What we do
More than 50 percent of students entering Green River Community College have to begin their math studies with remedial coursework. Statistics at other community colleges are similar. Of course, that number is far too high, and we would like to lower it. To that end, here are some of the activities being spearheaded by Project TIME.
Parent Outreach
We hope to educate parents (and their children) about the importance of taking as much math as possible while still in high school.
There are plenty of good reasons for this, not the least of which is that the classes are free in high school, but you have to pay for them in college. Perhaps even more important, if a student takes his junior and or senior year off from math, he usually can't just pick up at the same point later -- he'll probably have to retake some coursework. Mathematical knowledge is like muscle mass -- if you don't use it, you lose it.
One of our outreach projects is the Parent/Student Math Advisory Night. Students are given the opportunity to take a college math placement assessment. Students and parents are invited to listen to a panel of college and university faculty, business leaders and current college students share their wisdom and advice for success.
Curriculum Development
Through Project TIME, college and high-school instructors are working together to develop alternative coursework for high-school students who want to keep up their mathematical studies but who aren't necessarily interested in the traditional calculus track. The new senior-level course we're developing will let students explore exciting topics (like management science, voting and social choice, and fairness and game theory) that are not typically part of the high-school curriculum while improving their mathematical proficiency in preparation for college-level coursework.
A pilot course is currently in progress in Sumner, Auburn, Kent, Renton and Highline School Districts.
Support for Teachers
Math is an exciting subject to teach. One can't help but be amazed by the creative approaches and new ideas that math instructors create all the time. We want to help instructors share these innovations, across schools and across levels of education. So we are working on creating new channels of communication, assisting middle school, high school, college and university math instructors to network with each other and creating new opportunities for teachers' professional development.
Each summer, Project TIME hosts a Math Symposium for high-school teachers and administrators. The first one was held in 2006, and the next will be on August 25, 2008. Additional professional-development workshops are on the way.
Communicating with the Community
Here is a Power Point presentation that we used to discuss the activities and goals of Project TIME at a meeting of the Washington Educational Research Association in Autumn 2007. Reaching out to community and educational groups and leaders is an important aspect of our outreach efforts.