This year twenty elementary and middle school principals from Madison and the surrounding area are learning better mathematics classroom evaluation techniques using video and other techniques. The 30-hour course, "Lenses on Learning Supervision: Focusing on Mathematical Thinking" seeks to make better alignment between supervisory practices and the changes that are taking place in mathematics classrooms.

The course provides administrators with the opportunity to better understand the mathematical essence of a lesson and to consider what a principal might productively talk with teachers about in order to improve instruction.

The course has two central themes:

• Developing an Eye for Mathematics Classrooms provides administrators with experience in observing elementary and middle school mathematics classrooms, both on videotape and in their own schools.
• Rethinking the nature of interactions with teachers lets participants consider how their discussions with teachers in pre- and post-observation conferences could support teachers' continued knowledge attainment and examines how a child's curiosity about mathematical thinking develops.

Course participants can expect a variety of learning components including: doing mathematics together; using videotapes that reveal children's mathematical thinking and the nature of standards-based classrooms; examining samples of children's mathematical work and excerpts from teachers' professional journals; and discussing the challenges of their own administrative practice. They also carry out guided assignments in their schools related to the ideas explored in the course.

John Burkholder, Midvale Elementary principal, says the class helped him understand the difference between math fluency with mathematical comprehension. "The two aren't the same," Burkholder said. "All students, including those seemingly proficient in understanding and those still working through things on a more basic level, need to flesh out algorithms and mathematical ideas with manipulatives and other representations in a true learning community to really attain higher levels of learning."

The course will be offered again during the 2006-07 school year for interested principals.