DISTINGUISHED HIGH SCHOOL MATHEMATICS TEACHING

EDYTH MAY SLIFFE AWARD

These awards are the result of a bequest made to the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) by Edyth May Sliffe, a retired high school teacher of mathematics at Emeryville, California, who made this bequest for the purpose of giving awards to high school mathematics teachers whose teams have done well on the American High School Mathematics Examination (AHSME). Edyth Sliffe wanted to do this because her students had always done very well on the AHSME and received various honors, but she as a teacher had never received any recognition. She had always felt that such teachers should receive some awards. In order to recognize Junior High School teachers as well, the MAA Sliffe Award Committee in 1994 approved the establishment of a new set of awards to begin in 1995. Five awards are given in each of the ten regions associated with the AHSME to teachers of grade 8 or below. The selection of the award winners is determined by the following procedure: The ranking of a school in a given year for the purposes of this Award is made on the basis of the sum of the three top student scores at the school. A list was to be prepared of those schools who ranked within the top one third of the schools within the region. For all those appearing in the lists for each of the past three years, the sum of the rankings of the schools for each of the schools for each of the last three years shall be calculated for each region. For example, for the awards given following the 1996 AJHSME, the rankings of the schools in 1994, 1995 and 1996 were calculated for each region. The mathematics teacher whose name was listed on the Sliffe Award Nomination Form, of the eligible five top ranking schools, shall be declared the Edyth May Sliffe Award recipient for that region. The same teacher can only win the award once. The award winning teachers receive a certificate, a $100 cash prize, a one-year membership in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, including a subscription to Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, and a Sliffe award pin. This Award serves as an excellent illustration of how a single person, in this case, Edyth May Sliffe, can have a substantial positive influence nationwide by taking a decisive action to further a cause he or she strongly believes.

http://www.unl.edu/amc/f-miscellaneous/f4-sliffe/Alumni/NorthCarolina.shtml