The University of Georgia College of Education is helping lead a nationwide effort to revitalize the teaching of mathematics from pre-kindergarten through college.

 The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $10.3 million grant to UGA’s department of mathematics education for a five-year project which will focus on improving the mathematical proficiency of both new teachers and those already in the field, to prepare a new generation of teacher educators, and to conduct research on proficiency in teaching and in doing mathematics.

 “We know that the single, most important factor in raising student achievement is teacher quality,” said Louis Castenell, dean of the College of Education.  “Here, we are attempting to reinvest the infrastructure of mathematics education, to include or strengthen those elements which research shows are necessary to create mathematics teachers of excellence.”

 UGA researchers say that mathematics teachers need a special kind of math knowledge to teach more effectively – one that differs from the type of mathematics that is taught architects, engineers, computer scientists and research mathematicians.

 “We want teachers to have a profound understanding of mathematics. They have to be able to unpack the mathematics so students can learn it.  They need to be able to connect it to other ideas both in and outside of mathematics,” said Pat Wilson, professor and department head of mathematics education and principal investigator for the project.”

 To achieve this goal, UGA will create a national Center for Proficiency in Teaching Mathematics, which will aim to enhance teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom through changes in their mathematics preparation and by making practice the primary site and resource for their professional learning.

 The new center will use a model of proficiency from a 2001 National Research Council report, of a committee chaired by UGA Regents Professor Jeremy Kilpatrick, which said an overhaul of school mathematics would be necessary for students to boost achievement. Kilpatrick and UGA colleague, Brad Findell have recently co-edited the committee report titled, “Adding It Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics.”

 Paramount in the report’s recommendations is the finding that the nation can and should groom all students to be “mathematically proficient,” mastering much more than disconnected facts and procedures. Further, their teachers can and should be proficient in teaching mathematics.

 “In a lot of ways we have been teaching mathematics proficiency. But I think we’ve focused more on concepts and skills,” said Wilson. “This center is going to work on incorporating strategies, reasoning and disposition as well as understanding and procedures.”

 UGA’s partners in the center include the University of Michigan and several Michigan colleges and school districts. Georgia partners are the Board of Regents and school systems in the City of Social Circle, Morgan and Gwinnett counties. Much of the work will be done in these local school districts, as well as at UGA and special summer institutes, according to Wilson.

Kilpatrick and James Wilson, professor of mathematics education, are co-principal investigators in the project, but the center’s work will involve all faculty members in the department as well as faculty in UGA’s mathematics department. The center will work through the Board of Regents with mathematicians and math educators at teacher preparation institutions throughout the state.

 The local advisory board will include William Schofield, superintendent of Social Circle City Schools; Stan DeJarnett, associate superintendent of Morgan County Schools;  Lynda Luckie, mathematics supervisor of Gwinnett County Schools and Sheila Jones, executive director of P-16 Programs from the Board of Regents.

 “We’ll be grounding our teaching in practice,” said Wilson. “We’ll use videotapes of teachers teaching. We’ll use student work. We’ll use teacher-identified problems in the schools to develop ways to better prepare teeachers. This will make the practice more relevant to the education. That’s what we mean by making practice central.”

 The NSF is financing a $100 million initiative across the country to improve teaching and leadership in mathematics, science and technology. It funded two centers last year and three centers this year, including the one at UGA.

 The NSF and others are concerned that 33 percent of mathematics teachers in grades 7-12 have neither a major nor a minor in their teaching field, yet teach more than 26 percent of all mathematics students.

 And even more alarming, the human resources for training new mathematics teachers are dwindling. More than half the faculty in universities that grant doctoral degrees in mathematics education will be eligible for retirement in two years, and nearly 80 percent will be eligible in 10 years, according to the NSF.

  “Last year half of the mathematics education positions (in the nation) went unfilled,” said Wilson. “So we not only have a shortage of teachers, but now we’re seeing a shortage of mathematics educators – people preparing teachers.”

 To meet this challenge, the center will offer assistantships for PhD students who want to become mathematics teacher education students. Plans also call for some post-doctorate positions, which would likely be mathematicians who are interested in picking up expertise in mathematics education.

 “The center will be funding about 10 doctoral students a year,” said Wilson. “That’s a substantial increase in the number of assistantships available.”

 If successful, the project will be a giant step toward rebuilding the infrastructure of mathematics teaching from pre-k though college.  “The field will be changed fundamentally,” said Wilson. “We will have a new model for preparing teachers that’s focused on mathematical proficiency in contrast to a generic knowledge of mathematics.”

Wednesday, October 16, 2002
WRITER: Michael Childs, 706/542-5889, mchilds@coe.uga.edu
CONTACT: Pat Wilson, 706/542-4547, pwilson@coe.uga.edu