It’s nearly universal: Teachers with master’s degrees almost always get paid more than teachers without. The presumption is that the master’s degree signals a greater level of knowledge and skill. But what if I told you that aspiring elementary math teachers who go through graduate-level teacher prep are often less prepared than teachers who go through an undergraduate program?
That’s just one of the big takeaways from the National Council on Teacher Quality’s (NCTQ) new report, Teacher Prep Review: Solving for Math Success. In our analysis of over 1,100 elementary teacher preparation programs across the country, only 2% of graduate programs earned an A or A+, meaning they dedicate sufficient time to preparing teachers on how to teach math and on the essential math content.
The average graduate program dedicates less than one course credit to foundational math content knowledge, reaching barely more than 10% of the minimum recommended by math experts, practitioners in the field, and the research. In fact,because of this paucity of time, more than 8 in 10 graduate programs earned an F in our review.
Undergraduate programs are doing better on average, but many still fail to meet the minimum expectations for math content instruction.
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Notes and links on singapore discovery connected math.
