Formation 1982 | Website www.cmpso.org | |
Headquarters California, United States Host Institution University of California, Los Angeles | ||
The California Mathematics Project (CMP) is a K–16 network in California, United States, dedicated to providing students a rich, rigorous, and coherent mathematics curriculum taught by competent and confident mathematics teachers who foster all students’ proficiency in mathematics—achieving equity in quality.
Contents
Overview
CMP enhances teachers’ mathematical content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge that is aligned to the California Mathematics Standards and Framework. All teachers and students become competent mathematical thinkers as they investigate, conjecture, and justify.
History
The roots of the CMP can be traced back to the Bay Area Writing Project (BAWP), a professional development project for teachers or writing. The BAWP was established in 1974 by James Grey at the University of California, Berkeley.
The CMP was created in 1982 by legislative act SB 424 (Carpenter) to "seek to solve the mathematics skills problem of students in California through cooperatively planned and funded efforts." At that time nine sites were funded throughout the state. The University of California was vested with authority to manage and control the projects. The California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) was to evaluate the projects. Judy Kysh was hired in 1984 as a part-time statewide coordinator. In 1986, it was decided that there needed to be a full-time statewide Executive Director to oversee the CMP.
In 1987, CPEC commissioned a policy study to analyze the effectiveness of professional development. The researchers identified four characteristics of effective professional development:
- discipline and grade-level specific
- organized by the central premise of teachers teaching teachers
- focus on knowledge rooted in teaching that produces high levels of student achievement
- long-term and explicit goals linked to student learning
Following this report, in 1989 the California legislature created a professional development program expanding the structure of the California Writing Project (CWP) and CMP to embrace nine subject areas called the California Subject Matter Projects (CSMP). "The CMP model is one of long-term, sustained professional development, in contrast to a conference or a "one-shot" workshop. Experienced and interested teacher leaders often assume leadership roles at the project site."
Current sites
Sites "create a professional home for teachers that is based upon a culture of inquiry, experimentation, and reflections."