BWCC Foundation Partners with MCTM

BWCC Foundation Grant Helps Math Teachers Apply a New Formula

The Business Monthly, The Business Newspaper of Howard and Anne Arundel Counties and BWI Business District
http://www.bizmonthly.com/7_2007_focus/f_4.shtml

By George Berkheimer

A $5,000 grant from the Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber (BWCC) Foundation will not only guarantee the continuation of an annual conference for math teachers, but will also help organizers extend the event's reach.

The BWCC Foundation has hosted the Baltimore/Washington Math Symposium for the past 13 years in collaboration with the Chamber, the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS). The event has consistently drawn upwards of 140 middle and high school math teachers from as far away as Hagerstown for a full day of dialogue and instruction focused on the latest methods and technologies for teaching mathematics.

This year, with the Foundation's help, the symposium will be reconstituted as a career-enhancing Maryland Council of Teachers of Mathematics (MCTM) Annual Conference.

"This is perfect timing because we've wanted to start delivering some innovative things beyond the conference," said Jon Wray, president-elect of the MCTM. Wray's tenure will begin on Oct. 19, the date of this year's MCTM Annual Conference, which will be held at Reservoir High School in Fulton.

"We will also begin offering this innovative professional development opportunity to teachers, not only in secondary education positions, but to teachers from pre-kindergarten through [12th grade]," Wray said.

Seeking Equation

The grant came at a time when funding of the symposium was in danger of drying up.

"In the past we've worked with the NSA, the Howard County and Anne Arundel County public school systems and Wayne Wilhelm of Wilhelm Commercial Builders, among others," Wray explained. "Unfortunately, there have been some cuts in funding by the NSA, and we didn't think we'd be able to continue ... [unless we] could partner with the state."

One of the biggest ongoing problems for educators in Maryland, according to Wray, began about five years ago with cuts in the state-administered federal Eisenhower Grant program, which helped Maryland's schools defray some of the costs for teachers' career development.

"Registration fees [for the MCTM Annual Conference] are minimal and an annual [MCTM] membership costs only $20, but it's becoming more difficult to fund faculty and send teachers to conferences like this even when the cost is this low," Wray explained.

The BWCC Foundation grant will help address some of these problems.

"There are lots of other changes taking place at the moment," noted BWCC President and CEO Walt Townshend, who observed that statewide budget cuts have not only made it difficult for teachers to attend conferences, but have also cut into schools' abilities to afford substitute teachers while the regular teachers are absent.

Resolving Irrational Factors

"We're in the midst of seeing if we can align ourselves with the MCTM and find other ways to support them, either financially or by finding ways ... to try to control the time that teachers spend out of the classroom [pursuing career development opportunities]," Townshend said.

This year, for instance, the MCTM Annual Conference has been scheduled on a Maryland State Teachers Association (MSTA) professional's day, when teachers aren't normally in class with students.

"Secondary and high school mathematics teachers will be free to attend," Wray explained. Elementary school teachers who teach a range of subjects, however, will likely have to choose whether they want to attend the math conference or another development option in another curriculum.

Nevertheless, they might still have a chance to benefit from the conference. According to Wray, the Council intends to begin videotaping the conference presentations starting this year and hopes to stream them via the MCTM web site to extend access to all of the teachers who belong to the organization.

Proving New Methods

Steve Leinwand, the principal research scientist at the American Institute of Research, will be the keynote speaker at this year's MCTM Annual Conference. According to Wray, the keynote speaker's stipend will be provided through the BWCC Foundation's original grant.

"Another area the grant will help with is our effort to get people to stay for the entire program," he continued. "The BWCC has offered to buy box lunches for the participants. I think this will go a long way; in the past, participants have had to leave for lunch and many of them decided not to come back [for the symposium's afternoon sessions]."

Additional support from corporate sponsors will pay off with an opportunity to get their name out in front of the participants.

"This is unique," Wray said. "We've had exhibitor support in the past, but this has been mostly educational or commercial companies; we've never before had corporate support outside the field of education."

Meanwhile, the MCTM hopes to raise another $4,500 to $5,000 on its own this year to get the math conference off to a solid start under the new circumstances.

"We're going to start small this year and see how it works out," he said. "We're committed to maintaining this relationship [with the BWCC Foundation] and seeing it grow in the future."