I could write a book about my adventures as a mathematician in math-education land. Maybe some day I will. For now, here is a sketch of my involvement in the math-education scene before my recent retirement, plus several writings.
The Philiip C. Curtis Jr. Center for Mathematics and Education (aka the "Curtis Center") is an umbrella organization within the Mathematics Department that houses, coordinates, and supports various departmental activities connected with the teaching of mathematics. The Curtis Center was set up in June, 2007, with the cooperation of a number of people and groups in the Mathematics Department. It was set up as a "center" with a lower case "c", in the sense that it did not have the million dollar endowment required to be recognized by UCLA as one of its endowed centers. At its founding, Phil Curtis became Faculty Director, and Heather Calahan became Executive Director. My role with the Curtis Center was to coordinate the organizing efforts and ithen to serve on its initial Steering Committee.
The Introduction to Algebra Program consists of a set of materials for a full year course for middle school students who are not prepared for algebra. The materials have been approved by the California Board of Education in the 2007 California Mathematics Adoption as an algebra readiness program.
The principal authors of the program are Shelley Kriegler, Mark Goldstein, Helen Hsu Chan, and myself. Many many people were involved in the project. My role was chiefly to take responsibility for the mathematical accuracy of the materials.
The California Mathematics Project (CMP) is one of several California Subject Matter Projects, which are funded by the State of California through the Office of the President of UC. The CMP helps support about twenty sites statewide to mount professional development institutes and to engage in other professional development activities for in-service math teachers.
I served as the Faculty Advisor for the CMP from 1999 to 2008, and as such I served ex officio as a non-voting member of the Advisory Board of the CMP. The CMP has its headquarters in the UCLA Mathematics Department, and Susie Håkansson is the Executive Director of the CMP.
The CMP was established in 1983. For the first three years of its existence (1983-1986), I served as the UC representative on the Advisory Board of the CMP. I returned as Faculty Advisor in 1999.
The California Mathematics and Science Teacher Program (CMST program) is a UC-sponsored program that supports the Joint Mathematics Education Program (JMEP) at UCLA. I served as PI for the UCLA site of the CMST program for several years before retirement.
The Mathematics Content Program for Teachers (MCPT) is a Mathematics Department program that offers a series of professional development courses for elementary and secondary mathematics teachers. The MCPT courses can be taken for Mathematics x400 unit credit through UCLA Extension. The courses are offered on site, through arrangements with local school districts.
The Director of the MCPT is Shelley Kriegler, who has directed the program since its founding in 1999. My role was to participate in the design of the courses and the writing of materials for the program, which is largely a team project similar to a "lesson study" model. Occasionally I presented material to various groups of teachers and math educators. I also served as liaison between the MCPT and the Mathematics Department.
A primary goal of the MCPT is to provide a series of courses that covers the mathematics content recommended for the mathematics subject matter preparation of middle school mathematics teachers. A suite of eight courses in the program has been certified by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) as a program meeting the subject matter requirements for the Supplementary Authorization, which allows multiple subject credential holders to teach mathematics courses through Algebra 1.