I believe there are many issues contributing to the issue of under prepared mathematics teachers. First, middle school math teachers may be certified as elementary teachers, but not have a math major or minor. These teachers typically only have 1 or 2 semesters of math beyond high school and may not have an adequate background in mathematics. Many education students (and inservice math teachers) have weak math skills themselves because they were not taught mathematics in a way they could understand. All math teachers need continued mathematics professional development to continue to expand their own understanding of mathematics concepts and how they are interconnected.

Second, there is a misconception that math is easy to teach because all you have to do is go through some sample problems, assign a worksheet and grade it. Many teachers grade the problems on the worksheets as being right or wrong and move on. Teaching math this way is quick and easy for the teacher, which is why some people want to teach math. However, for students to understand the math concepts they are learning and be able to apply these concepts, they need to be taught to problem solve, communicate mathematically, make connections between mathematics concepts and to other disciplines, represent mathematical problems in multiple ways, and using reasoning to explore math concepts and prove mathematical theorems. Doing this requires much more knowledge and time from the teacher. Many teachers already are overloaded, but the time still needs to be found.

Third, I feel the mathematics curriculum in the United States is seriously flawed. The curriculum is frequently criticized for being "a mile wide and an inch deep," but nothing is being done to change this. Instead we are trying to teach more and more concepts each year, but only glossing over the surface of each one. Then we teach the same concepts year after year spending most of our time reviewing. Each state, each district, each school has a different curriculum making it difficult for students who change schools to fit in since different algorithms for the same procedure are taught, as well as different sequences of concepts. Some students have big holes in their knowledge of math concepts, while others are far ahead. We need a clearly defined manageable set of objectives for each grade which is built upon in future years rather than trying to teach and reteach everything every year. We also need a support system to allow students who have not mastered the concepts from the previous year to continue to work on these concepts as they learn new concepts. We need enrichment activities related to the concepts the class is learning for those who catch on quickly so they can be challenged as well. Finally, we need hard working, motivated teachers who are knowledgeable in mathematics content and pedagogy to lead the development of a well defined consistent national mathematics curriculum. Votes: +4

The problem with schools today is not teachers primarily. Phil Jackson is a great NBA coach. Why? He had Micheal Jordan and now he has Kobe Bryant. We don't have enough Micheal Jordan students; kids that want to take the ball (their own education) & score with it. They are too burdened with a rotten home life. They have little to zero support or, as statistics show & we all know, are being abused on some level. Until American values change, our shots will be blocked. Votes: +1

What will it take to develop mathematics departments to know how to teach mathematics as we want their products to be able to do. We need to renovate the college classroom. Votes: +3

In this article, the author Libby Quaid quotes, "The teaching problem is most acute in the middle grades, 5-8, the report said. That's a crucial time for math, said Ruth Neild, a research scientist at Johns Hopkins University.
"This is a time when kids are making a really important transition from arithmetic to mathematics," Neild said. "It takes careful instruction, and if kids can't get that, and really get it, they're not going to succeed in math in high school."

What researcher Neild doesn't address is the problem with teaching arithmetic in grades K - 6. Arithmetic may have been okay when we were getting students ready for the 1950s but it isn't what our elementary students need today. They need to be taught algebraic thinking through open-ended questions; finding multiple ways to solve algorithms; strategies based on Eight Habits of Mathematical Thinking; and opportunities to communicate, defend, and reflect on their learning experiences. Additionally, teachers need to be aware of the learning styles of their students: visual spatial versus auditory sequential; and make appropriate adjustments in their teaching styles to connect with both learners. These teaching strategies lend to higher student confidence and less student anxiety and boredom. Votes: +0

One more thing, our school's discipline systems are broken. This contributes heavily to the shortage of teachers. I mention to my top algebra students that they may want to consider a career as a math teacher. The repeated response is, "No, are you crazy? I see what you have to put up with!" If we want to attract more teachers to the feild we need to fix this. I believe that is the real reason for the severe shortage of teachers in lower income schools. Votes: +3

I am a transplanted elementary teacher. I teach Algebra to ninth graders who could not pass it in eighth grade. I am teaching on a supplementary credential and have been housed in under no child left behind. I believe the ability of a teacher to teach math is on an individual basis. There are fully credentialed teachers who can't explain the math to students. There are teachers with supplementary authorizations such as myself who do understand the math and can explain it. I believe our focus needs to be on setting up support systems within the schools for new math teachers. I hear so often that new math teachers feel that they can't approach fellow teachers, that materials and strategies aren't shared, that mentors are assigned from district programs and only visit five or six times in a year. New teachers need the help and support of the teacher next door. I, myself, have found a new love of teaching at the high school level to the point that I would like to go back and get a full math credential. Districts could do better to provide that training in house. The reality is, the failure rate of higher level math students lies in that they are unprepared for higher level classes the state mandates they take. The real change will only come when we stop forcing elementary students to perform math tasks from rote response, and instead work hard on developing deep understanding of number sense and problem solving strategies. I am hoping the next few years sees a big push toward technology based manipulatives in which the elementary student can practice and develop these crutial skills. Votes: +2

These underqualified teachers (who tend to have at least some teaching background, but are transplanted from different subjects) are there because with the current labor supply the teachers do not exist. The issue here is essentially practical: there aren't enough math teachers, especially at the middle school level. Even allowing "emergency certification" a good number of classrooms are simply cycling through subs for an entire year.

In special education the situation is worse. Votes: +1

Where are these underqualified, undertrained teachers coming from? Are they educated at and then being hired in the same districts in which they end up teaching? It's a vicious cycle, and not easily fixed. More money needs to go to our whole system, but, more than that, our whole system needs a major overhaul!
Votes: +0

This fuels the argument for national standards. Votes: +2