Goals of the Doctoral Degrees In Mathematics Education

The University of South Florida has an institutional commitment to prepare students at the graduate level who will increase their own personal knowledge of their field of study and contribute to the advancement of the field.  The goals of the Ph.D. with an Emphasis in Mathematics Education are consistent with these broad objectives of the university.  

Beginning in the early 1980s, the mathematics education community began major efforts to encourage reform in the teaching and learning of mathematics to prepare students at all levels for the challenges of the 21st century.  Reports from international studies had suggested that U.S. mathematics achievement was below levels acceptable to maintain our economic vitality.  In the late 1980s and continuing throughout the 1990s to the present, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) developed and disseminated a vision of mathematics curriculum, teaching, and assessment that would be appropriate for all students.  Many states in developing their own mathematical frameworks relied on the broad vision of NCTM to develop specific mathematics standards appropriate for their state needs.  College organizations, such as the American Mathematical Association of Two Year Colleges (AMATYC), also developed a vision for the mathematics curriculum of the first two years of college.  In 2001, the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (CBMS), in consultation with other mathematics and mathematics education organizations, developed a set of guidelines for the mathematical preparation of teachers.  

 

The doctoral program in mathematics education aims to prepare mathematics education professionals to work in and contribute to these efforts to reform the teaching and learning of mathematics.  In particular, the program aims to prepare individuals who are able to do the following:

  • Be leaders in mathematics education at the local, state, and national levels.

  • Conduct sound research on issues related to the teaching and learning of mathematics and to disseminate that research in appropriate forums.

  •   Employ sound teaching practices at their level of responsibility.

  • Contribute to standards-based mathematics education reform and support practicing K-12 professionals in their innovations in mathematics education.

  • Support the preparation of future mathematics educators at all levels, but particularly at the K-12 levels.

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