McGraw-Hill Authors Receive Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching

NEW YORK, July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- McGraw-Hill Education announced today that Paul J. Karafiol and Matt Miller, authors of the company's prestigious third edition of UCSMP Grades 6-12 with the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project, were recently named recipients of the 2009 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST). Recognized for contributions to teaching and learning and an ability to help students make progress in mathematics and science, Karafiol and Miller were two of 103 mathematics and science teachers selected to receive the nation's highest honors for teachers of mathematics and science. They are the sixth and seventh authors of McGraw-Hill's UCSMP Grades 6-12 to have received this award.

"I'm incredibly honored to join the ranks of my esteemed McGraw-Hill UCSMP writing colleagues who were awarded the presidential award before me," said Karafiol. "Good teaching doesn't happen in a vacuum, and an educational environment where teachers collaborate and learn together while being supported by an administration that empowers them to grow, adapt and innovate has been crucial to my success as a teacher. With the Obama administration's increasing focus on better achievement in science and math and increased innovation in the K-12 classroom, methods like UCSMP that encourage students to think about math using both applications and theory will be critical if America wants to compete in science and math on a global scale."

"Being selected to receive the PAEMST is an honor, particularly at a time when the K-12 math classroom has become the place where students decide whether or not they want to pursue a highly technical field," Miller said. "In my view, as the country works to compete on a global level, the climate needs to shift away from using mathematics teaching words like 'proficiency' to instead use describing words like 'interesting,' 'exciting,' 'challenging,' and perhaps even 'fun.'  These are the characteristics of a classroom environment created by using methods like UCSMP, and will further produce the country's future engineers, scientists, and mathematicians."

Past McGraw-Hill UCSMP authors who were honored with the presidential award include:

• John Benson (1987): Geometry
• Susan Eddins (1989): Algebra
• Nancy Powell (1992): Geometry
• Ray Klein (1998): Geometry
• Natalie Jakucyn (2002): Pre-Transition Mathematics, Transition Mathematics, Algebra, Geometry, Functions, Statistics & Trigonometry

The PAEMST is the highest recognition that a K-12 mathematics or science teacher may receive for outstanding teaching in the United States. Awards are given to mathematics and science teachers from each of the 50 states and four U.S. jurisdictions.  In addition to honoring individual achievement, the goal of the award program is to exemplify the highest standards of mathematics and science teaching. Awardees serve as models for their colleagues, inspiration to their communities, and leaders in the improvement of mathematics and science education.

McGraw-Hill Education's PreK-12 math curriculum includes Everyday Mathematics® for Pre-K-6 students and UCSMP Grades 6-12 for middle school and high school students, both of which are authored by the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project.

A number of pillars of mathematics instruction are continuously present in UCSMP programs: active learning through games, activities and projects; distributed practice of content that allows topics to be refreshed, reinforced and extended on an ongoing basis; reading to learn mathematics, which builds and strengthens students' abilities to read technical matter; up-to-date technology, an essential STEM skill that UCSMP programs build through the use of computers and calculators at a young age to help learn mathematics; and real-world problem solving to give math added meaning and relevance for students.

This continuum of learning increases the consistency of how math is taught and successively builds mathematics skills and problem solving, reasoning and applications over the course of students' formative education, seeing them through to high school graduation and preparing them to be both college- and career-ready.

UCSMP and McGraw-Hill Education have been working together for more than a decade. UCSMP Grades 6–12, in its third edition, enables students to build upon a core mathematical understanding that sets them up to become life-long mathematical thinkers and problem solvers, with a connected and carefully sequenced curriculum that fully covers the most current national recommendations. The UCSMP curricula reflect more than 25 years of research, development and well-documented results.

Karafiol received a bachelor of arts in philosophy from Harvard University where he graduated Magna cum Laude, and is a graduate of Northwestern University's Golden Apple Teacher Education Program. In addition to his role as a math instructor and math department chair at the Walter Payton College Prep High School in Chicago, Illinois, Karafiol is a director on the 9-12 Board for the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the head writer and Problem Committee member for the American Regions Math League. He is also the developmental team coach of the Chicago Area All-Star Math Team, and has been a problem writer for the American Invitational Math Exam and American Math Contest, a contest writer for the Dupage Valley Math Contest and an activity writer and reviewer for Key Curriculum Press. He has offered numerous professional presentations at industry conferences and events, and is an active member of his community in Chicago, Illinois where he currently resides.

A mathematics teacher at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Miller graduated with a bachelor of arts in mathematics and received his master of arts in mathematics education from the University of Iowa.  Miller is a national board certified teacher and has presented during and lead numerous workshops at industry conferences, acted as a cooperating teacher, served as an item reviewer for ACT and consulted on UCSMP curriculum.  He's also taught in summer teaching programs in mathematics.  He resides in Frytown, Iowa.

About the McGraw-Hill STEM Learning Solutions Center

The McGraw-Hill Education STEM Learning Solutions Center helps students master essential math skills, develop competence with technology, understand science and math concepts, and learn critical thinking and analysis. McGraw-Hill's PreK-12 programs and digital platforms prepare students for jobs in today's global economy.

About McGraw-Hill School Education Group

The McGraw-Hill School Education Group, a unit of McGraw-Hill Education, is a leading innovator in the development of 21st century teaching and learning solutions for K-12 education markets, offering traditional and digital instructional, assessment, and reference content and tools for teachers and students. The School Education Group addresses critical areas in primary and secondary education through Learning Solutions Centers focused on improving student learning outcomes and promoting digital innovation in literacy, STEM, college and career readiness, and intervention and special needs education. All of McGraw-Hill's content for elementary schools and secondary schools is available in digital form. McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 65 languages. Additional information is available at http://www.mheducation.com.

SOURCE McGraw-Hill Education