Cathy Brown, Hall of Fame Award

 

The Oregon Mathematics Education Hall of Fame Award is Oregon’s highest honor. It is awarded to those individuals who have a long history of service and achievement to math education in Oregon; a commitment to making a change in the quality of math education; a history of time and involvement with OCTM; and have given of themselves through workshops, articles, presentations and personal contact.

 

Cathy Brown has achieved all of these and more with her dedication to mathematics, students, teachers, and her friends. You wouldn’t have known it could turn out this way had you talked with Cathy in 7^th grade. She was deftly afraid of her math teacher although she was in the fast track. Amazingly, she ended up in the low track in 8^th grade and due to her aptitude in math and a teacher who saw Cathy’s potential, she ended up tutoring her classmates. This allowed her to realize she could teach math and see where the lack of understanding was to help her classmates better. Having taught swim lessons since she was 12 and relearning how to enjoy math as much as she did, Cathy realized she wanted to be a math teacher. After high school, she embarked on her teaching career attending Eastern Washington State College to get her Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics and then on to the University of Portland for a Master’s Degree in Education. She then started her first teaching assignment teaching 7^th grade in Ridgefield, WA only to discover she pretty much was the math department and there were no textbooks. She taught that year undeterred and decided to write her own textbook during the next summer so she would have something to use for her second year of teaching. This resiliency persisted throughout Cathy’s career and her focus during all of those years was always to think about the students and their needs.

 

Cathy went on to teach for a number of years and continued to be involved in the Oregon Math Community. As part of Oregon’s participation in the New Standards Project, Cathy met others from across the nation and solidified her beliefs that problem solving is the way to get students to show you what they know and can do. Having worked with others who also valued problem solving in this setting, Cathy was equipped to lead Oregon’s teachers and went on to work for the Oregon Department of Education (ODE). She worked for six years as the Mathematics Curriculum and Assessment Specialist and eleven years as the Mathematics Assessment Specialist. During this time, Cathy’s main focus was trying to help others see the value in problem solving as a way to approach and teach mathematics. In her own words Cathy writes, “It is not a secret that I firmly believe in problem solving as the richest application of mathematics concepts and skills. Problem solving in a classroom definitely has more opportunities to allow all students to show what they can do as they learn to share and strengthen their thinking. Focusing on students’ construction of solutions has moved from “I don’t know” to incredible non-routine strategies for approaching, solving, reviewing, and communicating.” As a result of Cathy’s work at ODE, Oregon became one of the few states to have a problem solving assessment based on a single scoring guide. Teachers and students throughout the state of Oregon have benefited from having such a visionary in place to help them in their learning of mathematics.

 

In the words of Cathy’s predecessor, Don Fineran writes “Cathy Brown has always been a charming, astute and articulate voice representing the teachers of Oregon as we worked together to develop a superb mathematics education system in our state. Her expertise in the areas of curriculum and assessment enabled her to provide necessary leadership. With a strong commitment to the importance of problem solving in mathematics, she helped conceptualize, organize, and supervise the overall development of that assessment. She developed support materials, and provided professional development. Cathy’s ability to work closely with all of the math educator groups in Oregon helped build a very strong collaborative network of people who had a common goal – excellence in mathematics education.”

 

As you can see throughout her career, Cathy has strived to improve math education and communicate to others this vision. Linda Samek, who met Cathy during her early years with ODE, says “I have worked with Cathy in so many places around the state as she patiently educates people about appropriate math teaching strategies, standards, assessment, and a host of other topics related to mathematics. She is always versatile, knowledgeable, and professional and has contributed more to mathematics education in Oregon than we can imagine.”

 

Cathy is honored to have received the Hall of Fame Award and holds this award in the highest regard. Throughout her career, Cathy has enjoyed the support of her husband, Kent, who has stood firm with her through all the years always expressing encouragement and understanding. It is this support along with the continual support of Oregon’s mathematics community that has enabled Cathy to give of herself and her love of mathematics that have made her the influential Hall of Fame Award recipient she is.