To Members of the Math Education Committee:
 
The recent Joint Mathematics Meetings in Baltimore included many
sessions on mathematics education.  Among them were:
   A forum on the future of the NCTM Standards
   A preview of the latest revision of the NCATE Standards *
   An update on the TIMSS study
   A plan to update "A Call for Change"
 
As I listened to some of the speakers, I couldn't help but think
that we at Miami ought to be engaging in weekly conversations about
mathematics education and mathematics teacher education.  For
one thing, there are a number of questions that have been raised
about the way we educate mathematics teachers at Miami.
   (1) is MTH 331 very useful to math education majors?
   (2) do math ed majors at Miami encounter the kind of teaching
        that we want them to emulate in their own classrooms?
   (3) do math ed majors see any connection between undergraduate
        mathematics and school mathematics?  (Perhaps it's time to
        revive the senior seminar that we ran several years ago.)
 
There is also a need for us as a group and as individuals  to keep up
with what's happening in mathematics education across Ohio and the
nation so that  Miami doesn't get left behind.   (*) I have a copy
of the proposed NCATE standards, in case anyone wants to see them.
 
If there is any interest in  organizing a mathematics education
seminar to discuss some of the broader issues noted above, I will do
whatever I can to support it.
 
It has been awhile since the Mathematics Education Committee has met.
We have several items of unfinished business to attend to.
   (1)  Publicity for mathematics summer offerings for teachers
   (2)  The future of the M.A.T. program in mathematics.
   (3)  MTH 407 as a possible Capstone
   (3)  Revision of content courses for middle childhood licensure.
 
I urge the Mathematics Education Committee to schedule weekly
meetings to focus on the immediate business at hand.  If the
committee has become so large as to be inefficient, then it may be
necessary to assign the tasks to subcommittees who will meet weekly
and report to the whole committee on a less frequent basis.  However
we decide to do it, we need to get moving!
 
David Kullman