5: The Mathematical Education and Development of Teachers

Teachers matter. A variety of recently published documents support the notion that the key to increasing students’ mathematical knowledge and to closing the achievement gap is to put knowledgeable teachers in every classroom. For example, in a survey designed by Lou Harris and undertaken in 1998 by the Recruiting New Teachers organization, a carefully chosen sample of a cross-section of U.S. adults was questioned about how to improve America’s schools (Haselkorn & Harris, 1998). Of the 2525 people interviewed, an overwhelming majority agreed that “improving the quality of teaching is the most important way to improve public education” (p. 1). Other documents essentially repeating this message include the 1998 report Every Child Mathematically Proficient: An Action Plan from the Learning First Alliance, the 2000 report Before It’s Too Late: A Report to the Nation from the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century as requested by the U.S. Department of Education, the 1996 and 2003 reports What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future and No Dream Denied from the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, the 2000 report The Mathematical Education of Teachers (MET) from the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences, the 2001 act No Child Left Behind from the U.S. Department of Education (2002), and the 2003 report Mathematical Proficiency for All Students from the RAND Mathematics Study Panel.