National Summit on the Mathematical Education of Teachers

Conference Board Math Sciences, Chappaqua NY

Investigators

Abstract

The Mathematical Education of Teachers (MET), published in book form in August, 2001, (and currently available on the CBMS web site www.maa.org/cbms), is the mathematics community's agenda for improving the mathematical preparation of future teachers. The Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (CBMS), which guided the development of this document, is launching MET with a Press Conference in September, 2001, (funded by the ExxonMobil Foundation) and a National Summit on the Mathematical Education of Teachers in November, 2001, both to be held in Washington DC. The Press Conference involves high profile leaders of the business community, the mathematics community, policy making organizations, and funding agencies, and focuses upon the policy implications of this report, positioning it as the mathematics community's plan to improve teacher education in mathematics. The National Summit engages 250 college and university mathematics faculty in the hard work of beginning to implement the vision of the mathematical education of teachers presented in MET. Participants are being invited in teams from about 75 diverse institutions across the country. Plenary sessions frame the issues and problems and set them in broader context. Small group working sessions engage the participants in thinking about how to address specific challenges in carrying out the recommendations MET locally.