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Tom Sallee Mathematics Recipient 1998-1999 For more than 30 years, Professor Sallee has been deeply involved in working with teachers to improve mathematics instruction. His contributions began soon after his arrival at UC Davis in 1966, when he became a consultant to two nearby public school districts that wanted to improve their mathematics programs. Ultimately, his work transformed the teaching of mathematics in California schools. In 1982, Professor Sallee was one of several mathematicians who founded the Northern Mathematics Project, a summer institute and follow-up program for teachers. For seven years, Professor Sallee taught teachers problem-solving in the morning and worked with them in the afternoon to integrate their new skills into lessons for their students. In 1985, this project helped in the development of a new framework for teaching mathematics throughout California. During the many hours he spent with teachers, Professor Sallee heard frequent pleas for better textbooks. At the same time, he was finding that many freshmen at UC Davis were mathematically unprepared. To address this problem, Professor Sallee began a project to rewrite high school algebra and geometry textbooks. The series, named College Preparatory Mathematics was created over the next six years with input from more the 60 teachers involved in the writing, editing and pilot testing of the books. Once the series was completed, Professor Sallee created an eight-day course to teach teachers how to use the texts effectively. For the nest five years, he taught the course himself. The College Preparatory Mathematics program was enthusiastically received. In 1999, teachers of 300,000-400,000 students in about 700 schools in California an 80 schools in other states are using the books. And studies show that students who used the program score significantly better than students at the same school who did not use the program. |
