Colleges Partner on Grant to Improve Middle Level Teachers' Math Content Knowledge

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas, in a partnership with six public school districts in northwest Arkansas, recently received a $350,000 grant from the Arkansas Department of Education for a three-year project designed to improve teachers’ mathematics content knowledge.  

The College of Education and Health Professions and the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences received the grant. The colleges will work with the Decatur, Elkins, Farmington, Lincoln, Prairie Grove and Springdale school districts.

Forty teachers who teach mathematics to fourth- through eighth-grade students will participate in professional development workshops over the next three years. The workshops will focus on enhancing their knowledge and instruction of fractions, proportions and connections to algebra. 

“There has been a renewed interest in the importance of upper elementary and middle school students having a good understanding of rational number concepts such as fractions in order to be successful in higher level mathematics courses such as Algebra I,” said Laura Kent, associate professor of mathematics education in the department of curriculum and instruction. “Both national and local assessments of students’ performance on various problem-solving tasks point to weaknesses in their conceptual and procedural knowledge of fractions.”

Kent serves as director of the project. She has worked with elementary and middle level teachers in the area over the past several years to increase their knowledge of students’ thinking and mathematical learning trajectories in order to enhance their instruction. Shannon Dingman, assistant professor in the mathematics department, will co-direct the project.

Susan Empson, associate professor of mathematics and science education at the University of Texas at Austin and lead consultant on the project, has researched the teaching and learning of fraction concepts for 20 years. Her research has been widely published in leading mathematics education journals. Empson will facilitate most of the summer workshops. Dingman has researched the approaches and coverage of fractions in leading textbooks in comparison to state standards. He will also facilitate the professional development workshops.

Jae Baek, assistant professor of mathematics education at Illinois State University in Normal, Ill., will evaluate the project. The data gathered will emphasize the changes in teacher content knowledge and student achievement in mathematics.