Ms. Eddins was chosen to serve as Charter Faculty for IMSA in math. As a Charter Faculty, she played an integral part in establishing IMSA as a preeminent learning laboratory. She worked with the Illinois Math Contest Committee to make it possible for IMSA students to compete, and with Chuck Hamberg, coached the team to a trophy with sophomores competing as juniors and seniors. She assuaged concerns from both charter class members and staff in the first year and participated in a trip to Springfield to secure funding for the second half of the 1987-1988 school year. As an educational leader, she gave numerous presentations at state math and gifted conferences, presented the IMSA program as a member of an Illinois educational delegation to Japan in 1988, and often spoke with visitors and reporters on behalf of the math department.
During her tenure at IMSA, Ms. Eddins provided leadership to the Mathematics Team as Team Leader and was instrumental in the development of the Mathematical Investigations curriculum in the early 1990s. She was a frequent collaborator and often sent by IMSA to work with other districts to develop and implement innovative standards and curriculum. As the first Instructional Facilitator, she developed many of the protocols and approaches for that position. Ms. Eddins was one of the first two IMSA teachers to achieve National Board certification (AYA Math, 1999) and represented IMSA for two terms on the Board of the NCSSMST.
Some of Ms. Eddins professional contributions and accomplishments include:
- Presidential Awardee in Mathematics for the state of Illinois in 1989. She was the first woman selected from Illinois. Served on the Board of Directors and as President of the Council of Presidential Awardees in Mathematics
- Award Chair for the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics (ICTM) – two terms
- Program Chair for ICTM’s annual conference
- Served on Board of Directors, President and Program Chair for Metropolitan Mathematics Club
- Member of two panels for National Academy of Sciences
- Reviewer for National Science Foundation
- Curriculum reviewer for US Department of Education
- Assisted in implementation of TIMSS test
- Served on Board of Directors for National Council of Teachers and Mathematics
- Writer and editor for Student Math Notes
- Served on writing team for Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM, 2000)
- Served on Advisory Board for two NSF Centers for Curriculum projects
After retirement, Ms. Eddins has remained active in the IMSA community with contributions to the IMSA Fund, continued communication with alumni and carrying IMSA’s name as her designated affiliation in her continued contributions to the mathematics education profession. Some of those continued contributions include:
- Part of the author group for the third edition of the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project Algebra
- Delegate for two International Conferences on math education at the University of Chicago
- Advisory Board member for the CCSM Center at the University of Missouri
- Worked with Dana Center at the University of Texas, Austin to revise the Mathematics Standards for the state of Washington
- Reviewed Ohio and Indiana state standards
- Assisted in the areas of assessment and standards development and alignment for multiple stated through Achieve, Inc, a non-profit educational policy group in Washington, DC
- Writer for mathematics portion of Common Core State Standards project of the National Governors’ Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers
