The Division of Postsecondary Policy and Practice of the National Research Council's Center for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Education will undertake a three-year program of activities in teacher preparation. Out work will be organized into three initiatives: (A) deepening understanding; (B) improving practice' and (C) enhancing infrastructure in mathematics and science teacher preparation. Communities that will be involved in and addressed by this work include: scientists, mathematicians, and engineers; SME&T faculty, teacher educators, and educational researchers; and leaders and policymakers for states, institutions of higher education, and other organizations. Building on accomplishments in our current NSF Cooperative Agreement, "Partnership for Leadership," we will undertake a set of eight interrelated projects which will advance our three major initiatives. Projects include: developing a brochure about the fundamentals of teacher preparation; creating a report which offers a critical synthesis of recommendations, research base, and indicator system for improving a workshop and proceedings about helping mathematics teachers learn content more effectively; a report synthesizing research in mathematics and science teachers preparation in a way that would help improve practice; and a white paper from a panel of university presidents and state education personnel calling for specific reform of teacher preparation policy at the state and national levels. We also will include a strategic effort to inform, interest, and engage the membership of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine in teacher preparation issues. The projects proposed here will be shaped, guided, and executed by the three standing boards of the Center's Division on Postsecondary Policy and Practice -- the Mathematical Sciences Education Board, the Committee on Undergraduate Science Education, and the Board on Engineering Education. These boards normall y meet twice per year. Specially constituted NRC study committees will be established when needed to undertake particular projects. The projects capitalize on the two most effective mechanisms of the NRC: convening expert group for the purpose of generating consensus, and producing objective, highly visible and thoroughly reviewed reports. We look for forward to the substantial contributions these initiatives can make to improving the system of mathematics and science teacher preparation.
