AMATYC Affiliate Delegate Report

Chris Allgyer, MECC
 

An important role of an Affiliate Delegate is attendance and participation in the Delegate Assembly at the AMATYC Annual Conference. There were several items that delegates reviewed and voted on at the 2005 Conference in San Diego. Prior to the Saturday Delegate Assembly, forums were held on Thursday evening. At these forums, delegates (and any other interested members) were given the opportunity to provide valuable suggestions and insight.
 

One of the items debated this past November was the Position Statement: Guidelines for Dual Enrollment in Mathematics. At the forum, quite a few differing opinions were expressed regarding this topic. As a result of the suggestions received at the forum, the statement was revised and then approved at the Delegate Assembly.
 
Position Statement:
Guidelines for Dual Enrollment in Mathematics
 
Dual enrollment programs are programs in which a high school student enrolls in a postsecondary institution and may earn credit in both sectors simultaneously. Dual enrollment courses are not intended to replace a strong high school curriculum.
The mathematics faculty at the two-year college should set the standards for and participate in:
● determining which courses to offer in the dual enrollment program
● faculty selection
● course content and prerequisites
● assessments and evaluations
● standards for granting college credit
for mathematics courses in the dual enrollment program
Program /Curriculum Issues Committee, November 2005
 
 

The Delegate Assembly also voted to support the five implementation standards of Beyond Crossroads and their application to the teaching and learning of mathematics in the first two years of college. These standards focus on student learning and the learning environment, the assessment of student learning, curriculum and program development, instructional strategies, and professionalism. I encourage you to view the latest draft of this important project. It can be found on the AMATYC web site at http://www.amatyc.org/Crossroads/CROSSROADS/index.htm.
 

At the Thursday Forum, we were informed that several digital products to enhance and expand the messages of Beyond Crossroads are under development. We heard about plans for a web-enhanced version of the document and an Outreach Kit to assist in communicating and implementing Beyond Crossroads, as well as plans for digital products on assessment and quantitative literacy/ mathematics across the curriculum.
 
In other business, the AMATYC Executive Board, in response to a suggestion at a previous Delegate Assembly, proposed that AMATYC dues increases be tied to the CPI-U (Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers). This proposal was approved by the delegates.
 

The 32nd AMATYC Annual Conference will be November 2-6, 2006 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The theme, Keeping Current with the Standards, signifies that the final version of Beyond Crossroads will be unveiled in Cincinnati. As a native of southwest Ohio, I can tell you that Cincinnati is a great place for a convention (it’s also closer to Big Stone Gap than Richmond!). The Cincinnati Convention Center has been recently remodeled and it is connected to the hotels by skywalks. A special reception will be held at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center on the banks of the Ohio River. This museum, which opened in 2004, stands as the nation's newest monument to freedom. To learn more you can visit http://www.freedomcenter.org/index.cfm. I hope to see many of you at the AMATYC Conference next fall!

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