Secondary Teacher Preparation in Mathematics
Institute for Mathematics and Education
Tucson, Arizona
March 7 – 8, 2008
About Math for America
• Mission:
To improve the quality of mathematics education in
our nation’s public schools by recruiting, training,
and retaining highly qualified mathematics teachers.
• Two Programs:
– MƒA Fellowship
– MƒA Master Teacher Program
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MƒA Fellowship
Goals:
• Increase the desirability of teaching as a career choice.
• Recruit individuals with strong mathematics
backgrounds into teaching, train them to be excellent
teachers, retain them by providing appropriate
professional and financial support.
• Create a corps of outstanding mathematics teachers.
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MƒA Fellowship
Creating a Corps
• Year 1: Preparation
– Full tuition scholarship to a full-time graduate education program
at a Partner University leading to a master’s in education
– Student teaching experience
– $28,000 MƒA stipend
– Professional development and Corps activities
• Years 2 - 5: Teaching
– Position as secondary school math teacher in New York City
– New York City teacher’s salary + MƒA stipends totaling $62,000
over four years
– Mentoring, coaching and support services
– Professional development and Corps activities
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Two Ways of Addressing the Issue of
Mathematical Knowledge
• MƒA Fellowships increase the mathematical
knowledge of the teaching pool by making teaching
a more attractive option to those with strong math
proficiency. This means a focus on recruitment,
screening and selection.
• Programming is focused on improving Fellows’
mathematical knowledge and pedagogical practices.
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Recruitment, Screening, and Selection
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Recruit Nationally
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Recruit Nationally
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Eligibility Requirements
• Bachelor's degree with substantial coursework in
mathematics. A minimum of 18 credits in math courses
at the Calculus level or higher are required.
• Candidates must be able to make a five year
commitment to the MƒA Fellowship Program.
• Candidates must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents
of the U.S.
• Individuals currently teaching, are certified to teach, or
who have completed a graduate education degree
program are not eligible.
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Screening and Selection
• Content Knowledge Test (PRAXIS II)
• On-line application, including letters of
recommendation, transcripts, and a personal
statement
• Interview
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On-Line Application Essay
A student is given the following problem:
Sketch a graph of height versus time for the following
scenario: The valve-stem on the wheel of a bike as the
bike moves forward.
The student’s response to the problem is shown below.
a) Using your knowledge of mathematics, determine what
misconceptions are reflected in the student’s response.
b) Using your knowledge of mathematics, identify what
mathematical knowledge the student needs in order to
understand why the response is incorrect.
c) What are the key features of the “correct” graph?
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Screening and Selection Interview
• Invited candidates are interviewed by a team of
three - mathematician, mathematics educator, and
community stakeholder
• Rubric – “Do the candidates know mathematics, are
they passionate about the subject, do they have the
personality traits needed to be an effective teacher?”
• Debate between members of the screening and
selection community: What does it mean to know
mathematics?
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Sample Interview Questions
• “Tell me everything you know about the square root
of two.”
• “Why can’t you divide by zero?”
• “Why is a number raised to the zero power one?
What about zero raised to the zero power?”
• “If you had to put together a curriculum, what order
would you teach the following topics: exponentials,
higher order polynomials, linear functions,
quadratics?”
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The Result of Screening and Selection
MƒA Fellows
• MƒA Fellows: Mean SAT-V: 654, Mean SAT-M: 726
• According to an ETS report, SAT-V for teachers certified
in mathematics is 544. SAT-M for teachers certified in
mathematics 597
• MƒA Fellows: Average number of math courses taken
pre-service: 18.1
• According to the US Department of Education, the
average number of math courses taken by “highly
qualified” middle school math teachers: 8.8; high school
teachers: 13.1
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Programming
• Monthly seminars lead by outside experts and
members of the Math for America community
• Ongoing classroom observations by experienced
math educators
• Social and network building opportunities
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Looking Ahead – A National Corps
• New York City Fellowship program – a model
for expansion
– MƒA San Diego and MƒA Los Angeles admit first
cohort of Fellows, spring 2008.
– Creation of National Science Foundation Teaching
Fellowship to substantially increase the number of
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM) teachers.
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MƒA Expansion
Core components of all MƒA Fellowship programs:
– Applicants must exhibit a strong knowledge of
mathematics
– Tuition free university training to develop pedagogical
skills and deeper content knowledge
– Teacher driven mentoring and professional
development
– Generous incentive system to increase the number of
mathematically talented people choosing teaching as a
career
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MƒA Expansion
• MƒA with partners sites develop programs that
reflect community needs.
• Benefits received by partner sites include:
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Programmatic support
Seed funding
Existing MƒA website and marketing efforts
Membership in a growing community of math
teachers, educators, and advocates.
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Math for America
Creating a national corps of teachers
who know and love math.
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