What We Do

Providing Outreach Materials and Products

We hope to inform parents and their children about the importance of taking math throughout their four years of high school.  We are currently working with high schools in Whatcom County by providing practical and user-friendly math outreach products and messaging materials that help students and parents understand what it means to be college ready in math.  We have also helped organize and sponsorcommunity family math nights in the high schools.

Product Development

The College Readiness Mathematics Standards (CRMS) were completed in March 2006 by a core group of Washington State math and non-math educators through the Transition Math Project.  Each of the Standards defines the core knowledge and skills expected of students entering college-level mathematics courses.   The CRMS also includes Student Attributes which describe a set of student characteristics that math educators agreed were essential to succeeding in college-level mathematics classes.  Last year, math teachers from Whatcom County high schools suggested that the Standards and Student Attributes be available in a poster format so they could more easily use this as a reference tool in their classroom.   WCMP took on this project and created the CRMS Posters in conjunction with a statewide collaborative effort of high school and college math instructors.  The purpose was to not only create a useful tool for educators, but to also illustrate the Standards and Attributes in a visually attractive format with student-friendly language that would be accessible to students, parents, and the community.  

Teacher-Created Professional Development

For the past two years WMP hosted a series of Lesson Writing Workshops for Whatcom County high school mathematics teachers and college instructors.  At least two teachers from each of the high schools and community and technical colleges in Whatcom County participated in the project.   Math educators wrote their lesson plans based on the College Readiness Mathematic Standards and submitted them to three proof readers, a peer review, staff review, and review by an assessment expert.   The finished lessons were packaged in a CD format and distributed statewide for mathematic teachers to access and use.   Along with the lessons, a DVD was created that highlighted one of the teachers teaching their lesson in the classroom. For more information on the CD and DVD go to the For Teachers web page.