"One of the things you have to understand when you institute a program like this is that it has a rippling effect," Clark says. "It wasn't just a matter of changing the mindset of high school teachers, it was changing the mindset of kindergarten teachers because the expectations were raised all the way through the organization." Because systematizing such comprehensive reform takes time, Clark believes it may be a while before the results emerge on academic performance instruments such as the SAT.

 Role of Higher Education

 John Hagan, Equity 2000 supervisor for Prince George's, adds that there is a role for higher education in this equation as well. He and others in the county say that colleges and universities are I not adequately preparing educators to teach math the way it is being taught in today's high schools.

 "The higher education component is the real loose link in this chain," says Hagan, who notes that math skills are especially deficient among new teachers who teach at the middle school and elementary levels. Prince George's draws approximately 30 percent of its teaching staff from universities within the state of Maryland. "One of the problems we have is we don't have a school full of experienced math teachers," Sheppard says. "All we get is all these new young people -- and many of them are not certified. Many have not been trained to even he math teachers, let alone algebra teachers."

 With Equity 2000 funds, Prince George's now offers numerous professional development workshops for its teachers. But since these opportunities are voluntary, only the most motivated of teachers has taken advantage of them. "Equity 2000 provides enough professional development so that a teacher can develop into a good teacher," Sheppard says. "But that doesn't mean that when you walk in the first day, there is some workshop that gives you all the magic. I think it's two or three years of tough work, and not every teacher who comes in here is up to do the work.