Inside the UTeach Program: Implications for Research in Mathematics Teacher Education

Abstract

As the national impetus to advance education continues to look toward improving the teachers sent into the classroom, more research needs to be done to in the area of mathematics teacher education. A number of recent studies have summarized, synthesized, and developed useful information about what should be viewed as important in mathematics teacher training. This paper looks at some of these claims from current research and uses the UTeach program from the University of Texas at Austin as a means of elaborating on how some theoretical issues might be addressed in practice. A number of implications are proposed in response to the discussion, one in particular addressing a gap in current research about understanding when beginning mathematics teachers learn the attributes helpful for good mathematics instruction.