Warner grant targets math education

he National Science Foundation has awarded a $2.4 million grant to the Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development. The grant will fund a five-year project to strengthen math knowledge of teachers, parents, and community members and, in turn, help K-12 students develop a deeper, more useful understanding of mathematics.

Judith Fonzi, director of the Warner Center for Professional Development and Education Reform and leader of the project, has worked with teachers and administrators in the Greece, Penfield, and Rush-Henrietta school districts for more than three years to examine and refine K-12 mathematics programs.

Fonzi has seen a strong response from teachers who say that they, along with parents and community members, need a more complete understanding of math in order to engage students and respond to the new mathematical questions that students pose.

"Inviting students to be active learners has been really exciting for the students, teachers, parents, and those of us fortunate enough to be involved in this work," says Fonzi. "The students are demonstrating incredible reasoning abilities and are really challenging how we think about mathematics. Together we are discovering that mathematics is a way of thinking about the world which encompasses reasoning, computation, and creativity."

Educators at the Genesee Valley Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), a state-delineated group of 23 rural school districts that share support services, joined the collaboration after it was established. The three districts and Genesee Valley BOCES are all partners with the Warner School on this grant, aided by the University's mathematics department.

Maintained by University Public Relations
Please send your comments and suggestions to:
Public Relations.