RMTC Project Summary

Renewing Mathematics Teaching through Curriculum (RMTC) is a collaborative of nineteen school districts in western Michigan working to expand the implementation of the Core-Plus Mathematics Project (CPMP) curriculum and the Connected Mathematics Project (CMP). The goal of the collaborative is to improve mathematics teaching so that all students can develop mathematical power.

The specific objectives of RMTC include:

  • Preparing teachers for the extensive changes in content, in pedagogy, and in assessment required by innovative curricula. 
  • Encouraging and supporting teachers who are reluctant to teach or apprehensive of moving to an innovative curriculum. 
  • Enabling teachers to become reflective practitioners by providing them with time and opportunities to reflect on their practice. 
  • Encouraging an environment of understanding and support by school administration. 
  • Facilitating support networks both within departments and between districts. 
  • Working with parents and business and community leaders to create an awareness, understanding, and support of the changes taking place in school mathematics. 
  • Increasing the number of students who study significant mathematics for three and four years. 
  • Decreasing the number of students enrolled in dead-end mathematics courses. 
  • Improving articulation between middle and high school mathematics programs.
  • Providing the opportunity for teachers to become knowledgeable about curricula at grade levels other than those in which they teach.

RMTC achieves these objectives through a systemic teacher enhancement program based on an integrated, reflective cycle of professional development activities comprised of week-long summer sessions, annual whole-collaborative meetings, and regular and frequent contact among teachers in school buildings that includes peer mentoring, class observations, common planning periods, and small-group, department and regional meetings, to achieve these objectives. In addition, RMTC offers two-day summer sessions that in initial years will focus on particular content strands in CMP and their development across grade levels and, in the final year, will provide strategies for sustaining professional development activities beyond NSF funding. Planning for the professional development activities will take place during bi-monthly meetings of the RMTC Coordinating Council, which includes representation from each middle and high school. There are approximately 225 teachers who will participate in an average of 148 hours each over the three-year project, with many teachers reaching well over 300 hours.

RMTC activities focus on using the CPMP and CMP curricula to increase teachers' knowledge of mathematics content, instruction, and student learning while providing flexibility to meet the needs of individual teachers and schools. Along with all the high school and middle school mathematics teachers, special education teachers who team with mathematics teachers, science teachers, and selected substitute teachers will be included in the professional development.

The RMTC solution has five key elements that will contribute to its success: 1) RMTC is integrally connected with the exemplary curricula that the collaborative teachers will use in their classrooms; 2) the approach that RMTC takes to professional development is consistent with the approach the exemplary curricula take to student learning; 3) RMTC acknowledges that systemic change in mathematics education requires the commitment and understanding of the communities beyond the mathematics department and school; 4) RMTC takes advantage of the unique strengths the individual schools bring to the collaborative to help in overcoming each other's weaknesses; and 5) the formation of RMTC was initiated by teachers and has been, and will continue to be, guided by both teachers and administrators in the collaborative schools. By doing this, RMTC provides a model of what can happen when local, state, and federal agencies combine to support systemic change in districts seeking to provide opportunities for all of their students to learn significant mathematics.