Replicating Exemplary Practices in Mathematics 
                 Education among APEC Economies 
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
              APEC Human Resource Development Working Group 
                                   
                                   
                                   
                              July 2010 
                                                     
                               
                               
                               
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
              
          APEC Project HRD 01/2009 A 
           
           
          Prepared By: 
          Akihiko Takahashi 
          DePaul University 
          atakahas@depaul.edu 
           
          Brian Fu 
          U.S. Department of Education 
          brian.fu@ed.gov 
           
          Produced for 
          Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Secretariat 
          35 Heng Mui Keng Terrace Singapore 119616 
          Tel: (65) 6891-9600 Fax: (65) 6891-9690 
          Email: info@apec.org Website: www.apec.org 
           
          © 2010 APEC Secretariat 
           
          APEC#210-HR-01.4 
          
          
                                                                                                                                            
                        Table of Contents: 
                         
                              Preface 
                         
                        Standards  
                         
                                Alan Ginsburg and Steven Leinwand, Informing Grades 1-6 Mathematics Standards 
                                 Development: What Can Be Learned From High-Performing Hong Kong, Korea, and 
                                 Singapore? 
                         
                                Zalman Usiskin, Grades 7-12 Learning Progression in Mathematics Content  
                                            
                                Shangzhi Wang, How to Encourage Students Learning Mathematics Themselves 
                                 “Double Class-Real and Virtual Class”  
                         
                        Curriculum  
                         
                                Shizumi Shimizu and Tad Watanabe, Principles and Processes for Publishing 
                                 Textbooks and Alignment with Standards: A Case in Japan 
                                Lianghuo Fan, Principles and Processed for Publishing Textbooks and Alignment with 
                                 Standards: A Case in Singapore 
                         
                        Teacher  
                         
                                Akihiko Takahashi, Prospect and Practicing Teacher Professional Development with 
                                 Standards 
                         
                                Christine Lee Kim Eng and Mei Ying Tan, Rating Teachers And Rewarding Teacher 
                                 Performance: The Context of Singapore 
                         
                                Maitree Inprasitha, Adapting Lesson Study in APEC Member Economies.  
                         
                                Masami Isoda, Lesson Study: Japanese Problem Solving Approaches 
                         
                        Assessment  
                         
                                Chun Chor Litwin CHENG, High School Competency Exams in Hong Kong and 
                                 Teaching Training Programme 
                         
                                Ian Stevens, Formative Assessment: A Key Component in Improving Student 
                                 Achievement in Mathematics in New Zealand 
                         
                                Erma Anderson, Learning Progressions: Informing and Supporting Instruction and 
                                 Formative Assessment 
                         
                        Interventions  
                         
                                Nell Cobb and William Crombie, Preventing Students From Becoming Low-Math 
                                 Achievers 
                         
                                Peter Gould, Taking Off With Numeracy: Helping Students To Catch Up 
                         
                                Tran Vui, A Combined Abduction-Induction Strategy in Teaching Mathematics To Gifted 
                                 Students With Computers Through Dynamic Representations 
                         
                         
                                  
                         
                         
               Replicating Exemplary Practices in Mathematics Education among APEC Economies, July 2010 [APEC#210-HR-01.4] 
                
                                       Preface 
                
               Understanding mathematical principles and procedures is essential in becoming a 
               citizen of the data-driven and technological world of the 21st century, no matter what 
               industry one is in. Mathematics education is indeed a key for human resources 
               development and global competitiveness. 
                
               The Education Ministers of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) identified 
               mathematics and science education as a priority in their most recent ministerial 
               meeting in 2008. There, they released a strategic action plan and recommendations for 
               the APEC Education Network. These recommendations recognize not only the need 
               for high quality standards and assessments for mathematics education, but also the 
               need for teachers with strong knowledge and expertise in providing high-quality 
               learning opportunities for their students.     
                
               The APEC project, “21st Century Mathematics and Science Education for All in the 
               APEC Region: Strengthening Developing Economies and Gender Equity Through 
               Standards, Assessments, and Teachers”, led by the U.S. and Thailand intends to make 
               available promising practices and ideas from research on improving mathematics 
               teaching and learning to all the APEC economies1.  
                
               The main goals of this project are to: share exemplary practices in mathematics 
               education from around the APEC region, and develop technical assistance from these 
               promising practices to help APEC developing economies effectively replicate these 
               practices based on their individual contexts. 
                
               As a part of this project the APEC Conference on Replicating Exemplary Practices in 
               Mathematics Education was held from March 8 to March 12, 2010, with March 8 
               designated as a special one-day preconference event focusing on gender equity in 
               mathematics and science education, at the International School of Tourism, Suratthani 
               Rajabhat University, Samui Island. The conference was organized and led by the U.S. 
               Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of Education and the Ministry 
               of Education, Thailand. 
                
               This summary addresses: (1) What was discussed during the conference (2) The 
               planned next steps in using these resources to provide high-quality learning 
               experiences for teachers and students, and to establish a strong foundation for 
               teaching mathematics and science for future generations. 
                
                  The conference report 
                
               The ultimate goal of the conference was to develop a series of resources, 
               recommendations, and action plans for the APEC Education Network mathematics 
               project participants based on the presentations and discussions held during the 
               conference. In order to address issues and concerns for improving mathematics 
               teaching and learning, the project overseers and the conference chairs identified five 
               major topics in mathematics education. Based on these topics, the 4-day conference 
               was organized around five major topics and was designed for intensive discussion on 
               each topic among not only the speakers and discussants but also including the active 
               participants who were nominated by the each APEC member economy. The following 
                                                                   
                                      
               1  This is project was approved by the APEC, Human Resources Development Working Group [HRD 01 2009A]