| Summary: | Organizations leading education reform of the 1980's
have challenged teacher education programs at colleges and
universities across the nation to improve the subject
matter content preparation of teachers. Past methods of
program development and techniques to assess teacher's
knowledge competence have been one-sided in their
approach. New research studies on expert vs novice
teachers show that expert teachers are more efficient in
carrying out standard patterns of instruction.
This nation's mathematics community has engaged in a
revitalization of mathematics curricula. Traditional
mathematics is being transformed to become a powerful
science. Using the growing body of research, the National
Council of Teachers of Mathematics have developed
standards for improving the teaching and learning of
mathematics.
Oregon's Department of Education has also established
standards to meet the needs of a changing mathematics
curricula and the challenges of a changing society.
This study identified the specific content
knowledge taught in the mathematics curricula within
colleges and universities which offer four, five or fifth
year teacher education programs. It then compared these
findings against teacher identified origins of
elementary, middle and high school teachers' mathematics
content knowledge relative to the Essential Learning
Skills of Oregon.
It was found that teachers' content knowledge of the
Essential Learning Skills of Oregon was not directly
related to their preparation as teachers; at the elementary
and high school levels, there was no direct relationship
found between teachers' degrees and their teaching
assignment; there was no apparent relationship between
teachers' knowledge of the Essential Learning Skills of
Oregon and graduation from an Oregon college or university;
there was no apparent relationship between teachers' lack
of knowledge of the Essential Learning Skills of Oregon and
graduation from a non-Oregon college or university. === Graduation date: 1990
|
|---|
