The Mathematics Program Improvement Review

Book excerpt: How good is your school's mathematics program? Test scores can provide some general trend information, but what you--and your students' parents--really need are specifics about the quality of the curriculum, the effectiveness of the instruction, and the school's overall capacity to support mathematics learning.The Mathematics Program Improvement Review (MPIR) is a proven evaluation process focused on standards for high-quality mathematics programs in grades K-12. Based on research into effective program-evaluation methods, the MPIR approach uses multiple data sources to clarify exactly what is working within an individual school's math program and what is not.Author and MPIR developer Ron Pelfrey has used this process to evaluate mathematics programs in more than 300 rural, urban, and suburban schools and has trained hundreds of educators to conduct reviews. Now this handbook makes the MPIR process and its benefits available to everyone. Inside, you'll find guidelines for training review team members and all the materials needed to conduct a review, including* Lists of standards and indicators for the 10 essential components of an effective mathematics program.* Templates for questionnaires, interviews, and classroom observations.* Detailed evaluation rubrics.* Forms for compiling ratings and generating a final report.Whether used as a basis for informal faculty or departmental discussion, to promote best practices in a particular area (such as curriculum or instruction), or to guide a formal program evaluation, this book will help any school or district apply MPIR tools and procedures to bring about positive change in students' mathematics learning.