Dana Center's Annual Mathematics and Science Higher Education Conference (October Conference)
October 30 to November 1, 2008
The 2008 conference, "Current Issues in Mathematics and Science Education: Transition to College," focused on the College Readiness Standards and provided updates from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the Texas Education Agency, and the Legislature.
Invited speakers updated us on—and involved us in thinking about—current Texas activities around college readiness, including:
- alignment issues between high school and college,
- proposed fourth-year high school mathematics and science courses,
- mathematics and science issues of two-year colleges, and
- ways of serving various populations, such as preservice teachers and underprepared freshmen.
Sessions focused on the needs of faculty who are interested in the preparation and support of preservice or inservice teachers and of faculty who teach mathematics or science courses, especially for incoming college students. The conference again included sessions for Teacher Quality grant recipients—both current and past awardees—as well as those who may want to apply in the future.
Agenda (pdf 280kb)
Selected materials from the 2008 conference:
Thursday, October 30
- Walter Smith, Texas Tech University. Keynote: Does Calling It College Make It So? (pdf 12.6mb), Notes (pdf 4.6mb)
Friday, October 31
- Gloria White, Charles A. Dana Center. P–16 Updates (pdf 735kb)
- Susan Barnes, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board: Updates and Future Directions (PowerPoint 148kb)
- Jan Lindsey, Texas Education Agency. Texas Education Agency: Updates for the Present and Looking to the Future (pdf 1.1mb)
- Larry Lesser, The University of Texas at El Paso. College Readiness Standards for Mathematics (pdf 560kb), Bibligraphy (pdf 100kb)
- Michael Odell, The University of Texas at Tyler, College Readiness Standards Vertical Team for Science. College Readiness Standards for Science (pdf 5.6mb)
- Sarah (Sallie Kay) Janes, San Jacinto College North, and Susan May, Charles A. Dana Center. Fourth-Year High School Mathematics Course (pdf 776kb)
- Pete Smith, The University of Texas at Arlington. Can We Count On Online Learning in the College Readiness Equation? (pdf 3.9mb)
- Rick Kreminski and Gil Naizer, Texas A&M University – Commerce. Accelerating Rural Students in the Pipeline: Project STEEM (Science, Technology, Education, Engineering & Math) (pdf 2.5mb)
- Phyllis Kirkpatrick, Charles A. Dana Center. Agile Mind Online Services for Biology (pdf 140kb)
Saturday, November 1
- Bill Jasper, Sam Houston State University. Preparing Preservice Teachers to Meet the Challenges of the Increasing English Language Learner Population in Texas (pdf 161kb)
- Chrysta Carlin, Janice Trinidad, Sara Hawkins, and Claudia Acevedo, Manor New Technology High School T-STEM Academy. 21st-Century Schools: Strategies That Work (pdf 3.2mb)
- Della Bell, Texas Southern University, and Mary Wagner, The University of Texas at Brownsville. Using Agile Mind Services in Preservice Education Programs (pdf 420kb)
- Cathy Seeley, Charles A. Dana Center. Closing Session: Connecting What You Do To Where Your Students Have Been (pdf 3.2mb)