10: Designing Learning Opportunities for Mathematics Teacher Developers¹

Between 1998 and 2008, approximately 2.4 million new teachers will be needed in U.S. public schools (Hussar, 1999). These new hires will replace teachers who retire or leave the profession and will teach in new classrooms created to handle the increasing number of school-aged children. Recruiting such large numbers of teachers will be harder in certain disciplines. According to Darling-Hammond (2000), certain disciplines will have a shortage of teachers while others will not; mathematics is among the disciplines with a shortage. For example, 82.5% of public urban middle schools and 95% of public urban high schools are already in need of mathematics teachers to complete their teaching staff (Recruiting New Teachers, 2000), and many districts have begun offering financial as well as other rewards to recruit and train mathematics teachers (Levine & Christopher, 1998, p. v).