People and Support

The modernization of Colorado's mathematics pathways has been the work of hundreds of people over more than ten years. Currently, Colorado's math pathways efforts are led by four co-chairs:

• Joanie Funderburk, Former CCTM President and District Math Leader,
• Lisa Rogers, Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8,
• Rachel Sefton, Community College of Denver, and
• Kim Smith, Mesa County Valley 51.

The work of the co-chairs is currently supported by three co-facilitators:

• Brad Griffith, Colorado Department of Higher Education
• Danen Jobe, Colorado Community College System
• Raymond Johnson, Colorado Department of Education

In Fall of 2025, the heads of all three state education agencies co-signed a letter of support for math pathways.

Since 2023, Colorado has been supported by the Launch Years Initiative, a project of the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Together with states from across the country, the Launch Years Initiative supports the scaling of mathematics pathways from high school through postsecondary education and into the workplace, aligned to students' goals and aspirations.

Colorado's math pathways efforts have also been supported by Strong Start to Finish, through grant funding received by the Colorado Department of Higher Education.

2025: Recommendation 1 Working Group

In 2025, Colorado's math pathways work focused mostly on Recommendation 1. Many people participated in working group activities, with the following educators deserving recognition for their leadership and high level of participation:

• Jessica Bates, STEM School Highlands Ranch, Douglas County School District
• Justin Cole, Denver Public Schools / Cherry Creek School District
• Amanda Foster, Adams 12 Five-Star Schools
• Victor Jimenez, Cherry Creek School District
• Mark Kieffer, Cherry Creek School District
• Mark Koester, MSU Denver
• Johanna Lewis, Cherry Creek School District
• Claudia Numan, University of Colorado Boulder
• Andrew Schwartz, Greeley-Evans School Distric 6
• Donna Young, Cherry Creek School District

2023-2024: Math Pathways Task Force

Colorado's admission into the Launch Years Initiative in the Winter of 2022-2023 was announced in February 2023 with the press release below. Following the press release, the task force received additional and important facilitation support from Allana Farley of the Colorado Department of Higher Education. This task force represented a diverse selection of stakeholders across both K-12 and higher education.

Colorado Education Organizations Combine to Form Math Pathways Task Force

February 15, 2023

More than a dozen Colorado organizations and institutions are represented in the Colorado Math Pathways Task Force, which brings together experts from across the high school grades and higher education. This effort builds on and extends the work of a previous task force convened by the Colorado Department of Higher Education that focused on the success of undergraduate students in mathematics courses.

Mathematics pathways refer to the sequences of courses and the opportunities students experience as they prepare for their college, career, or other ambitions. In higher education, Colorado’s colleges and universities have worked to more clearly identify the mathematics content needed by students based on their academic interests. “We now have a set of introductory math courses that serve a broad range of student needs and guaranteed transfer agreements across our system,” said Dr. Rachel Sefton, a co-chair of the task force and a co-chair of the mathematics discipline for the Colorado Community College System. “We don’t just enroll students in college algebra or calculus by default, regardless of their interests.”

Increased attention on math pathways has raised awareness that many students are underserved by current high school mathematics course offerings. “As we look at the work done in higher education, we want to ensure our K-12 students are prepared to pursue career, postsecondary, or military options upon graduation,” said Kim Smith, a task force co-chair and secondary math specialist for Mesa County Valley School District 51. “Schools often design a pathway leading to success in calculus, but many students may find their interests and postsecondary aspirations are better aligned to a statistics or data science pathway.”

The Colorado Math Pathways Task Force includes representatives from various organizations and institutions. K-12 organizations include the Colorado Math Leaders (CML), the Colorado Council of Teachers of Mathematics (CCTM), the Colorado Department of Education (CDE), the Colorado Association of School Executives (CASE), the Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB), the Parent Academy for Student Success (PASS), and the Colorado Education Initiative (CEI). Higher education organizations and institutions include the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE), the Colorado Community College System (CCCS), Colorado State University (CSU), the Colorado School of Mines (CSM), Metro State University of Denver (MSUD), the Community College of Denver (CCD), and Colorado Northwestern Community College (CNCC). Several task force members are also members of the Secondary, Postsecondary, and Work-Based Learning Integration Task Force. The Colorado Math Pathways Task Force receives technical assistance from the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin. The Dana Center selected Colorado in September 2022 as one of twenty states to join the latest Launch Years Initiative and provided similar assistance to Colorado’s previous pathways task force.

“Because Colorado values K-12 local control, our school districts have a lot of independence to design their courses and pathways,” said Lisa Rogers, co-chair of the task force and president of the Colorado Math Leaders. “But at the same time, what I hear from math leaders across the state is a desire to work together so that students everywhere have the same opportunities to succeed as they progress through high schools and into postsecondary. I’m excited to hear so many perspectives and work with people who want to understand our problems and create solutions to overcome them.”

The Colorado Math Pathways Task Force will work together from February 2023 to February 2024 to write and publish a set of recommendations which will be communicated broadly to stakeholders through the Spring of 2024.

Colorado Math Pathways Task Force Members and Affiliations

• Joseph Bolz, Board Member, Colorado Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and Mathematics Teacher, Denver Public Schools
• Lori Cooper, President, Colorado Association of School Executives, and Assistant Superintendent of Student Achievement, Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8
• Carl Einhaus, Senior Director of Student Success & P20 Alignment, Colorado Department of Higher Education
• Anne Egan, Board Member, Colorado Association of School Boards, and Board Member, Cherry Creek School District
• Amanda Foster, Member, Colorado Math Leaders, and Secondary Math Coordinator, Adams 12 Five Star Schools
• Monica Gilmore, Member, Colorado Math Leaders, and Teacher on Special Assignment, Secondary Math, Boulder Valley School District
• Claudia Glascock, Coordinator, Parent Academy for Student Success, Westminster Public Schools
• Gus Greivel, Teaching Professor and Department Head, Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Colorado School of Mines
• ++Danen Jobe, Director of Academic Programs and Curriculum, Colorado Community College System
• ++Raymond Johnson, Mathematics Specialist, Office of Standards and Instructional Support, Colorado Department of Education
• Lauren Jones Austin, CTE Program Director for Special Populations, Counseling, Equity, and Middle School, Colorado Community College System
• Mark Koester, Professor of Mathematics, Department of Mathematics & Statistics, Metropolitan State University of Denver
• Brook Koltun, Director of Advising and Testing, Pikes Peak State College
• Megan Korponic, Board Member, Colorado Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and Dean of Students, Greeley-Evans School District 6
• Jennifer Lamanski, Instructor of Mathematics, Colorado Northwestern Community College
• Janet Oien, Co-Director, Calculus Center, Colorado State University
• Chris Rasmussen, Senior Director of Academic Pathways & Innovation, Colorado Department of Higher Education
• Cheryl Reeves, Member, Colorado Math Leaders, and Secondary Math Curriculum Specialist, Pueblo School District 60
• +Lisa Rogers, President, Colorado Math Leaders, and Board Member, Colorado Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and Student Achievement Coordinator, Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8
• Michelle Romero, Director, Office of Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness, Colorado Department of Education
• +Rachel Sefton, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Community College of Denver
• +Kim Smith, Past President, Colorado Math Leaders, and Board Member, Colorado Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and Secondary Math Curriculum & Learning Design Specialist, Mesa County School District 51
• Amy Spicer, Vice President of Implementation Design, Colorado Education Initiative

+Task force co-chair
++Task force co-facilitator

2012-2016: Colorado Higher Education Math Pathways Task Force

Colorado's first math pathways task force was an initiative of the Colorado Department of Higher Education and was supported by The Charles A. Dana Center.

• Dean Allison, Task Force Chair; Director and Professor, School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Northern Colorado
• Steve Aldrich, Professor of Mathematics, Adams State University
• Lynn Bennethum, Associate Professor and Undergraduate Chair, Department of Mathematics, University of Colorado Denver
• Sandy Gilpin, Director, Freshman Math Program, Fort Lewis College
• Alexander Hulpke, Undergraduate Director, Department of Mathematics, Colorado State University
• Rick Miranda, Provost & Executive VP, Colorado State University
• Rick Ott, Associate Professor of Statistics, Colorado Mesa University
• Shelly Ray Parsons, Professor of Mathematics, Aims Community College
• Dave Ruch, Professor of Mathematics, Metropolitan State University of Denver
• Casey Sacks, Grant Project Manager, Colorado Community College System
• Rob Tubbs, Associate Professor of Mathematics, University of Colorado Boulder
• Alexsis Venter, Math Faculty, Arapahoe Community College
• Frank Zizza, Chair, Department of Mathematics & Physics, Colorado State Univerity - Pueblo

Additional support and facilitation from:

• Amy K. Getz, Senior Consultant, The Charles A. Dana Center, The University of Texas at Austin
• Bruce Vandal, Additional Consultant; Vice President, Complete College America
• Ian K. Macgillivray, Director of Academic Affairs, Colorado Department of Higher Education
• Maia E. Blom, Academic Policy Officer, Colorado Department of Higher Education