We are facing a crisis in public education. Headlines across the country inform the public about our critical shortage of teachers. Teachers are leaving the profession before retirement age. College enrollment in education programs has decreased dramatically. Many vacancies are filled with substitute teachers. To make matters worse, teachers are struggling to pass their certification exams at the end of their program. We lose great teacher candidates to charter and private schools. While student enrollment is increasing drastically, school districts and policymakers across the nation are desperately seeking a solution.
As a result of national initiatives to improve public education, the need to maintain high expectations for our future teachers is at the forefront. Colleges must rethink elementary mathematics methods courses to ensure that preservice teachers build a strong foundation in mathematics content as well as pedagogy. According to the report by Rado 2019, from January 2015 to December 2017, showed that only 57.1 percent of test-takers passed the math section when they sat for the exam for the first time. Students who take four years of college education, should not be failing a basic competency exam. Immediate changes must be made to remedy this problem.
Whether they like or not, elementary teachers usually teach math, often with limited skills. Since they are not confident in the subject, they struggle with common core standards which aim to develop conceptual understanding. They often teach the algorithm to the new methods rather than its intended approach. When students develop their ways of thinking about math, the teachers lack the conceptual understanding to affirm or negate their thinking. We need to move away from teaching step by step mathematics algorithms and provide opportunities to understand fundamental math, beginning with our pre-service teachers. Colleges need to implement hands-on, interactive approaches that will develop a strong foundation in mathematics content, and attract marketable highly certified candidates to the teaching profession.

Preparing pre-service teachers will develop future educators in math content which will impact student achievement. Teachers will have the content knowledge and confidence to teach elementary mathematics and ultimately promote a classroom of visual, interactive, and hands-on approaches and reduce the antiquated step by step method of instruction. Additionally, an increase in the number of certified teachers will alleviate the critical shortage problem that continues to trouble the future. We must consider the advancement of mathematics as an untapped potential for the economic future of our country. (Rutherford et al. 2010)

Rado, D. (2019). Should teachers stay in the classrooms if they can’t pass the State’s General Knowledge Test?
https://www.floridaphoenix.com/2019/03/15

Rutherford, T., Kibrick, M., Burchinal, M., Richland, L., Conley, A., Osborne, K., … & Daniels, A. (2010). Spatial Temporal Mathematics at Scale: An Innovative and Fully Developed Paradigm to Boost Math Achievement among All Learners. Online Submission.