[RUME] Report Critical of Math Teachers' Preparation

Tue Jul 1 13:29:53 EDT 2008

Some subscribers may be interested in the recent report  [NCTQ 
(2008)] "No Common Denominator: The Preparation of Elementary 
Teachers in Mathematics by America's Education Schools" by the 
National Council on Teacher Quality. 
The summary of [NCTQ (2008)] at 
<http://www.nctq.org/p/publications/reports.jsp> states:

"American students' chronically poor performance in mathematics on 
international tests may begin in the earliest grades, handicapped by 
the weak knowledge of mathematics of their own elementary teachers. 
NCTQ looks at the quality of preparation provided by a representative 
sampling of institutions in nearly every state. We also provide a 
test developed by leading mathematicians which assesses for the 
knowledge that elementary teachers should acquire during their 
preparation. Imagine the implications of an elementary teaching force 
being able to pass this test."

And James Heggen (2008) of Inside Higher Ed reports:

"At a time when many are bemoaning the lack of preparation of 
Americans in science and mathematics, a new study places at least 
some of the blame on math teachers left unequipped by college and 
university teacher education programs. A report . . . [NCTQ (2008]. . 
. . released Friday by the National Council on Teacher Quality looked 
at 77 elementary education programs from all states but Alaska, 
examining the math courses elementary teacher candidates had to take. 
The report looked at three factors: "relevance," the extent to which 
courses were relevant to what candidates would be teaching in the 
field; "breadth," the degree to which "essential" topics are covered; 
and "depth," if enough time was given to these topics. Only 10 of the 
77 programs scored adequately on all three criteria, according to the 
report. . . . . . .  The study attributes the inadequacy to a 
combination of low expectations and standards, haphazard state 
guidance and an absence of national consensus about what math 
teachers should know, and the relative dearth of algebra instruction 
in many curriculums."

But are Education Schools solely to blame for the generally deficient 
math (and science) education of K-12 teachers? That at least some of 
the blame should be shared by university math and science departments 
is suggested by the following:

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1. Don Langenberg [BHEF (2001), p. 23], physicist, member of the NCTQ 
board of directors, and (at the time) Chancellor of the University of 
Maryland System wrote:

"Although we in higher education are very skillful at ignoring the 
obvious, it is gradually dawning on some of us that we bear a 
substantial part of the responsibility for this sad situation [the 
state of  K-12 education]."

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2.  The NSF's (1996) report "Shaping the Future" stated [my inserts 
at ". . . [insert]. . ."]:

"Many faculty in SME&T. . . .[Science, Mathematics, Engineering, & 
Technology]. . . at the postsecondary level continue to blame the 
schools for sending underprepared students to them. But, 
increasingly. . .[but not conspicuously]. . . the higher education 
community has come to recognize the fact that teachers and principals 
in the K-12 system are all people who have been educated at the 
undergraduate level, mostly in situations in which SME&T programs 
have not taken seriously enough their vital part of the 
responsibility for the quality of America's teachers."

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3. Mathematician Herb Clemens (1989) wrote [my inserts at ". . . 
[insert]. . ."]:

"Why don't mathematicians from universities and industry belong in 
math education? The first reason is that it is self-destructive. The 
quickest way to be relegated to the intellectual dustbin in the 
mathematics departments of most research universities today is to 
demonstrate a continuing interest in secondary. . .[or even worse, 
primary or undergraduate]. . . mathematics education. Colleagues 
smile tolerantly to one another in the same way family members do 
when grandpa dribbles his soup down his shirt. Math education is 
certainly an acceptable form of retiring as a mathematician, like 
university administration, unacceptable forms being the stock market, 
EST. . .[ Erhard Seminar Training?]. . . , or a mid-life love affair. 
But you don't do good research and think seriously about education."

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<rrhake at earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi/>

REFERENCES
BHEF. 2001. Business - Higher Education Forum (a partnership of the 
American Council on Education and the National Alliance of Business), 
Winter, "Sharing Responsibility: How Leaders in Business and Higher 
Education Can Improve America's Schools" online at 
<http://www.bhef.com/solutions/sharing_responsibility.pdf> (249 kB).

Clemens, H. 1989. "Is There a Role for Mathematicians in Math 
Education?" Notices of the American Mathematical Society 36(5): 
542-544.

Heggen, J. 2008. "Report Critical of Math Teachers' Preparation," 
Inside Higher Ed, 30 June; online at 
<http://insidehighered.com/news/2008/06/30/math>.

NCTQ. 2008. National Council on Teacher Quality, "No Common 
Denominator: The Preparation of Elementary Teachers in Mathematics by 
America's Education Schools" online at
<http://www.nctq.org/p/publications/reports.jsp>; executive summary 
at 
<http://www.nctq.org/p/publications/docs/nctq_ttmath_exec_summ_20080626115937.pdf> 
(2.8 MB); full report at
<http://www.nctq.org/p/publications/docs/nctq_ttmath_fullreport_20080626115953.pdf> 
(3 MB).

NSF. 1996. National Science Foundation Advisory Committee. "Shaping 
the Future, Volume II: Perspectives on Undergraduate Education in 
Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology," Advisory 
Committee to the National Science Foundation Directorate for 
Education <http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/1998/nsf98128/nsf98128.pdf>
(1.8 MB). This report is one of the few that emphasizes the crucial 
role of higher education in determining the quality of K-12 education.