Bill Gates, chairman of the Microsoft Corporation and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, went to math class April 20 at Foothill College. The software pioneer visited the Los Altos Hills campus to do some homework on Foothill's innovative Math My Way Program, which is helping students grasp basic math concepts, outperform their peers, and progress faster to college-level math classes.
Nineteen Math My Way students were told in advance that a special guest wanted to observe instructors Nicole Gray of Sunnyvale, Rachel Mudge of Mountain View and Kathy Perino of Campbell, to gain a better understanding of how they teach developmental math. Students were surprised when Gates and members of his foundation walked into the classroom, but quickly got to work on the math problems at hand. Later, the students had the opportunity to talk with Gates about how the methods used in the class are making a difference for them.
"I think Bill Gates came to our class today because he's concerned that students in the U.S. aren't progressing and excelling in math as fast as students in other countries. I think he came here to find out what his family's foundation can do to help," said Foothill College pre-law major Cassandra Wong, 20, of Castro Valley. "He heard from us that Math My Way definitely does help! Our instructors emphasize math concepts through repetition, so the concepts stick with you. Math My Way should be offered in more schools. I'm confident my grade in math class will be an 'A' this quarter. Without Math My Way, I might have only earned a 'C'."
Gates and his team are looking at models and best practices in developmental mathematics education. They heard about Math My Way during a meeting at the Gates Foundation offices in Seattle with Foothill-De Anza Chancellor Linda Thor, who was invited to discuss her experiences with innovative online learning programs.
Thor said having Gates visit Foothill "presented a wonderful opportunity for us to share a successful program that could be used in any high school or community college to give math-averse students a solid foundation that will carry them into college-level mathematics and science with confidence. We are all grateful for the work of the Gates Foundation to ensure that more students have opportunities to succeed in school. "
The goal of Math My Way ultimately is to increase the number of science, math and engineering graduates at Foothill College and expand opportunity for students from historically underserved groups, such as Latinos and African Americans, to earn advanced degrees in these subject areas. The Math My Way Program is instrumental in preparing students with poor math skills to advance into college-level mathematics, a gateway class for transfer to a four-year university.
"In our culture it's socially acceptable to say 'I'm bad at math.' This must change. If our nation's math education and 'numeracy' are to change, it will take influence to cause that cultural shift. We need to help students learn to address their issues with math-not ignore them," Gray said.
Concerned that so many students arrived at the college unprepared and were not progressing in mathematics, Gray, Mudge and Perino teamed up three years ago to create a new approach to developmental math, which they called Math My Way.
Math My Way groups together cohorts of students who have similar math skill levels. Through small group interaction and one-to-one attention from math instructors, students are challenged by computer drills, paper drills and computer games that reinforce mathematical concepts. Math My Way is offered on a pass/no pass basis and often allows the student to complete in one quarter what originally took two quarters.
Success is literally built into the program. Students must master each conceptual building block before progressing to the next level, and can move quickly through the program to more advanced coursework. Students work at their own pace so they can focus on the concepts that are most challenging for them. The instructors use live lectures and specialized software to help students build confidence and master essential concepts that build upon each other. Math My Way is comprised of two courses, MATH 230: Preparing for Algebra (5 units) and MATH 231: Math-Specific Study Skills (2 units).
"If we are to increase the number of math, science and engineering degrees, we must improve our student success in pre-collegiate-level math classes,'' said Foothill College President Judy C. Miner. "We were honored to host Mr. Gates and to introduce him to the outstanding work going on in our Math My Way Program."
"This program addresses the student's need to grasp mathematical concepts and progress quickly to more advanced coursework. It's a program that yields student success and confidence, and institutional effectiveness," Miner said.
"We want students' math experience to be positive," said Foothill College Physical Sciences, Mathematics & Engineering Division Dean Peter Murray. "Our mutual goal is to help students develop math confidence, grasp basic math concepts and ultimately be able to succeed at the next level of math (e.g., algebra)."
In 2007, the League for Innovation in the Community College presented its prestigious Innovation of the Year Award to members of the Foothill College Mathematics Department who developed the Math My Way basic skills and developmental education program. The team included math instructors Gray, Phuong Lam, Faun Maddux, Mudge, Perino and Murray, the dean.
The Foothill instructors developed the Math My Way Program in response to institutional research demonstrating relatively low levels of progression from the bottom levels of developmental math to college-level math success. Math My Way re-imagines the typical one-instructor, one-classroom model as a flexible design centered on a series of self-paced, hands-on math learning modules. Students interact with different instructors at different times depending on where they are in the program.
The creativity and innovation by Foothill faculty to improve developmental education has been recognized nationally, as two Foothill instructors have been invited to participate in national projects in this area. In December 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded $3.6 million to the Global Skills for College Completion (GSCC) Project, a developmental math and writing project, for which Foothill College Mathematics Instructor Perino, and English Instructor Rosemary Arca of Los Altos, were selected to participate. The goal of the GSCC is to create a "think tank"-comprised of just 26 outstanding basic skills educators in 16 states on 13 community college campuses-to try out new ideas, develop innovative resources and introduce fresh ways of teaching developmental math and writing to community college students that will consistently increase students' pass rates.
"For Foothill College to be associated with the GSCC Project means that we are recognized nationally as leaders in developmental education," Perino said. "Our participation in the GSCC Project means not only that the innovations we've worked on are validated by others across the nation, but that our classrooms are a model worth looking at closely. I don't think that formal research of this nature on classroom practices in community colleges has ever been done, so we are part of a new type of research."
