Chapter 22: Leveraging Longitudinal and Annual Analyses to Improve Program Design: Considering Teacher Education Standards and Professional Recommendations

Secondary mathematics teacher preparation programs have changed markedly over the last 30 years. In the last decade, program development has been guided by four interrelated standards and recommendation documents: The Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences’ Mathematics Education of Teachers II, the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators’ Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ Specialized Professional Association Standards, and the Mathematics Teacher Education Partnership’s Guiding Principles. However, struggles to make lasting transformations persist. In this chapter, we present a cross-sectional analysis of these four guiding frameworks, and then present our program as a case study of a structure that adheres closely to those recommended practices. In particular, we present a two-year sequenced cohort design, course descriptions, and key assessments that align to many of the recommendations of best practice. We summarize data collection with many validated instruments that have provided both empirical findings and leverage for program changes to meet the spirit of these four national documents. The chapter capsulates more than a decade of program transformation work leading to a well-aligned programmatic structure sequenced to implement the AMTE Standards’ vision, among other standards and professional recommendations of secondary mathematics teacher preparation.