Vermont has a program to immerse teachers in mathematics in order to help them keep up with the state standards:
Every educator here in this grand stone hall at the University of Vermont on a frigid Friday last month is taking part in a program whose goal is to make mathematicians out of elementary school teachers. Responsible for teaching many subjects, teachers of the lower grades often lack the in-depth math knowledge they need to help their pupils meet the higher benchmarks that state governments have set and the federal government has demanded.
As the teachers here huddle over complicated formulas and scribble calculations on parchment-covered tables, they are submerged in that very math content.
"You can’t teach what you don’t know," said Kenneth I. Gross, a professor of mathematics and education at the University of Vermont and the director of the initiative.
I agree. But wouldn't it be useful to ask why these elementary schools teachers were able to obtain college degrees in education without ever developing the skills needed to teach math at the elementary level?
Like many in the program, Jackie Bailey, a 3rd grade teacher at South Burlington Elementary School, was "math phobic" when she enrolled.
Now, she excitedly pulls out colorful examples of the calculus work she has done with her students. "I never imagined I would have come this far," she said.
Again, kudos to the program, but I shudder to hear of teachers describing themselves as math phobic after earning a college degree.