Math Is More Than Numbers: Forging Connections among Equity, Teacher Participation, and Professional Development

Abstract

Mathematics achievement is crucial for future national and individual success. While professional development settings cannot bear the entire responsibility for increasing opportunity and raising student achievement, these settings can be avenues for changes in practice. Professional development can provide teachers with opportunities for active learning that equip them to collectively deepen their understandings and take more assertive roles in the education of their students.

The most promising forms of professional development engage teachers in the pursuit of genuine questions, problems, and curiosities, over time, in ways that leave a mark on perspectives, policy, and practice. They communicate a view of teachers not only as classroom experts, but also of productive and responsible members of a broader professional community.

(Little, 1993, p. 6)