Math Pathways to Completion

Mathematics Pathways to Completion (MPC) is a project led by the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin through which the Dana Center will work deeply with six states—Arkansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Washington—from 2016 through the 2018-19 academic year to extend the work begun in Texas as the New Mathways Project (NMP).

The Charles A. Dana Center, along with many other national leaders and organizations, believes that a significant overhaul of developmental mathematics education and the college-level mathematics courses that follow is required for states both to improve student success and completion and to provide students with a better experience in learning mathematics. The Dana Center has been pursuing this goal through the New Mathways Project (NMP), which promotes and supports math pathways through efforts at the state level to inform policy, at the institutional level through planning tools and resources, and at the classroom level to support faculty through training and course materials. This Texas-focused work has now evolved into a multi-faceted national initiative; for more information see the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways resource site.

MPC uses a strategy of organizing a state-level math task force to establish a vision for math pathways in that state. Over the three-year project, the Dana Center will help each state make that vision a reality at the institutional level. The goal is to dramatically improve the success of students in developmental and gateway mathematics courses by implementing math pathways at scale within that state.

Participating in the MPC project has provided an opportunity for the Washington community and technical college system to refine and pursue the vision for math acceleration and success defined by its system-wide math strategic plan, adopted by the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges in April 2015. Math_Strategic_Plan

Washington MPC Task Force Co-Chairs:

Helen Burn, math faculty, Highline College, hburn@highline.edu; Barbara Alvin, math faculty, Eastern Washington University, balvin@ewu.edu

State MPC facilitator:

Bill Moore, Director of K–12 Partnerships, State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, bmoore@sbctc.edu