K-12 Schools

Just in Time Professional Development

The Curtis Center Just-In-Time sessions bring mathematics faculty together in course-alike groups throughout the year to further their development of the deep professional mathematical and pedagogical understandings required to engage students in rigorous and engaging mathematics, pursuing conceptual understanding, fluency, and authentic, culturally relevant application with equal intensity. Sessions include examination of Curtis Center model lessons specifically designed to foster student engagement in the Standards for Mathematical Practice around grade level mathematics. The approach is called “Just-In-Time” because sessions are custom designed to be in sync with the school or district’s instructional sequence to facilitate maximal implementation.

Applied Mathematics Task Writing Course

The Curtis Center’s Applied Mathematics Task Development aims to train mathematics instructors to write mathematics tasks which engage students in developing an answer for a mathematical question arising in the real world. Participants learn how to author a coherent, mathematically rigorous task for classroom use, in the style students will encounter on the end-of-vear exam. A Curtis Center Mathematics Specialist experienced in Smarter Balanced Performance Task authoring meets with your mathematics faculty to guide them through the Applied Mathematics Task Development Process. Sessions include introduction to writing stems, introduction to writing items, introduction to writing rubrics, and micro-piloting with student papers.

Observation and Coaching

The UCLA Curtis Center’s coaching service engages classroom teachers in one-on-one coaching with a Curtis Center Mathematics Specialist that is focused on classroom implementation of a Just-In- Time lesson. Coaching sessions aim to facilitate teacher engagement of students in the mathematics practice standards and in the content standards for the course they teach. Teachers will implement a Just-In-Time lesson with a non-evaluative observer in the room using the Observation Protocol to note evidence of student learning of the mathematics of the lesson. The teacher will then analyze the observers Observation Protocol notes and student work from the Just- In-Time lesson together with a Curtis Center Mathematics Specialist to assess student learning relative to the lesson event.

Scope and Sequence Design

The Curtis Center can work with your mathematics faculty to further align your current Scope and Sequence to the rigor of the Common Core State Standards. This work typically includes removing content superfluous to the Common Core Standards, adding in missing standards content, and reordering standards with an eye towards mathematical and pedagogical integrity. This process normally results in deeper faculty understanding of the intended meaning of the standards, an improvement in each course’s mathematical “flow”, and content sequencing more in tuned to student motivation.

Collaborative Lesson Research

The UCLA Curtis Center’s Collaborative Lesson Research (CLR) professional development engages K-12 mathematics faculty in a multi-step process to improve mathematics teaching practices in the classroom. Curtis Center specialists trained in Teaching Through Problem-Solving (TTP) and CLR engage a team of teachers and administrators in one cycle of CLR by facilitating:

1. assessment data review to select the mathematical focus of the lesson,

2. development of a lesson research question for the CLR,

3. creation of a TTP-style lesson,

4. the public teaching of the lesson, and

5. post discussion & reflection on the lesson.

Services Interest Form

Please fill out the services interest form below to select the grade(s) for which your school or district would like to receive professional development.

Services Interest Form