Measuring Up: An Elementary and Middle School Experience is a research-based, professional development program. It began in 1997 and for the first two years focused on middle school mathematics teaching in De Kalb School District number 428. As middle school teachers incorporated reform methods in their classrooms, they commented that too many students were leaving the elementary school underprepared in reform-based mathematics education. As a result, in 1999, Measuring Up began providing an in-service program for elementary school teachers, which continued in 2000 and 2001. Please see the Measuring Up Links Page for information about the experiences of the previous years with this program.
The goal of Measuring Up is to provide school teachers (and ultimately their students) with real-world-based problem solving experiences requiring mathematical thinking. The program encourages discussion and reflection about these problem-solving experiences. It includes both the mathematical content, and the development of professional knowledge through inquiry-based mathematics teaching.
Below are the photographs of some of the twenty elementary and middle school teachers (K-6) from the De Kalb school district who participated in the 2001 project. The sessions were held after school hours at Brooks Elementary School in De Kalb during the winter and spring and one session was held at Northern Illinois University Department of Mathematical Sciences. Each five-hour session included explorations of mathematics concepts via problem solving activities which included discussion and reflections about the varieties of solution strategies that were used. Also assigned readings, sharing of participants' classroom experiences, observations, and reflections were discussed.
The Measuring Up teacher enhancement activities also engaged teachers in learning about children's mathematical thinking. By sharing, reflecting and discussing with each other and with the staff of mathematics educators, these school teachers continued in their attempts to reform mathematics education in their classrooms.
You may want to read a recent NIU press release report about the Measuring Up project located here.