Sample Student Project

Project Report

Memo to: Math Department Chair

From: Jon

Re: Recommendation re possible adoption of "Connected Mathematics Project"

I. Summary of Recommendations

In reponse to your request that I evaluate Connected Math as a possible curriculum choice for Silicon Valley Middle School, I have conducted a careful review of the program. My recommendation is that the program not be adopted as a wholesale replacement for our current programs, principally because of the subject matter gaps it suffers. I do not consider it feasible to supplement the program to cure those deficiencies, because of time constraints. Instead, I suggest that the materials be acquired so that individual faculty members may adopt or adapt portions of the program to supplement the existing curriculum, where they might find it useful on particular topics.

The full report is available as a PDF file.

This final report was submitted by a student in the Stanford Teacher Education Program who was seeking his certification to teach high school mathematics. This project is offered as an example of student work because it addresses many of the aspects of programs that were addressed in the course (including the underlying philosophy and theory of action, the program design, research support and effectiveness, and "fit" with the local context). As this student was a former lawyer, I wondered whether he could have simply produced this kind of analysis without taking the course (see my comments), but in an interview, he argued that the course provided him with a framework that he needed to make sense of what he learned about the program.