Graduate School of Education: 0601treisman.html

SESAME graduate Uri Treisman, a professor of mathematics and executive director of the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin, engaged GSE faculty, students and guests with a “homecoming” talk that focused on current strategies for strengthening mathematics teaching and learning in large urban districts on Nov. 21.

In the wide-ranging presentation, “Building Instructional Capacity in Large Urban Districts,” Treisman said that the quality of teachers that urban students receive is a key equity question. He also noted that lower-income students were the biggest recipients of district teachers who are trained in the same curriculum (such as the “Everyday Mathematics” textbooks used in Houston and New York) since these students were more likely to move from school to school.

Treisman peppered his discussion with humorous anecdotes, including a description of the time that he convinced Texas school board members to reject a set of science curriculum standards because they didn’t mention petroleum products.

“I never would have guessed the kinds of things I have taken on to work in equity,” he said.

The fall’s colloquia also featured new GSE faculty members Randi Engle and Dor Abrahamson; Jeanne Bamberger, Professor of Music and Urban Education, MIT; Shelley Goldman, School of Education, Stanford University; and Alan Schoenfeld from the Graduate School of Education.

Speakers lined up for the spring (schedule will be posted in mid-January) include Jeremy Roschelle, Director, Center for Technology in Learning, SRI International; Gordon Kingsley, School of Public Policy, Georgia Tech; Dawn Rickey, Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University; Jane Bowyer, Dean of the School of Education, Mills College; and professor Andy diSessa and DiME postdoctoral researcher, Andreas Stylianides from the Graduate School of Education.

For more information, contact series coordinator Christine Diehl.

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