Daniel J. Brahier
Department of Educational Curriculum & Instruction
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH 43403

APRIL 2001

In the last issue of Intersection Points, we continued the discussion of community involvement in mathematics education.  I am more convinced than ever having spoken to several members of RCML on this issue  that parents and community members are pivotal in reforming mathematics education.  In January, we put on a Family Math Night at the PK-8 school where I teach and had 325 people in attendance.  It provided me with the perfect forum to spend 20 minutes recapping the efforts of the NCTM and our local State organization in promoting the improvement of mathematics education.  I found the parents at the meeting to be delightful and positive as the evening progressed.

At the annual meeting of the NCTM in Orlando, the dialogue about community involvement continued. Lee Stiff, President of NCTM, highlighted a new business partnership that will result in the Reflections project a new, Web-based staff development project for mathematics teachers. Meanwhile, another business has provided funding for continuation of the Worlds Largest Math Event, while several publishers in the exhibit hall displayed their latest products that aim to involve parents and community in the education process.  Clearly, business and industry has a stake in reforming education; the skills of future employers depend on it.  CEOs continue to declare that it is most important for employees to enter the job market with the "ability to learn" and that with this disposition, the business can teach those individuals what they need to do to be successful in the workplace.

With the exponential growth in the use of the Internet in homes around the country, the time has never been better to provide avenues for parents and
community members to explore our mission as mathematics educators.  Web sites such as "Figure This!" and "The Math Forum" provide families with
problem ideas and suggestions on how to help children in school.  At the Family Math Night held at our school in January, it was easy for me to
provide parents with a list of a dozen worthwhile places they can visit for ideas on how to help their children  and each idea is only a mouse click away!  The Internet is immediate  no waiting, no shipping charges, and plenty of information available.  NCTM projects such as Illuminations, the e-Standards, and Reflections are evidence of their ability to harness the use of the technology, as has RCML with constant improvements on the offerings available at the Web site.

But all is not perfect in our communication efforts.  I was reminded by a neighbor that only about half of the households in the country have Internet access, and that percentage may be as low as 10% in urban and rural areas.  Another friend who is the principal of an urban elementary school has routinely shared stories with me about parents of school children who are illiterate and cannot read flyers and other mailings sent
home to assist them.  Still another elementary teacher I talked to at NCTM told me about the serious problem they have with gangs in their school children as young as 5 years old need to be separated in the halls because they associate themselves with the gangs to which their 22-year-old parents belong.

We clearly cannot begin to solve all of the social problems in our society, yet an overdependence on the Internet as a forum for disseminating information is not going to accomplish the task alone.  As you prepare or provide professional development for mathematics teachers, how do you address the concerns that are inherent in rural and urban settings? How do we get undergraduates to recognize the impact of a society of "haves" and "havenots" will make on their classroom teaching? What advice do you give them as they begin to interview for teaching positions in diverse settings?  We are interested in any reactions that you might have to this issue.  Please take a minute to send a short email comment to Daniel Brahier at brahier@bgnet.bgsu.edu.  Reaction comments can be included in future Musings column publications in Intersection
Points.

We would like to hear from you!  Take a moment to drop an e-mail to Daniel Brahier to continue this discussion into the next RCML newsletter.