Pamela Buffington
About
Pam Buffington, EDC’s Director of Rural STEM Initiatives, co-leads the Maine Partnership to Support Innovative and Equitable Educational Opportunities and leads the cross-REL STEM equity working group. A national expert in rural and mathematics education, she guides policymakers, education leaders, and teachers in improving K–12 student outcomes.
Buffington specializes in expanding access to high-quality STEM education, closing opportunity gaps in mathematics education, and bridging research and practice. She brings extensive experience in place-based learning, research, and distance learning networks to her leadership of EDC’s Rural and Ready STEM initiative. Buffington also co-leads a partnership with rural districts committed to integrating computer science into their K–8 curriculum. A leader in educational technology and mathematics, she has published numerous reports, tools, and briefs.
Buffington holds a PhD in Education from the Union Institute.
Email: pbuffington@edc.org
Associated IES Content
Blog
Card Activity Helps Educators Sort Out Types of Assessment
In this blog post, we share an activity that uses the Making Sense of Educational Assessment to help educators in Maine better understand and implement assessment strategies that are purposeful and effective.
Date published:
Nov 08, 2024
About REL Northeast and Islands
About REL Northeast and Islands
Blog
Making Sense of Educational Assessment: A New Fact Sheet for Educators
This blog introduces a new REL Northeast & Islands factsheet to promote assessment literacy. The blog discusses the different types of educational assessments and how district, school, and teacher leaders can put assessment results to use.
Date published:
Jun 15, 2023
resource
Other Resource
Student Success in Mathematics Partnership Resource Collection
This collection assembles the resources created for and implemented during the Student Success in Mathematics (SSM) partnership. SSM partnership members requested this collection to broaden the reach of their work within and across partner school divisions. SSM partnership members and other educational stakeholders in their school divisions can use these resources to continue improving mathematics teaching and learning and to support student success initiatives.
Dec 14, 2021
resource
Training Material
Student Success in Mathematics Partnership Logic Model Resources
These resources include a workshop presentation and accompanying handouts to support Student Success in Mathematics partnership members with reviewing the elements and uses of a logic model as well as definining defining next steps for finalizing their partnership logic model.
Dec 13, 2021
resource
Training Material
Student Success in Mathematics Partnership Agenda Setting Resources
These resources include a workshop presentation and accompanying handouts to support Student Success in Mathematics partnership members with refining their draft research agenda.
Dec 13, 2021
resource
Training Material
Student Success in Mathematics Partnership Meeting: Partnership Learnings and Next Steps
Time: 1:00 - 12:00 pm ET Location: Virtual Description: In this partnership meeting, REL Appalachia (REL AP) staff and school division participants reflect on the logic model, research agenda, data catalog, and next steps in light of completed partnership activities. REL AP staff also facilitate a conversation with partnership members to gain insight and define which products and practices to highlight as part of a resource collection. Lastly, REL AP shares resources and supports division-lev...
Jul 26, 2021
resource
Training Material
Student Success in Mathematics Partnership Meeting: Using Student Data to Inform Practice
Time: 9:00 - 11:00 am ET Location: Virtual Description: In this partnership meeting, REL Appalachia (REL AP) staff and school division participants reflect on local math coursetaking data and consider future policy and practice adjustments to promote equity. REL AP staff then facilitate conversations around revisiting and revising members' Professional Learning Models (PLM) to continue improvements to math instruction. Partnership or Research Alliance: Student Success in Mathematics partnersh...
Apr 21, 2021
resource
Training Material
Implementing a Professional Learning Model to Improve Mathematics Teaching Webinar Series
Time: 3:00-4:40 PM EDT Location: Virtual Description: This two-part webinar series builds the capacity of mathematics instructional leaders, coaches, and school administrators to design and implement a coherent professional learning model (PLM) to improve mathematics teaching. In this webinar series, REL Appalachia (REL AP) staff share evidence-based strategies and resources for implementing school- or district-level PLMs and monitoring success of teacher professional development. Hear from m...
Apr 14, 2021
resource
Training Material
Student Success in Mathematics Partnership Meeting: Evidence-Based Mathematics Instructional Practices
Time: 9:00 am - 12:00 pm EST Location: Virtual Description: REL Appalachia staff updated partnership members on the progress of current projects, provided evidence-based mathematics instructional practices, and discussed implementation of effective practices in an online learning context as well as Professional Learning Model (PLM) needs and plans. REL AP staff also shared REL resources relevant to needs identified by partners in recent meetings, such as meeting students' social emotional nee...
Nov 17, 2020
report
Descriptive Study
Algebra I and College Preparatory Diploma Outcomes among Virginia Students Who Completed Algebra I in Grades 7-9
Education leaders in Virginia use early access to Algebra I as one method to provide students more time to take college preparatory courses in high school, thereby increasing students' likelihood of graduating prepared for college and careers. Yet, little data are available for these leaders to examine whether their approach is warranted. Members of the Regional Educational Laboratory Appalachia Student Success in Mathematics partnership are interested in learning more about students who comp...
Oct 01, 2020
resource
Training Material
Student Success in Mathematics Partnership Meeting: Introduction to Resources and Strategies to Facilitate Virtual Math Learning
Location: Virtual Description: REL Appalachia staff updated partnership members on the progress of current projects and introduced teachers to resources and strategies to facilitate virtual math learning. Teachers learned about strategies for creating engaging online lessons through asynchronous and synchronous instructional formats. Partnership or Research Alliance: Student Success in Mathematics partnership Audience: This meeting was intended for Student Success in Mathematics partnership m...
Sep 23, 2020
Blog
Rural Schools and Communities Pull Together During COVID-19
March 2020 began as usual in many rural schools and communities in the U.S., with local farmers focused on spring rains, mud, and early greenhouse crops and rural educators looking ahead to the final quarter of the school year. Then the coronavirus pandemic moved in and the world as we had known it turned upside down. As news spread, and the implications and devasting effects of the virus became clear, schools and businesses in rural America and across the nation began to close and emergency ...
Date published:
Aug 01, 2020
resource
Other Resource
Improving Mathematics Instruction for Students with Disabilities & Difficulties: Training Materials
These training materials include a PowerPoint presentation and a handout for participants to use during the training. The slides present recommended evidence-based instructional practices for students who have mathematics disabilities and difficulties; a process for planning high-quality, accessible math lessons; ways to strengthen professional collaboration; and examples of professional development activities. These materials were originally used in a meeting with REL Appalachia Student Succ...
Mar 03, 2020
resource
Other Resource
Student Success in Mathematics Partnership: Plan, Do, Study, Act Memo
The REL Appalachia Student Success in Mathematics partnership consists of education leaders who support teaching and learning in four school divisions in central Virginia and who aim to strengthen teacher professional learning as a key component of student success in mathematics. The partners utilized a plan-do-study-act (PDSA) continuous improvement approach to design, test, and analyze mathematics professional learning and effective mathematics teaching practices in their local context. Thi...
Dec 03, 2019
FY2019
FY2019 Single-Session Peer Review Panel
Blog
Professional Learning Models to Support Student Success in Mathematics
How can district leaders create a cohesive plan for professional learning that integrates evidence-based practices? This blog details the use of Professional Learning Models (PLMs) to support teachers as they learn effective teaching practices. Read about the various phases of PLM through a project launched by the REL Appalachia Student Success in Mathematics Partnership (SSMP) to design and carry out evidenced-based professional development to improve mathematics teaching and learning.
Date published:
Mar 28, 2019
resource
Other Resource
Algebra for All - Focus on Visual Representations: Recorded Training Webinar
These resources include a recorded training webinar as well as a PowerPoint presentation and handouts with example mathematics tasks. The webinar describes research-based strategies to support all learners in preparing for Algebra I, including English Learner students and students who struggle with mathematics. Presenters focused on the use of visual representations to support mathematics learning and reviewed mathematics tasks that demonstrate how visual representations can help students und...
Oct 17, 2018
Blog
REL Reports Explore Calculating and Using Expenditure-to-Performance Ratios
Like many government-funded entities, public school districts are increasingly asked to "do more with less." Since the Great Recession of 2007-09, state education budgets have shrunk dramatically; during the 2012/13 school year, 35 states provided less funding to local districts than they did five years earlier.1 At the same time, schools and districts have remained accountable for student achievement. As a result, districts nationwide are looking for ways to increase their efficiency, which ...
Date published:
Jul 01, 2018
resource
Training Material
Student Success in Mathematics Partnership Meeting: Final Research Agenda, Logic Model, and Data Catalog
Time: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm ET Location: Harrisonburg, VA Description: The Student Success in Mathematics partnership meet to use the partnership logic model related to algebra readiness and success to inform planning for a new project on professional learning models (PLMs), determine the types of data available to inform the PLM project, and review the data catalog to determine if critical data is currently available across the school divisions. Partnership or Research Alliance: Student Success ...
Jun 07, 2018
report
Descriptive Study
Exploring District-Level Expenditure-to-Performance Ratios
State education budgets have shrunk since the economic recession of 2007-09. During the 2012-13 school year 35 states provided less funding for education than they had five years earlier (Leachman, Albares, Masterson, & Wallace, 2016; Levin et al., 2012; Oliff, Mai, & Leachman, 2012). As a result, districts across the country are seeking ways to increase their efficiency by using fewer resources while maintaining or even improving education outcomes. This study examines the expenditure-to-per...
Mar 01, 2017
report
Descriptive Study
A Guide to Calculating District Expenditure-to-Performance Ratios Using Publicly Available Data
Districts across the nation are seeking ways to increase efficiency by maintaining, if not improving, educational outcomes using fewer resources. One measure that is sometimes used as a proxy for school district efficiency is an expenditure-to-performance ratio, for example a ratio of per pupil expenditures to student academic performance. This guide shows states and districts how to use publicly available data about district-level expenditures and student academic performance to create six e...
Feb 01, 2017
Grant
Eliciting Mathematics Misconceptions (EM2): A Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment System
Understanding rational numbers is an important prerequisite for success in higher level mathematics, yet many students and adults often struggle with such concepts. In particular, they have great difficulty with fractions, decimals, and percents. Despite this, there are currently few assessments that allow teachers to determine students' misconceptions. The purpose of the Eliciting Mathematics Misconceptions (EM2) Project is to address this need by applying recent advances in cognitive scie...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A110306
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