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1. How beginning secondary mathematics teachers reconcile competing professional obligations.

   Buchbinder, Orly; Brisard, Sophia; Butler, Rebecca (January 2025, Proceedings of the 46th annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME-NA))

   Kosko, K; Caniglia, J; Courtney, S; Zolfaghari, M; Morris, G (Ed.)

   Building on the theory of practical rationality, we explore how three beginning secondary mathematics teachers reconcile competing professional obligations, namely: disciplinary, individual, and institutional obligations. As these teachers transitioned from supervised teaching to teaching their own classrooms, they reconciled competing obligations and developed their own ideas about mathematics teaching and learning. The analysis revealed that it was only institutional obligation that conflicted with either disciplinary, or individual obligation, or with teachers’ own teaching preferences. No other two obligations appeared to clash. The conflict with institutional obligation was reconciled in favor of institutional obligation in less than 30% of instances. In the vast majority of cases, another obligation took precedence. 

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2. WHAT INFLUENCES DO INSTRUCTORS OF THE GEOMETRY FOR TEACHERS COURSE NEED TO CONTEND WITH?

   Herbst, P. (October 2018, Proceedings of the 40th annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education)

   T.E. Hodges, G. J. (Ed.)

   This paper reports on a project aimed at developing a system of professional support for the improvement of the Geometry for Teachers course that mathematics departments teach to preservice secondary teachers. We share data from interviews with 20 instructors to report on how they perceive their position of geometry instructors and the work they do in the course. To inspect this set of interviews, we use the framework of professional obligations to the discipline, to individual students, to the institution, and to the classroom community. We share how references to these professional obligations emerged in the interview data. 

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3. Exclusive versus Mixed, General versus CTE: Building a New Taxonomy of STEMM High School Teachers

   https://doi.org/10.3138/jehr-2022-0006  

   Gottfried, Michael; Plasman, Jay; Blazar, David (September 2023, Journal of Education Human Resources)

   There has been a recent expansion of high school course offerings in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical/health (STEMM) fields. The large span of courses now offered in STEMM are delineated across STEMM-general courses (i.e., chemistry) and STEMM-CTE courses (i.e., information technology). Little is known, however, about who are the teachers in these courses. This brief addresses this void by developing a taxonomy of the STEMM teaching workforce using statewide data from Maryland. Through this taxonomy, we examine the number of STEMM teachers by whether they teach general versus CTE STEMM courses, and whether they do so exclusively or across both types. We then examine what teaching courseloads look like across these groupings, as well as by qualifications and demographics. The aim of this brief is to understand not only the landscape of who teaches which STEMM courses, but also to identify disparities. This can help inform research on STEMM courses and teachers as well as policy, practice, and professional development. 

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4. Professional development for mathematics teacher education faculty: Need and design

   Jackson, B.; Hauk, S.; Tsay, J. J.; Ramirez, A. (June 2020, The Montana math enthusiast)

   null (Ed.)

   The purpose of this report is to share a conceptual model useful in the design of professional learning about teaching for university mathematics faculty. The model is illustrated by examples from a particular design effort: the development of an online shortcourse for faculty new to teaching mathematics courses for prospective primary school teachers. How novice mathematics teacher educators grow as instructors is an emerging area of research and development in the United States. At the same time, it is well established that effective instructional design of any course, including a course for faculty, requires breadth first: understanding and anticipating the needs of the learner. Therefore, given the sparse knowledge base in the new arena of mathematics teacher educator professional growth, effective design requires leveraging the scant existing research while also exploring and iteratively refining broad goals and objectives for faculty learning. Only after a conceptual foundation is articulated for what is to be learned and what will constitute evidence of learning, can cycles of design productively examine and test-bed particular course features such as lesson content, structures (like scope and sequence), and processes (like communication and evaluation). In the example used in this report, several researchbased perspectives on learning in/for/about teaching guided design goals and short-course objectives. These valued perspectives informed creation and prioritization of principles for short-course design which, in turn, informed evaluation of faculty learning. With these conceptual foundations in place, design of lessons to realize the goals, principles, and objectives rapidly followed. The work reported here contributes to the knowledge base in two ways: (1) it addresses faculty professional development directly by describing and illustrating a model for supporting instructional improvement and (2) it provides metanarrative to scaffold the professional growth of those who design professional learning opportunities for post-secondary mathematics faculty. 

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5. GIFTS: Retention Improvement Efforts in the Undergraduate Living and Learning Community at the University of South Carolina

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--42238  

   Gatzke, Edward P. (July 2022, ASEE FYE)

   The University of South Carolina Engineering and Computing Living and Learning Community is focused on helping students succeed in their academic careers. For many years, program activities include a one-hour professional development course, linked coursework for mathematics and chemistry courses, and residence hall tutoring availability. Recent new supports for student retention will be discussed. These efforts include: 1. Early Move-In Boot camp - A short optional course helps students adjust to campus and form social networks while providing mathematics review and professional development information. 2. More linked courses - In addition to mathematics and chemistry, the living and learning community now has implemented linked humanities coursework in the spring so that students living together can take more courses with other residents. 3. Spring activities - Traditionally, most retention efforts have focused on acclimation in the Fall semester. New efforts help support students throughout their entire first year so that they have help in taking corrective actions. https://peer.asee.org/gifts-retention-improvement-efforts-in-the-undergraduate-living-and-learning-community-at-the-university-of-south-carolina 

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