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Secondary Teacher Preparation in Mathematics Institute for Mathematics and Education Tucson, Arizona March 7 – 8, 2008

Secondary Teacher Preparation in Mathematics Institute for Mathematics and Education Tucson, Arizona March 7 – 8, 2008. About Math for America. Mission:

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Secondary Teacher Preparation in Mathematics Institute for Mathematics and Education Tucson, Arizona March 7 – 8, 2008

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  1. Secondary Teacher Preparation in Mathematics Institute for Mathematics and Education Tucson, Arizona March 7 – 8, 2008

  2. 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

  3. 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.

  4. 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

  5. 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.

  6. Recruitment, Screening, and Selection

  7. Recruit Nationally

  8. Recruit Nationally

  9. 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.

  10. Screening and Selection • Content Knowledge Test (PRAXIS II) • On-line application, including letters of recommendation, transcripts, and a personal statement • Interview

  11. On-Line Application -Essay

  12. 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?

  13. 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?”

  14. The Result of Screening and SelectionMƒA 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

  15. 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

  16. 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.

  17. 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

  18. MƒA Expansion • MƒA with partners sites develop programs that reflect community needs. • Benefits received by partner sites include: • Programmatic support • Seed funding • Existing MƒA website and marketing efforts • Membership in a growing community of math teachers, educators, and advocates.

  19. Math for America Creating a national corps of teachers who know and love math.

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