NWREL is again offering its summer institutes on developing elementary and middle school students’ number sense and algebraic reasoning. In 2009 these highly successful sessions will be offered in two Washington state locales: July 7–10 in Pasco and August 10–13 in Spokane.

Recently, these mathematics institutes have drawn some media attention. An article in Education Week titled “Kiddie Algebra” highlights how teacher Melissa Romano, at Broadwater Elementary School in Helena, Montana, is implementing many of the instructional ideas she investigated at an NWREL summer institute. According to the article, Ms. Romano taps into her second-graders’ intuitive number sense to build algebraic concepts. Her typical mathematics lesson now involves a lot of classroom interaction based not only on what “the correct answer” is, but also on the processes students use to solve a problem.

Another district that has participated in NWREL’s mathematics institutes has received recognition in the press. A December 28, 2008, article in The Oregonian by Betsy Hammond reports how schools in Lebanon, Oregon, are introducing algebraic concepts as early as the first grade and how this approach is starting to pay off. “More than 80 percent of Lebanon eighth-graders passed the state math test, compared with 66 percent at schools with similar demographics. No other large or medium-size Oregon district outdid its peers by 15 percentage points,” writes Hammond.

The four-day institutes are separated by grade bands into three different workshops. In addition to the previously offered workshops for educators serving grades K–2 and 3–5, NWREL is introducing a new workshop for teachers of grades 6–8 this year. The overall objective of the summer institutes is to provide instructional strategies for building connections between number sense and algebraic reasoning.