The Launch Years Leadership Network: Supporting Mathematics Modernization in High School and Early College

Mike Steele, Past President, AMTE

In this article, I provide an update on AMTE’s work with the Dana Center supporting secondary mathematics modernization. The Dana Center team is looking for AMTE members to volunteer to contribute to the next phase of this work. At the end of this piece, please see the opportunity to volunteer to support these efforts.

In 2019, the Dana Center, in partnership with the Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences, launched the Math Pathways Initiative. This effort drew on the years of work the Dana Center had been doing in designing modernized mathematics coursework for late high school and early college. This work aimed to break the cycle of the ‘Race to Calculus,’ providing a wider range of rigorous mathematics learning opportunities for all students in late high school and early college. The Math Pathways initiative brought together nearly 30 state-based teams made up of mathematicians, mathematics educators, state policy leaders, and secondary math teachers to plan, enact, and measure the outcome of reforms to support modernizing mathematics across the 11-14 continuum. These efforts to incubate state-based teams will culminate at the third Pathways Forum to be hosted by CBMS in May 2022 in Reston, VA.

The work has resulted in a number of meaningful changes in many states across the country. For example, Ohio is currently rolling out a reformed Algebra II course leading to high school mathematics options that include quantitative reasoning, discrete math and computer science, precalculus, statistics and probability, and data science. Washington has modernized the content of Algebra II to include a split-course model with one common semester that then branches into the study of statistics, probability, and data science and another with precalculus that can lead directly to a full-year calculus experience. At the university level, mathematics departments are working to diversify credit-bearing mathematics requirements for majors, moving away from a ubiquitous college algebra course and towards statistics, probability, quantitative reasoning, and data science options as appropriate.

As a part of this work, the Dana Center organized the Launch Years Leadership Network (LY-LN) in 2021. This group consists of organizational leaders from a wide variety of stakeholders in mathematics education, including NCTM, NCSM, AMATYC, MAA, AMS, ASSM, and AMTE. With the support of AMTE and Amidon Planet, LY-LN hosted a series of podcasts and webinars in the fall of 2021 to share perspectives on the work. LY-LN leaders have been working at monthly meetings to create a toolkit for supporting math modernization work at the state and district level and have authored a set of recommendations for continued mathematics modernization work. These recommendations have messages for PK-12 districts and teachers; university mathematics departments; mathematics educators tasked with the preparation and professional development of mathematics teachers; guidance counselors and admissions officers; and families and communities.

The Launch Years Leadership Network is now entering the second phase of its work, which includes opportunities for AMTE members to take a substantive role in turning the recommendations into realities for mathematics students nationwide. LY-LN will be working in the coming months to assemble existing resources and creating new ones to support the six recommendations, under the leadership of Dr. John Staley. I encourage you to explore the Launch Years Leadership Network site and toolkit, read the LY-LN recommendations, and volunteer to work across our mathematics education organizations to create world-class supports for the modernization of mathematics. To volunteer, please fill out the Google Form linked here and learn more about how you can support these efforts.

What is the Dana Center?

The Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas-Austin aspires to create pathways for success for all students in mathematics and science education.  Their work is guided by the question, how can we ensure all students—particularly those traditionally underserved—have equitable access to excellent math and science education? Drawing from more than two decades of research and experience, their work centers on K–16 mathematics and science education with an emphasis on strategies for improving student engagement, motivation, persistence, and achievement.

What is the Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences (CBMS)?

The Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences is a networking and leadership organization made up of organizational leaders from 18 mathematics- and mathematics education-focused professional societies. The aims of CBMS are to support stronger mathematics outcomes across the entire spectrum of societal mathematics activities, including PK-12 education, university mathematics, and professional careers involving mathematics.  CBMS commissioned the authoring of two major reports related to AMTE’s core mission: the Mathematical Education of Teachers and the Mathematical Education of Teachers II (CBMS 2003, 2012).

What is mathematics modernization?

Mathematics modernization is a catch-all term that refers to curriculum reforms centered on secondary and early college mathematics. The goal of mathematics modernization efforts is to better meet the 21st-century mathematics learning needs of students through diversifying course offerings beyond the typical calculus pipeline (an algebra-focused secondary math sequence leading to precalculus and calculus). Mathematics modernization aims to support more equitable outcomes for students by supporting detracking in middle and high school, diminishing the overreliance on college algebra as a first credit-bearing college course, and reducing the number of students who place into non-credit-bearing remedial mathematics at two- and four-year colleges. Math modernization efforts include, but are not limited to, developing multiple and flexible curricular options for late high school mathematics coursetaking; strengthening core instruction in middle and early high school to create a solid mathematical foundation; implementing quantitative reasoning, mathematics modeling, and data science coursework in late high school and early college; and changing guidance and admission policies to recognize a broader range of rigorous mathematics options for students.