Knowing Mathematics for Teaching. American Educator: Who Knows Mathematics Well Enough to Teach Third Grade, and How Can We Decide?

In this article, the authors describe their research on the link between student achievement and teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching. They argue that teaching mathematics effectively requires both common knowledge of the subject and specialized knowledge of how to teach it. This specialized knowledge entails thinking from the learner’s perspective and expressing ideas fluently in mathematical terms. Working with colleagues in CPRE’s Study of Instructional Improvement at the University of Michigan, the authors developed and tested measures of common and specialized mathematical knowledge. They found that teachers’ performance on such measures significantly predicted the size of student test score gains. The authors discuss implications of their findings for teacher preparation, professional development, and future research.