The project - Targeted Infusion: Increasing Mathematics Teacher Production through Curriculum Enhancement and Innovation - at North Carolina A&T University proposes to enhance the mathematics education program to increase the institutional capability of preparing future minority secondary mathematics teachers. The goal of this project is to increase production and improve high-quality preparation of future mathematics teachers through curriculum enhancement and innovation. The objectives are: (1) to increase the production of future minority mathematics teachers with adequate credentials in mathematics; (2) to improve retention of mathematics education students; (3) to increase and retain the content knowledge of mathematics; and (4) to expose mathematics education students early on with challenging pedagogical scenarios on planning, implementing and assessing mathematics instruction. The project seeks to broaden the mathematics education curriculum and education opportunities for undergraduate students at NCA&T, foster and nurture students' interests in mathematics education, and retain them in academic programs and careers in secondary mathematics education. The local school district's lateral entry secondary mathematics teachers will benefit from participating in mathematics content knowledge and pedagogical skill training and development workshops to better prepare them for the licensure examination, hence helping alleviate the shortage of qualified secondary school mathematics teachers in local secondary schools.
This NSF HBCU-UP Targeted Infusion Grant has enabled the Mathematics Department at North Carolina A&T State University (NCA&T) to broaden mathematics education curriculum and education opportunities for undergraduate students at NCA&T, foster and nurture students' interests in mathematics education, and retain them in academic programs and careers in secondary mathematics education. As a result of implementation of the targeted infusion program in mathematics education at NCA&T, a mathematics secondary education minor program was developed and offered since the fall 2011, two lab-based mathematics education courses were developed and included in both the mathematics secondary education major and minor curricula, and the mathematics education teaching laboratory was renovated and enhanced with the state-of-the-art A/V and computer equipment to facilitate mathematics education content knowledge instruction and pedagogical skill practice training. Over the four-year funding period, sixty-four mathematics secondary education undergraduate students were supported by the grant to work as teacher assistants, supplemental instruction leaders or tutors to gain practical teaching experience in the real classroom setting. The enrollment of students in the mathematics secondary education program was increased from 17 students in the fall semester of 2009 to 27 students in the fall 2010, 25 students in the fall 2011, 28 students in the fall 2012, and 21 students in the fall 2013. Over 85% of the mathematics secondary education majors maintained good academic standing in the past four years, with more than one-third of them being placed in the Dean’s list each semester. We also graduated 3 mathematics education students in the 2010-2011 academic year, 4 mathematics education students in the 2011-2012 academic year, 7 mathematics education students in the 2012-2013 academic year, and 4 mathematics education students in the 2013-2014 academic year, an average of 4.5 graduates per year, compared to 3 graduates in the 2009-2010 academic year. Out of eighteen mathematics education graduates, sixteen of them have been employed by secondary schools as mathematics teachers, one of them was admitted into Harvey University School of Education’s graduate program, and one was employed in a media company. Over ten mathematics faculty members, forty mathematics education students, and thirty in-service local middle or high school mathematics teachers were supported by the grant to participate in more than twenty professional conferences or professional development workshops. Several mathematics education faculty members also made four presentations at regional or national professional conferences. The local school district lateral entry secondary mathematics teachers also benefited from participating in mathematics content knowledge and pedagogical skill training and development workshops to better prepare them for the licensure examination, hence helping alleviate the shortage of qualified secondary school mathematics teachers in local secondary schools. The twelve PRAXIS II workshops offered by the program in the past four years prepared over fifty pre-service or in-service mathematics teachers for both the PRAXIS II content knowledge and pedagogy examinations and helped at least nine participants pass the PRAXIS II examinations. The program also funded the PRAXIS II examination registration for several workshop participants.
