What are the Most Important Things We Can Do to Improve Teacher Education? Joan Ferrini-Mundy National Science Foundation Michigan State University CBMS Forum on the Content and Assessment of School Mathematics Reston, VA, October 6, 2009

policies research practice

CBMS Forum3 Key Policy Leverage Points: 1. State approval/accreditation requirements for teacher education programs 2. State-level teacher assessments 3. State and district requirements for ongoing teacher professional development

CBMS Forum4 Key Practice Leverage Points: 1. Integration of mathematics, pedagogy, and clinical experiences 2. Development of innovative models for professional development for mathematics teachers 3. Creation of materials and resources for teacher learning

CBMS Forum5 Key Research Leverage Points: 1. Continued attention to pedagogical content knowledge, profound understanding of fundamental mathematics, mathematical knowledge for teaching (Shulman, Ma, Ball, Bass, Hill, et al. 2. Illumination of the connections between teachers’ knowledge and skills to students’ learning of mathematics 3. Examination of how teachers use resources (e.g., common core state standards, or the web)

CBMS Forum6 610,000 English pages for teaching addition of fractions teachingadditionfractions

What are the Features of Coherent Mathematics Teacher Education? Alternate title:

CBMS Forum8 Coherence of curriculum:  Depth and connections (Beckmann)  Ratio (Dossey)  Logical structure of discipline (Schmidt)  Meaning and sense-making (Martin) What would coherence mean in the teacher education context?

CBMS Forum9 From Adding It Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics Kilpatrick, Swafford, & Findell, NRC, 2001 “In the context of teaching, proficiency requires:

CBMS Forum10  conceptual understanding of the core knowledge required in the practice of teaching  fluency in carrying out basic instructional routines  strategic competence in planning effective instruction and solving problems that arise during instruction

CBMS Forum11  adaptive reasoning in justifying and explaining one’s instructional practices and in reflecting on those practices so as to improve them  productive disposition toward mathematics, teaching, learning, and the improvement of practice.” (p. 380)

So…. Another type of leverage point (?):

CBMS Forum13 Coherence Proficiency  Depth  Connections  Logical structure  Meaning  Sense-making  Learning progressions  Conceptual understanding  Fluency  Strategic competence  Adaptive reasoning  Productive disposition ?

policies research practice coherence in teacher education?