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[Phys-l] Report Critical of Math Teachers' Preparation



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@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.