Madison Metropolitan School District Mathematics Task Force (Ira & Ineva Reilly Baldwin WI Idea Endowment)

The Madison Metropolitan School District has engaged a Task Force to review the entire mathematics instructional system –curricula, district goals in mathematics education, and district mathematics professional development. The task force is composed of national experts from UW-Madison, the school district, and other universities, school districts, and national organizations.

Over the past 2 decades, as part of an effort to improve student achievement in mathematics, many local school districts turned to new curricula. Such changes can be controversial. But a working model for an inclusive, respectful, evidence-based process that meets diverse needs can include multiple perspectives and produce a win-win outcome. This is what the Task Force hopes to accomplish.

Besides meeting the needs of the Madison community, school district, and university, this project aims to serve as a model for the state and the nation for how to handle the complex political, pedagogical, curricular mathematics content, and professional development issues of K-12 mathematics education.