Chapter 12: The Appalachian Curriculum and Instruction Mathematics Education Group as a Community of Practice and Faculty Learning Community

The mathematics education faculty within the Department of Curriculum and Instruction (C&I) at Appalachian State University has functioned as an intentional community of practice for over 20 years. In 2014, this group was recognized with the Reich College of Education’s (RCOE) Outstanding Community of Practice award. The C&I Mathematics Education Group (MEG) has fulfilled a wide variety of roles within the college—providing leadership in the Department of C&I, serving as a model of course-alike planning in the elementary education program, supporting the implementation of the Elementary Mathematics edTPA Assessment in the elementary education program, modeling reform-based mathematics content and pedagogy within a series of mathematics education courses, developing diversity and equity-focused directed electives in mathematics education, and supporting the mathematics professional development of teachers in the RCOE’s laboratory schools. The MEG has developed and sustained a strong program of research that positively impacts the teacher education programs. This chapter explores how this group has functioned as a community of practice and the purposes for which it has done so. It also provides some examples of when the MEG has deliberately transitioned to a faculty learning community in order to achieve particular goals. We describe some of the features and functioning of the MEG that are generalizable to other departments and institutions.