were not thinking about NGSS when their proposal was submitted and approved for funding, the proposed standards have implications for many of the current projects. This session is designed to answer the following questions in addition to creating a network of NGSS resources for MSP projects:

1. Why is NGSS different from other standards?
2. What does NGSS mean for your MSP?
3. What will it take to make what was intended as a framework to actually make it into the classroom and translate to better teaching?
4. How can stakeholders be empowered to see themselves as actors in successful implementation of NGSS?

This interactive session includes active discussions within teams, across projects, and within both heterogeneous and homogeneous stakeholder groups. It is designed to leverage the richness of experiences of teacher leaders, K-12 administrators, faculty, and evaluators who are encouraged to participate in this session with their teams.

In this session, participants will engage in activities to help MSP teams come to agreement on how best to address the root causes of important problems of practice. The activities will illustrate one way to integrate insights from research with the wisdom of practice. As part of the session, we will create diagrams of key drivers for transformation in four key areas of STEM teaching and learning: learning through STEM practices, formative assessment, cyberlearning, and relating everyday, informal, and formal learning. As part of the session, participants will hear how this set of activities fits into a broader effort aimed at supporting research-practice partnerships, the Research+Practice Collaboratory, a newly funded project of the Exploratorium, EDC, TERC, the University of Washington, and the University of Colorado.

Are the Mathematics and Science Partnerships an expenditure or an investment of federal dollars? Seen as an expenditure, the MSP grants buy services and short term outcomes. In this view MSP are funds used to enhance student achievement, in particular. An investment differs from an expenditure in that it produces capital enduring assets that can be used for future improvement efforts. Too often we believe MSP projects do not see themselves as long-term investments. And evaluators do not carefully document the different forms of educational capital the MSP projects create.

This session will explore the need for documenting and communicating the total return on investment that accrues from the MSP investment. Discussions will focus on the ways in which evaluators can broaden their lens and capture long term capital creation as well as short term activities and contributions.

In this interactive session, two mathematicians and a mathematics educator consider implications of the CCSS Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMPs) for Institutions of Higher Education. NSF Mathematics and Science Partnerships bring together content and education faculty, yet many of us have discovered that we don't initially speak the same language. The presenters provide perspectives from collaborative work being done at three different universities, and will describe how the SMPs have served as a locus for productive cross-disciplinary conversations pertaining to an array of challenges we all face in mathematics education. Participants will explore how the SMPs might frame university instruction of mathematics or mathematics education, how they can support the deepening of their content-education partnerships, and how the SMPs might sustain changes initiated by MSP project work.