Mathematics Education Alumni and Friends

Welcome, alumni and friends of the MU Mathematics Education Program. The MU mathematics education has changed significantly in the past 40 years, growing from two faculty (Bob Reys and Doug Grouws) in 1970 to eight faculty in 2007.  The program continues to have a strong commitment to improving the quality of mathematics education programs in K-12 schools. We’ve expanded our teacher preparation programs to include both undergraduate and post-baccalaureate certification.  In fact, the post-baccalaureate certification program (SMARRT) is one of the strongest in the nation and has doubled our production of certified secondary mathematics teachers, helping to address a national need.

The doctoral program has expanded in the past ten years to include 12-15 full-time doctoral students on campus each year.  MU PhD graduates currently work at University of Louisville, Oklahoma State University, University of Tennessee, Illinois State University and the University of Arkansas.

Some indicators of MU Mathematics Education program contributions:

  • In 2004 the mathematics education program secured the largest externally funded grant in the history of the College of Education (NSF Center for Learning and Teaching grant of $10,000,000 over 5 years). This grant represents the third largest award in the history of MU.

  • In the past 10 years, MU mathematics education faculty have secured major research and service grants totaling over 26 million dollars from the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, and state agencies. In 2004 it ranked second only to UC-Berkeley in funding from NSF’s Division of Elementary, Secondary and Informal Science Education. The mean dollar amount of annual external funding per faculty member grew from $133,300 in 1995 to $725,000 in 2004.
  • MU is among the top ten institutions in the country in the number of articles authored by faculty appearing in each of the four peer reviewed journals published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, Teaching Children Mathematics, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, and Mathematics Teacher).  In fact, MU is the only institution appearing in the top ten list for all four of these journals.
  • Among the eight MU mathematics education faculty is a Curators’ Professor, a Distinguished Professor, and a Kemper Award Professor. Two faculty received an MU Faculty-Alumni Award in 2004.  The mathematics education faculty serve on prestigious national Boards and Committees including the Mathematical Science Education Board of the National Academy of Sciences; the National Research Council Committee on Evaluating Curricular Effectiveness; the Board of Directors for National Council of Teachers of Mathematics; Research Committee of National Council of Teachers of Mathematics; Editorial Panel of the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education and the Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education; and the Interpretive Team of the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
  • In addition to being highly productive scholars, mathematics education faculty have a deep commitment and demonstrated record of excellence in teaching undergraduate and graduate courses. The mean teaching evaluation of mathematics education faculty in the past 3 years is 4.5 (on a 5 point scale).  Every member of the mathematics education faculty has received one or more College of Education High Flyer Awards, recognizing excellence in teaching.
  • In 2003, Congress earmarked 1.2 million dollars to establish the Center for Mathematics and Science Teacher Education on the MU campus to develop programs to address the national shortage of teachers in mathematics and science classrooms. Work resulting from this award has established MU as the premiere mathematics and science teacher education program in Missouri and its reputation nationally is growing.
  • The MU middle and secondary mathematics teacher education program was reviewed and approved by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in the Spring 2003 as part of the College NCATE evaluation.  At that time NCTM reviewed 23 programs across the United States and the University of Missouri program was one of only 4 that was approved unconditionally.
  • In 2004 an MU secondary mathematics education major (Tiffany McCracken) was one of two students nationally (the other was a Stanford student) to receive the prestigious Demana-Waits Scholarship ($10,000) to recognize excellence. Tiffany was also chosen for the inaugural class of Mizzou ’39.
  • Over the past five years each class of secondary mathematics education majors has had an average ACT score greater than 27. The average PRAXIS score (required by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for certification) of MU mathematics education majors is higher than any other institution in the state. In fact, MU is the only program in the state to consistently have a 100% passage rate on the required PRAXIS exam.