LESSONS FROM A UNIVERSITY-K-12 PARTNERSHIP: Five Strategies for Mathematics Professional Development

The author summarizes his experience leading K-8 professional development in mathematics and incorporating multiple research-based approaches into a project. The strategies discussed are: giving teachers experience with mathematics content in a way that furthers teacher understanding, grappling with what reform-oriented teaching means in practice, giving teachers time to translate new ideas so that they can be enacted in the classroom, providing support for implementation, and providing time for reflection on the impact of any changes. The article focuses on how the five strategies were implemented in practice with teachers.