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A Year in the Life of an AP Vertical Team for Mathematics
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by Dixie Ross
Teacher
Pflugerville High School
Pflugerville, Texas
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Forging an Alliance
I have been involved in vertical teaming efforts in mathematics for almost 20 years now. We didn't call it that when we started, of course, since we didn't really know much about what we were doing. The only thing about which we were certain was that if we were going to get a diverse group of low socioeconomic students ready to be successful in AP Calculus, we would have to start our efforts very early. We forged an alliance with the middle school math department head, who pledged to open the eighth grade Algebra 1 class to a lot more students. Then we got to work making sure that the high school courses students would take stressed the concepts, skills, and work habits that would help students be successful in AP or other challenging math courses. In 1996, when I was asked to help produce the Math Vertical Teams Toolkit for the College Board, I finally had a name for what we had been doing for all of those years.
Last year, I came to another district to lead their AP Vertical Team for mathematics. Our goal is to increase the number and diversity of students taking AP math classes, including calculus, statistics, and computer science. We also hope to improve student performance on the AP mathematics examinations. As we are beginning the second year of our efforts, I have agreed to write a series of articles about our vertical teaming process in order to help those who are just getting started or who are struggling to maintain an active, productive vertical team. This will be the first of a series of three articles that will appear on AP Central.
The district in which I currently work has a grant, funded by a private donor, to improve its AP program in the four core disciplines of mathematics, English, science, and social studies. In all disciplines, teachers are expected to attend supplemental College Board training in the summer and during the school year. Additional student preparation sessions are held on Saturdays or evenings to ensure that students are ready for the AP Exams. Teachers from sixth grade through AP-level classes also attend vertical team meetings seven times during the school year for 75 minutes after school. Teachers are paid a small stipend for completing the requirements of the grant.
Vertical Team Meeting Structure
For most of our meetings, we begin by examining a question from the free-response section of a recent AP math exam. The team leader identifies and explains the concept, skill, or assessment style that pertains to classes taken prior to the AP level. The teachers then break up into smaller groups by content or grade level to discuss how the topic can be addressed in their particular classes. We specifically ask them to consider these four questions:
- Brainstorm when and where this theme might be addressed during your course.
- What specific lessons and strategies have you used in the past that have incorporated this topic?
- What might be problematic to the students that would require your pre-explanation in order for them to grasp this topic?
- Develop an original question or assessment item for this topic that would be appropriate to your grade level.
Finally, the teachers meet again as a large group to share examples of what they intend to do.
First Meeting
Our first meeting of the year is more organizational than content-oriented. We will discuss the results of the previous year's AP mathematics exams and reiterate the goals of our grant. We will pass out the meeting schedule and discuss the meeting structure. We will remind teachers of their obligations under the terms of the grant. Finally, we will pass out materials and let them know the topic for the next meeting in case they would like to prepare for that meeting.
Second Meeting
The main topic for our October meeting is analysis of functions using free-response question 5 from the 2003 AP Calculus AB/BC Form B Examinations.(All AP questions referred to in this article can be downloaded from AP Central.) We will focus on the importance of using correct terminology to describe the behavior of functions. We have written variations on our focus AP question for the teachers to discuss in their small groups by content or grade level.
Third Meeting
Our third meeting will focus on the topic of assessment and asking good questions using free response questions 2 and 3 from the 2003 AP Calculus AB Examination as the basis for discussion. While many math teachers continue to stress an algebraic approach to every topic, the AP Exam also includes questions that are based on graphical, numerical, or verbal prompts. While many math teachers ask students to "evaluate, find, simplify, or solve," AP questions also ask students to "justify, show, explain why or why not, explain, or interpret." At this meeting, teachers will create one good question or assessment item that is written in the AP style or format.
Fourth Meeting
Teachers will share the items that they produced from the previous meeting. The topic for this meeting is simulations and randomness. The focus question is question 5 from the 2003 AP Statistics Exam, Form B. The teachers will engage in a simulation for this question in small groups and then pool the data to see how well the experimental results match the theoretical results. Since registration for next year's classes will soon be coming up, we want to remind teachers that AP Statistics is an excellent option for many students.
Dixie Ross has over 19 years of teaching experience in all levels of mathematics from remedial to AP Calculus BC. She began as a mathematics teacher at Taylor High School in Taylor, Texas. She started the AP program there in 1989 and began working as a College Board consultant and workshop leader in 1994. She served on the Development Committees for the Math Vertical Teams Toolkit, the Setting the Cornerstones workshop, and the new Building Success in Mathematics workshop, and has also served as an Exam Reader. She is now teaching at Pflugerville High School, Pflugerville, TX.
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