ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a post hoc analysis of efforts to improve curriculum and teaching. Through “backward mapping” of both the results and process of implementing new curricula funded by the National Science Foundation and points to the generation of energy for change at the school level. The chapter draws data from different settings are an urban school district whose middle schools had implemented Connected Mathematics Project (CMP) for three years and an urban elementary charter school that started using Everyday Mathematics as a curriculum identified as closely aligned with the state’s mathematics standards. It looks at learning-centered leadership from the ground up, beginning with a clear challenge in urban schools: students who have difficulty with grade-level mathematics content. The initial analyses suggest that students in CMP were not outscored by students in a traditional program, but that the achievement gap between African American and Caucasians students was smaller.
