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."
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.
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.