How to Fix Our Math Education: Make Math Teaching a Vibrant Profession By Sybilla Beckmann A recent editorial argued

for fixing math education by changing the math curriculum. Although the authors argued against the widely adopted Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, in fact, most of their recommendations could fit squarely within those standards. Instead of refuting the authors arguments, I want to draw attention to a more important focus: math teaching. Its time for all of us who teach math to join together and commit ourselves to its improvement. As we improve how we teach, we will also want to improve what we teach. Many of us have a vision of math teaching that is more vibrant, engaging, and effective than typical math teaching today. We want our students to discuss their thinking, explain lines of reasoning, and develop their skills as they engage in solving problems and reasoning about mathematical ideas. How do we achieve this more engaging math teaching? If we look to some vibrant professions, we find a cohesive, meritocratic community in which members share their findings and build on each others ideas. The quality of a community members work is judged mainly from within by peer recognition and admiration. Entry into such a profession requires a high level of education and accomplishment, so peers are respected. Peer admiration provides an incentive for sharing good ideas, developing creative new approaches, and working deliberately towards expertise. This kind of community is designed to produce better and better work. And this design fits with research in psychology on motivation and on the development of expertise. Could math teaching become a vibrant profession? Suppose that those of us who teach math had access to collaborative mixed communities in which we share our results and learn from each other about math and about teaching. Suppose we could develop stature in the profession by peer admiration, not by external evaluation. Suppose that we set professional standards for entry into math teaching and felt a collective responsibility for its quality. Such a profession would motivate those of us who teach math to work deliberately towards excellence. Achieving this vision of a more collaborative, vigorous, and vibrant professional environment for math teaching requires a change in culture and a change in how we think about the work of teaching. Its a vision for enlivening math teaching from within through peer interactions rather than from without through external evaluations that will pit us against each other and sap our motivation. So how do we fix our math education? By focusing on math teaching and making it the exciting, engaging, interactive profession it deserves to be.
Sybilla Beckmann is Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of Mathematics at the University of Georgia. She was a member of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics writing team.