Despite all that happened in 2020, the math department at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City, OR had one of its most collaborative and productive academic years. We can thank AMATYC, NSF, and the Teaching for PROWESS leadership for providing these opportunities and partnering with us to develop and carry out a plan for instructional improvement in our STEM pathway. Back in early 2020, we found out about an opportunity to be a Phase I college in an AMATYC project focused on improving teaching through active learning. Our department had spent the past several years on improvements to our Statistics Pathway, as well as on implementing multiple-measures placement. Both of these projects helped students tremendously – our STATS pathway became more student-centered and infused with growth mindset and active learning.  Our placement office began placing students an average of 2 levels higher than the placement test had before, and those students succeeded at the same or higher rates. During all of this, we knew that our next area that needed improvement was our STEM pathway – in particular the four classes from College Algebra through Calculus II. From the beginning, we knew our participation in TfP would give us an opportunity to work…

Clackamas CC (CCC) is excited to be a part of the National Science Foundation funded project Teaching for PROWESS (TfP): Increasing Student Success in Community College Mathematics through Active Learning and Systemic Instructional Change(NSF DUE–2013493, –2012962, –2013232, –2013550). TfP is a five-year collaborative project involving partnerships with AMATYC (lead), Chandler-Gilbert CC, Clackamas CC, and Oregon State University (OSU). Each community college has formed an IMPACT team of instructional leaders and developed a project centered on understanding how active learning supports student success, how to foster departmental change, and the role of a professional organization such as AMATYC in these transformations. The Clackamas IMPACT team’s goal is to enhance mathematics instruction for STEM students by redesigning core STEM Path-way courses (College Algebra, Trigonometry/Precalculus, Calculus I, and Calculus II) to better align with the core principles of active learning and the pillars of PROWESS: Proficiency, Ownership, Engagement, and Student Success. New relationships with AMATYC, Chandler-Gilbert CC, and researchers at OSU have resulted in opportunities to learn, share, and collaborate on ideas related to mathematics in the first two years of college. CCC has engaged in regular professional development centered around the pillars of PROWESS, participated in sharing sessions to test out active learning activities, and…

At the end of July 2020, Chandler-Gilbert CC started their work to implement a professional development project called Teaching for PROWESS (TfP): Increasing Student Success in Community College Mathematics Through Active Learning and Systemic Instructional Change. The project, funded by the National Science Foundation (DUE #2013493, #2012962, #2013232, #2013550), is a five-year collaborative project involving partnerships with AMATYC (lead), Chandler-Gilbert CC, Clackamas CC, and Oregon State University. And, as you noticed in the title, the project aims to advance the four pillars promoted in the AMATYC IMPACT guide: PRoficiency, OWnership, Engagement, and Student Success. We are excited about this opportunity to impact the teaching and learning of mathematics in community colleges and to increase student engagement through active learning. At Chandler-Gilbert CC, we will be implementing an 80-hour faculty professional development program during the 2020-2021 academic year for those teaching Calculus I, II, and III, and Brief Calculus. All activities in the professional development program are designed to help faculty teach in asynchronous online and synchronous online for-mats, and will help faculty become acclimated to the course materials created for teaching in these formats. The professional development program includes:TfP Calculus Camp 1, which was held July 27-30, 2020; an additional TfP Calculus Camp…