Marilyn E. Strutchens

Improving Secondary Mathematics Teacher Preparation Via a Networked Improvement Community: Focus On Clinical Experiences

The Mathematics Teacher Education Partnership is a consortium of over 90 U.S. universities and colleges, along with partner school districts, focused on improving the initial preparation of secondary mathematics teachers. The Partnership uses a Networked Improvement Community design that incorporates improvement cycles to develop adaptable interventions across contexts, as well to scale interventions across the Partnership to support comprehensive program improvement. Rather than addressing a single dimension of a secondary mathematics program, the Partnership is undertaking parallel lines of research in multiple areas. To illustrate the power of the approach, this chapter will more deeply explore one of those lines of research related to clinical experiences: A “research action cluster” (RAC) consisting of representatives of 24 university-led teams is working to improve the clinical experiences of secondary mathematics teacher candidates. This RAC has employed improvement science methods to developed resources that support improved models for both student teaching and early field experiences, as well as professional development for mentor teachers.

Formative Assessment and Mathematics Teaching: Leveraging Powerful Linkages in the US Context

Despite compelling evidence of the benefits of formative assessment on student learning, it is infrequently or unsystematically implemented in many U.S. classrooms. Consequently, the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM) and the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE) collaborated to relate formative assessment to other aspects of effective mathematics teaching, rather than treating it as an isolated topic. The Formative Assessment Initiative makes explicit the connection between formative assessment strategies and other instructional frameworks and tools intended to promote improved teaching and learning of mathematics. Because of its focus on promoting high quality mathematics teaching, the work of this U.S.-based project transcends boundaries and offers ideas that should be useful to mathematics teacher educators across the globe.

Summary and Looking Ahead

Throughout the survey one can see that there is a steady growth in the research around prospective secondary mathematics teacher education. Also several of the studies were repeated in at least two of the sections due to the nature of the factors that were studied. It is difficult to write about teacher knowledge without some acknowledgment of how knowledge or lack of knowledge can impact teachers’ mathematics identities. Furthermore, field experiences are contexts in which PSMTs’ knowledge and identities are impacted and shaped. In addition, the survey revealed that mathematics education researchers are thinking more deeply about how to foster the growth of effective mathematics teachers in a myriad of ways.

Current Research on Prospective Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Field Experiences

The abstract is listed below: Field experiences provide PSMTs with the opportunity to demonstrate their content and pedagogical knowledge while working with students under the supervision of a mentor teacher and a university supervisor in most situations. The studies included in this survey focused on different aspects of field experiences provided to PSMTs—field experiences connected to methods courses, use of video cases as a virtual field experiences, and summative student teaching experiences. These studies provide useful insights into effective field experiences for PSMTs. 17 articles were examined and most of them are qualitative in nature. The survey also revealed that there is a need for more studies related to field experiences and their impact on PSMTs’ development.