Welcome and Acknowledgements
Terri Belcher, NCSM Executive Director
Linda Gojak, NCSM President (2005-2007)
Valarie Elswick, NCSM First Vice President (2006-2007) and NCSM Atlanta Conference Chair

Shared Decision Making in a Strategic Context for Leadership in Mathematics Education
Research reflects that school system planning and leadership are vital to the improvement of student performance. This session will highlight the importance of strategic planning to focus the attention of the entire school system on the needs of its mathematics program. Dr. King will show the significance of the involvement of community members and other stakeholders in strategically planning for student achievement.

Raising the Bar in Mathematics for All Georgia Schools
Georgia Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox discusses how the state is using internationally-recognized Mathematics standards to raise expectations for all children.

Leading to Make a Difference
On the path to leadership we all encounter bumps...and boulders. Linda Gojak shares ten tips to help smooth those bumps to become an effective leader of mathematics education from the classroom to the boardroom!

Five Practical, Research-Based Instructional Strategies That Every Supervisor Needs to Be Able to Advocate for and Model
We know that a few small changes in practice can pay rich dividends in terms of outcomes. We'll look at a set of practical, research-based instructional strategies that can significantly boost classroom productivity and achievement in mathematics classes and that should be part of the advocacy and modeling tool kit for every mathematics education leader.

Weaving Key Professional Development Strategies for Optimum Learning and Sustainable Leadership
Content Coaching, Lesson Study, and Professional Learning Communities are three major professional development processes that when combined can have enormous positive impact on instruction and learning. This session will examine the question: How might coaches, teacher leaders, staff developers, and principals design and engage in these practices in ways that upgrade teaching and learning for adults and students district-wide? The use of video clips will ground THE DISCUSSION and give vivid examples of instruction-based coaching.

What's This All About? Curriculum Focal Points, the National Math Panel, Competition, and Partnerships
The session presents issues in which the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) is involved and currently addressing. These include competitiveness, the need for all students to learn important mathematics, and the development of partnerships. Specific examples included the NCTM Curricular Focal Points, The National Math Panel--and its report, and other issues--as they have emerged.

If I Were a District Mathematics Supervisor, I Would...
Iris Weiss has studied the status of mathematics education, and efforts to improve it, over several decades. She shares her reflections on where mathematics supervisors should target their efforts in order to promote a coherent, effective, mathematics program district-wide.

NCSM Position Paper: Improving Student Achievement by Leading Effective Collaborative Teams of Mathematics Teachers
This paper provides direction for the elimination of inequities often caused by the privatization of teacher practice. The paper establishes the necessity for the use of high-performing grade level and course-level teacher teams.

NCSM Position Paper: Improving Student Achievement by Leading Sustained Professional Learning for Mathematics Content and Pedagogical Knowledge Development
This paper provides direction for creating ongoing context-based adult learning (or professional development) for the express purpose of impacting student learning.

Teaching Mathematics as an Unnatural Activity
Whereas teaching mathematics requires more than general teaching skill, learning to teach mathematics is also not a natural byproduct of knowing mathematics. Teaching mathematics is, in fact, an unnatural activity. What does it take to make the shift from knowing mathematics to being able to help others know it? What does this imply for the initial preparation, assessment, and professional development of teachers?

NCTM's Curriculum Focal Points: What Are They? How Will They Be Used?
In this session, the panel examines and discusses the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' new publication, "Curriculum Focal Points for Pre-Kindergarten Through Grade 8 Mathematics: A Quest for Coherence," as a possible framework for guiding future curriculum development, instruction, and assessment.

A Leader's Legacy: Leading From the Inside Out
This session focuses on key elements of our leadership legacy, whether we are trying to leave one or not. The truth is we all lead. The question becomes, "How do we know if we are leading well?" This session provides practical insight into your future actions as a mathematics education leader--our students and our colleagues need us to lead well--and the rewards are a legacy that made a difference.

Demonstrating and Explaining How a Culturally-Based Second Grade Math Curriculum Improved the Math Performance of Diverse Alaskan Students
This presentation demonstrates how a culturally-based math curriculum was developed from everyday knowledge, and shows in this experimental design study, how this curriculum out-performed the curriculum in place at statistically significant levels.