A New International Study of Future Teachers in 16 Countries Reveals Mathematics Teacher Preparation Jeopardizes Student Learning of Math
Washington, D.C., April 15, 2010 – In a seminal study of international teacher preparation released today, researchers found a striking parallel between future U.S. teachers’ knowledge of mathematics content and the performance of the students they teach.
Led by education and mathematics experts at Michigan State University (MSU), the Teacher Education Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M) is an international examination of how math teachers at both elementary and middle school levels are trained. Fielded internationally by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), USTEDS-M is funded by The Boeing Company, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the GE Foundation.
In the U.S., TEDS-M studied the performance of 81 public and private universities and colleges in 39 states that prepare elementary and middle school mathematics teachers. Nearly 3,300 future teachers were surveyed about their course work, knowledge of mathematics and their knowledge of how to teach the subject. Internationally, the Study spanned 16 countries, sampling 23,244 future teachers (14,766 future primary teachers and 8,478 future lower secondary teachers) across 498 educational institutions.
The study reveals that middle school mathematics teacher preparation is not up to the task. U.S. future teachers find themselves straddling the divide between the successful and the unsuccessful, leaving the U.S. with a national choice of which way to go.
The findings of USTEDS-M additionally revealed that the preparation of elementary teachers to teach mathematics was comparatively somewhat better as the U.S. found itself in the middle of the international distribution, along with other countries such as the Russian Federation, Germany and Norway, but behind Switzerland, Taiwan and Singapore.
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