Story and photo by Marc Glass (Spring 2008 issue)

Cheryl Rose ’91 freely (and somewhat apologetically) admits she’s one of those rare individuals who always got math.

But before you begrudge her love of all things exponential, polynomial and obtuse (geometrically speaking), know that Rose is doing everything she can to make sure the nation’s K-12 students succeed with math, too.

At the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (a not-for-profit Augusta-based organization focused on improving math and science education in Maine), Rose served as mathematics senior program director, coordinating and delivering professional development for K-12 teachers nationwide. Also responsible for teaching materials development, she co-authored Mathematics Curriculum Topic Study (Corwin Press, 2006) and Uncovering Student Thinking in Mathematics (Corwin Press, 2007)—the latter with fellow UMF graduate Leslie (Garvey) Minton ’83, who serves as a project director at MMSA. The books, one of which was developed with National Science Foundation funding, explain developmentally appropriate methods for teaching math as well as assessing and responding to common student difficulties with mathematical operations.

Now serving as project director in the Gardiner office of Educational Development Center Inc.—a not-for-profit organization that implements education, health and community development projects in 35 countries—Rose continues to enrich mathematics education nationwide.

“Everywhere I go, teachers want to know, ‘How do I get out of kids what they know before I begin to teach?’ and ‘What are some different activities and strategies to make math more meaningful?’” she said.

The search for those activities and strategies began in her first teaching position in Seattle, Wash., where she was handed a class of at-risk ninth-graders, many of whom were involved with gang-related violence. (“The new teacher always gets those students,” she said with laughter.)

The students struggled, and when Rose was unable to explain the classic “flip and multiply” approach to division of fractions, she revisited learning activities taught by Maggy Wyckoff, professor of mathematics education at UMF. She also partnered with a colleague in teaching an integrated math-science curriculum—that began with a field trip to the local amusement park.

“I asked the students to think about probability of winning and losing the games, how much they would have to charge for the game to turn a profit,” said Rose, who earned a master’s in curriculum, instruction and assessment, and taught math at Wiscasset High School before making the switch to teaching teachers with MMSA in 2001.

Among her recent projects is the Mathematics: Access and Teaching in High Schools program to improve content knowledge and create a best-practices teacher network across nine Maine school departments. The three-year Maine Dept. of Education-sponsored venture was a UMF reunion of sorts, as Rose invited Wyckoff to deliver the content knowledge portion of the program for 37 educators and administrators, including 21 UMF graduates. (“How many of you are UMF alumni?” is her favorite ice-breaker with new groups of teachers.)

Rose’s work is targeted at teachers, but parents, she said, are perhaps the most potent change agents in improving math competency.

“We need to work with children at home to explain how math is used in estimating distance and time, how percentages figure in understanding sale prices and how much to leave for a restaurant tip,” said Rose, a parent of three and granddaughter of Hazel (Vasso) Gangi ’37. “When children see parents connecting math to our everyday lives, then we truly prepare students to use mathematics beyond school—to be literate in mathematics.”