WHAT WE DO
MƒA Boston is a partnership between Boston University, Boston College, and Education Development Center (EDC) with support from the National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce Scholarship Program and private funds. MƒA Boston’s mission is to improve mathematics education in greater Boston public secondary schools by recruiting, training, and retaining talented mathematics teachers.

YESTERDAY
In its first decade of operation, MƒA Boston had two components: 1) a Teaching Fellowship program to prepare new teachers and 2) a Master Teacher Fellowship program to deepen and share the skills of expert teachers – along with extensive professional, mathematical, and financial supports. All participants began their program with PROMYS for Teachers, a six-week summer immersion program in mathematics at Boston University. Most recently, MƒA Boston has collaborated with Boston College on its NSF Noyce grant, Exemplary Mathematics Educators for High-Needs Schools. The grant supports exceptional Teaching Fellows and Master Teachers dedicated to improving math education in urban, high-needs schools. 

TODAY
Currently, MƒA Boston is reinventing itself as a provider of mini-grants and professional development workshops for secondary mathematics teachers in the greater Boston area. In 2019, MƒA Boston was designated a registered Professional Development Provider with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Through these efforts, MƒA Boston is building a strong community of educators, leaders, and mathematicians, exploring mathematics and helping teachers keep mathematics at the core of their professional lives.

LANDMARK  ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Through its Teaching Fellows program,  MƒA Boston has led mathematically strong graduates to commit to teaching in high-needs Boston area public schools. MƒA Boston has prepared these teachers for teaching very effectively and established them in a supportive professional community which will continue to motivate and enrich their teaching for years beyond the terms of their fellowships.

Through its Master Teachers Fellowship program, MƒA Boston has encouraged expert teachers of mathematics to remain in high-needs Boston area classrooms. Further deepening their mathematical understanding, and, through the curriculum and professional development materials they create with MƒA Boston, causing their expertise to be of long-term value to both teachers and students alike. 

Estimating that about 150 students are taught by each Fellow each year, the corps of 34 MƒA Boston Fellows directly impacts about 5,100 high-needs Boston area students each year. Many more Boston area students are influenced through the Master Teachers’ mentoring of other teachers and through their creation of innovative curriculum and professional development.
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MƒA Boston is building a strong corps of mathematics teachers who have deep mathematical understanding, strong teaching skills, a supportive and instructive professional community, and deep connections with Boston area mathematicians. Progress has been made, but a great deal more work remains to be done if every student in a high-needs Boston area school is to have the chance to be successful in mathematics.