Dedicated To Helping You Improve in Math

Complementary Mathematics / About

The Author

Lead author Dan Hupp is an award-winning math educator whose career includes 25 years in the classroom and 13 years as a mathematics and assessment specialist for the Maine Department of Education. During his classroom era, his students received dozens of achievement awards at the state, regional, and national levels.

Using the activities, assignments, and approaches developed and polished across that 25-year span, Hupp’s math classes attained the highest possible scores on the state math assessments across an unprecedented number of consecutive years. Those educational materials are now shared within this website.

Copied below are excerpts from an archived feature article of the Maine Sunday Telegram, which details several of the achievements referenced above.

Maine Sunday Telegram – excerpt from the Sunday, April 14, 1996 edition

HEADLINE: MATH CLASS COMES ALIVE DAN HUPP, A PRESIDENTIAL AWARD WINNER, TEACHES HIS STUDENTS TO SOLVE PROBLEMS BY APPLYING INSTINCT AND COMMON SENSE, IN ADDITION TO KNOWLEDGE.
Dennis Hoey Staff Writer

PUBLICATION: Maine Sunday Telegram (Portland, ME)

SECTION: MAINE/NEW ENGLAND
DATE: April 14, 1996

“Math Class Comes Alive”

Curriculum Vitae –Daniel Hupp

Summary:

After 41 years across a variety of experiences in Maine public education, I retired from the Maine Department of Education (2013) to begin a private consulting business focusing on customizedmodels of professional development as identified by teachersof mathematics and educators with assessment responsibilities. Specific services offered are provided on an accompanying document.

Professional Experience:

9/1972-6/1973, Mt. Vernon Elementary School (ME), teacher, grades 5-8, math and science

9/1973-6/1974, South Berwick Central School, teacher, grade 4 self-contained

9/1975-6/1998, Great Salt Bay Community School, teacher, grades 6-8, mathematics; half-time math teacherhalf-time assistant principal 1993-1998

9/75-6/83, Union #74 Adult Education Program, teacher of high school mathematics through 1979, director of adult education program through 1980-83

7/1998-6/2000, Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, state-wide professional development in mathematics and assessment, state coordinator of the Maine Assessment Portfolio (mathematics)

6/2000-7/2013, Maine Dept. of Education, mathematics and assessment specialist through 2009, director of standards and assessment 2009-13

10/2014 - present, Dan Hupp Educational Consulting, LLC, proprietor

8/2021 - present, Complementary Mathematics website, lead author/developer

Other Notable Professional Experiences/Achievements/Recognitions:

1991-1996, selected to the New Standards Project state leadership team; 1992 -1998, teacher liaison to state MathCounts program; 1995 –received the national Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST); 1996 –present, member of Council of Presidential Awardees in Mathematics (CPAM); 1996 –appointed to MDOE State Assessment Design Team; 1997 -selected by MDOE to the Distinguished Educator program to help unveil and roll out The Maine Learning Results;2002- completed the National Leadership Academy program (WestEd); 2000 –present (now emeritus) member of Association of State Supervisors of Mathematics; 2006- MDOE Employee of the Year; 2007 -Induction into USM Bailey Hall Wall of Fame; 2010-2013 -elected as  founding member to the executive committee of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC); 2011-2013 –selected to the National Assessment Governing Board’s Policy Task force (NAGB); 2013- received Distinguished Service Award from the CollegeBoard; 2021- launched Complementary Mathematics website

Education/Certification:

1972, B.S. Ed., University of Southern Maine

1981, M.S. Ed., University of Southern Maine

MDOE Professional Certificate #448703, Level 020, CHRC approved

Paragraphs 6 - 8

For 10 years, Hupp’s classes have drawn the attention of state educators. His eighth-grade students have scored a cumulative 400 – the highest possible score on the math section of the Maine Educational Assessment.

Brud Maxcy, state coordinator of the MEA, said no other school in the state has consistently scored at the highest level of the math test for that long.

“We’re looking at a school that has been at the very top of the bell curve for a long time,” Maxcy said. “For this school to consistently score at that level is pretty impressive.”

Paragraphs 13 and 14

His classroom is well-ordered. Twenty-three shiny plaques, citations from the New England Mathematics League, adorn a wall. Diagrams of triangles, curves, parallelograms, angles and trapezoids have been posted on other walls.

Students can’t help but notice a giant poster that reads, “The Try Angle. The best approach to any problem.”