Mathematics Education MS
Program Purpose
The goal of the MA program in Mathematics Education is to introduce students to the theories and research methods that are the fundamental means of creating knowledge in the field, as well as to deepen the knowledge of mathematics, teaching, and pedagogy obtained during undergraduate study. Our program prepares students for doctoral work in mathematics education and prepares those returning to teaching to be leaders in their schools, districts, and communities.
Two kinds of students typically enter our MA program:
- Prospective educators who enter the program with teaching certificates and Bachelors' degrees in mathematics education or a related field, but with little or no teaching experience.
- Practitioners, that is, working mathematics teachers, with experience in schools.
Students completing our program will mainly go in one of two directions: to further graduate study (to obtain a doctorate in mathematics education), or to further work in schools, but at a higher level.
Curricular Structure
Program Outcomes, Requirements for Degree, Admission Requirements
Learning Outcomes
Scholarship
Graduates can explain, evaluate, and apply important issues, trends, theories, paradigms of research, and research findings in the field of mathematics education, as well as their implications for the teaching and learning of mathematics in the public schools, mathematics teacher development, and participation in mathematics education scholarship..
Graduates demonstrate understanding of research methods in mathematics education by showing they can a) locate an interesting and important problem; b) conduct a literature review to situate the problem; c) develop a conceptual framework; d) establish focused research questions; e) choose and implement appropriate methods for collecting and analyzing data; f) address issues of research quality such as validity, reliability, and significance; and g) effectively communicate their work both orally and in writing.
Graduates understand central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline of mathematics as well as core representations, canonical examples, and alternative algorithms germane to teaching school mathematics.
Graduates are able to analyze topics from school mathematics in the context of the literature on students' mathematical thinking, meaningfully apply research on teaching and learning mathematics in their teaching, and use scholarly inquiry as a lens to reflect on that teaching.
Graduates have developed a level of professionalism that enables and compels them to continually seek opportunities to improve their own practice, keep abreast of advances and developments in the field both locally and nationally, and provide leadership in professional, school, and community organizations.
Graduates strive to follow the example of Jesus Christ in both their personal and professional lives, seek consistency between their understanding of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and principles of mathematics teaching and learning, and use this enriched understanding of teaching and learning to nurture the divine potential of all in their spheres of influence.
Evidence of Learning
Direct Measures
The MA program will be assessed annually at the beginning of winter semester. Because the purpose of the assessment is to see if the learning outcomes have been met by the end of the program, it does not make sense to consider data from students who are still in the program. However, if data is limited to only students who either graduated or dropped out of the program the year before, the data points are insufficient to establish clear trends. Consequently, at each annual evaluation of the program, data will be considered for students who either graduated or dropped out over the past two years. While this means that the data from a particular student will be used in two consecutive evaluations of program learning outcomes, we nonetheless feel that data aggregated across two years will provide a fuller understanding of the success of our program than data from a single year.
In preparation to assess the program learning outcomes, each student who has graduated or dropped out of the program will be evaluated individually on each learning outcome to determine if that learning outcome was met by that student. The criteria for a learning outcome to be met by a student are given below. Once each student has been evaluated on each learning outcome, the number of students who have met each learning outcome will be tallied. If 70% of the students meet a particular learning outcome, then we will conclude that the program is satisfactory with respect to that learning outcome.
Criteria for Determining Whether a Student has Met a Particular Learning Outcome
Scholarship
For each student, data from Sections I and III of the Master's Exam, from their Thesis/Project proposal defense and from their Thesis/Project final defense will be gathered. (If students were given a second chance on any of these measures, data will come from the last attempt.) These represent the direct measures for this learning outcome. See below for indirect measures.
- Master's Exam Sections I and III: Students are considered satisfactory on this measure if the average of their scores on the four problems from Sections I and III is at least 70%.
- Thesis/Project proposal defense: Students are considered satisfactory on this measure if they passed (initially or eventually) their proposal defense.
- Thesis/Project final defense: Students are considered satisfactory on this measure if they passed (initially or eventually) their final defense.
Students meet this learning outcome if their performance on any two of the three measures is satisfactory.
Research
For each student, data from Sections II and III of the Master's Exam, and from their Thesis/Project final defense will be gathered. (If students were given a second chance on either of these measures, data will come from the last attempt.)
- Master's Exam Sections II and III: Students are considered satisfactory on this measure if the average of their scores on the four problems from Sections II and III is at least 70%.
- Thesis/Project final defense: Students are considered satisfactory on this measure if they passed (initially or eventually) their final defense.
Students completing a project meet this learning outcome if their performance on both measures is satisfactory. Students completing a thesis meet this learning outcome if their performance on the thesis defense is satisfactory.
Mathematics
For each student, data from Section IV of the Master's Exam will be gathered. (If students were given a second chance to take the Master's Exam, data will come from the last attempt.) Students meet this learning outcome if the average of their scores on the two problems from Section IV is at least 70%.
Teaching
For each student, teacher evaluation on the Content and Task section of the peer evaluation form from the last two courses taught will be gathered. For students to meet this learning outcome, they must receive a satisfactory rating (15 or higher).
In future years, learning outcome will be assessed using the Teaching Assessment. Future Learning Outcome Committees will decide on criteria for meeting this learning outcome using the Teaching Assessment.
Professionalism
For each student, two MA PIBS-the last MA PIBS from the project/thesis advisor and the MA PIBS from the last 3-credit-hour mathematics education course the student took-will be considered. For the student to be considered satisfactory on an item, the student must receive a rating of "meets" or "exceeds" expectations for that item on both MA PIBS. If a students is unsatisfactory on 3 or more items, then the student will be considered unsatisfactory in professionalism.
Spiritual Stewardship
For each student, items 1-3, 7, and 9 from two MA PIBS-the last MA PIBS from the project/thesis advisor and the MA PIBS from the last 3-credit-hour mathematics education course the student took-will be considered. For the student to be considered satisfactory on an item, the student must receive a rating of "meets" or "exceeds" expectations for that item on both MA PIBS. If a students is unsatisfactory on 2 or more items, then the student will be considered unsatisfactory in spiritual stewardship.
Indirect Measures
Scholarship
We expect students to become scholars in the field and they can do this by participating in a variety of activities. Some of these options include: presentations (e.g., student research conference, 3 minute thesis, professional conferences), manuscript submissions (research or practicioner), grant proposals.
Students participating in one or more of these activities each year of their program is satisfactory. We will consider our students scholars in the field if 80% of our students have engaged in at least one scholarship activity.
Teaching
We seek to understand how the students are responding to the following question on the alumni survey: "If your methods professor observed your instruction over several weeks, what might s/he say about how well your instruction aligns with the philosophy of instruciton taught in your methods courses?" We are currently monitoring responses and will develop indicators at a future time.
Learning and Teaching Assessment and Improvement
The MA program will be assessed annually at the beginning of winter semester. Because the purpose of the assessment is to see if the learning outcomes have been met by the end of the program, it does not make sense to consider data from students who are still in the program. However, if we consider data from only students who either graduated or dropped out of the program the year before, the data points are insufficient to establish clear trends. Consequently, at each annual evaluation of the program, data will be considered for students who either graduated or dropped out over the past two years. While this means that the data from a particular student will be used in two consecutive evaluations of program learning outcomes, we nonetheless feel that data aggregated across two years will provide a fuller understanding of the success of our program than data from a single year.
In preparation to assess the program learning outcomes, each student who has graduated or dropped out of the program will be evaluated individually on each learning outcome to determine if that learning outcome was met by that student. The criteria for a learning outcome to be met by a student are given below. Once each student has been evaluated on each learning outcome, the number of students who have met each learning outcome will be tallied. If 70% of the students meet a particular learning outcome, then we will conclude that the program is satisfactory with respect to that learning outcome.
The evaluation will be done by the Learning Outcome Committee, a standing commmittee of the Mathematics Education Department, with assistance from the Administrative Assistant. The committee with then make a report and any recommendations for actions to the department for discussion and desisions.
Archiving Student Work
Student work and other assessment data are kept in the files in the office of the Administative Assistant and Graduate Secretary.