The material shared in this Work Session stems from a recent semester-long case-study (Stake, 1995) of elementary mathematics education at one primary school in western China. The presenters will report on the environment that elementary mathematics specialists enjoy in China and share the many ways in which that environment promotes deep pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) (Shulman, 1987). Specifically, the session objectives are as follows: (a) to present a comprehensive overview of the math specialist position at one elementary school in the Sichuan province and discuss issues related to U.S. adoption (b) to describe and discuss the integral nature of professional development and the role of public lesson presentations on teacher growth and development; (c) to share video excerpts from teacher meetings and three lessons in grades 1 - 3 that capture some of the ways in which the public lesson presentations promote PCK through pre-presentation meeting discussions and post-presentation analysis and discussion; and (d) provide a venue for interaction and a sharing of perspectives between Chinese and U.S. researchers. The 90 minutes will be divided roughly in half to allow for audience participation. That will take place in roughly 3 parts corresponding to the above objectives. Specifically, about 20 minutes will be allotted to addressing objectives (a) and (b), and 25 minutes for objective (c) with objective (d) being interwoven throughout the session.

The U.S. has witnessed calls for elementary mathematics specialists for decades but for the most part our structure for teaching mathematics in the elementary school has remained the same during that time (Cicmanec, K.B.M., 2008). Recently, greater attention has been given to the notion of elementary math specialists in the U.S. both in terms of the development and certification of such specialists (e.g., AMTE, 2009) and implementation in the schools (e.g., Cicmanec, 2008; Gerretson et al., 2010; Mangin, 2010; Nickerson & Moriarity, 2005). Thus, it is important to look at successful models that other countries have in place and consider potential benefits for U.S. students and possible avenues for implementation in U.S. schools.

China has had mathematics teachers at the elementary level for decades and has institutionalized practices that promote instructional excellence in their classrooms and contribute to Ma's (1999) documentation of Profound Understanding of Fundamental Mathematics (PUFM). As might be expected, there is considerable variation in the elementary math specialist models that exist in China. One common component however, is the "public" lesson presentation where the teacher brings their class to a large room that provides additional seating for their colleagues, supervisors, a master teacher and guests so they may observe the lesson. This Work Session will include a general overview of the public presentation process as described elsewhere (e.g., Han 2010; Peng, 2007) but extend the discussion by focusing on a series of public lessons from several grades to illustrate the numerous learning opportunities that stem from public lesson presentations and promote the development of PCK.

This case-study included extensive data collection including observational data and field notes; videotaped lessons and teacher meetings; group and individual interviews of teachers and administrators; document analysis and TIMSS 2007 survey and released item responses. Glaser and Strauss' (1967), method of constant comparison allowed the features and trends of the participants' actions and interactions to emerge over time. New data from continued observations and additional public lessons and meetings were then analyzed to refine the themes. One of the broad themes that emerged from the analysis was that of integrated professional development that fostered excellence in instruction. For example, weekly grade-level math teacher meetings provided an opportunity for teachers to focus on the content being taught and share their ideas, problems and issues. The bi-monthly public lesson presentations were another integrated practice. These lessons provided teachers the benefit of input from their grade-level colleagues and school colleagues, the building math coordinator, and the external master teacher, all of whom regularly interacted during the public lesson presentations. Given this school's practice of scheduling teachers with the same students for grades 1 through 6, all teachers were engaged in the public lessons as they gained PCK that spanned the primary curriculum.

In order to help develop a sense of the teaching and learning environment during this Work Session, excerpts from a set of public lessons and their respective discussions that stemmed from teacher meetings planning for the public lesson as well as those that were reflective in nature following the lesson, will be presented. The three lessons take place at the first, second and third grade level and center on developing statistical content. The set of lessons illustrate the sequential development of content, how teachers are involved in developing their pedagogical content knowledge, and the role of the peer teachers and master teacher in the public lesson process. In terms of grade-level content, the lessons develop students' reasoning about summarizing and displaying information through graphs, reading and interpreting graphs, and developing the concept of the mean.

The public lessons also highlight another significant characteristic of professional development in China and that is the central role that students have in the process. Whether it be a public lesson or a province-wide conference, teaching students was always the central activity that the professional development and reflective process stemmed from. Other organizational and school environment aspects will be shared as discussion merits to provide a complete picture of the school structure and to help facilitate understanding of aspects of the Chinese model that could be adopted in the U.S. For example, aspects of the school environment including teachers' and students' backgrounds and activities, and district and city-level practices may be shared and discussed based on interview data, TIMSS survey data, assessment and textbook analysis.