This article addresses the current state of the mathematics education system in the United States and provides a possible solution to the contributing issues. As a result of lower performance in primary mathematics, American students are not acquiring the necessary quantitative literacy skills to become successful adults. This study analyzed the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate three elementary mathematics curricula to examine the accessibility for students with learning disabilities (LD) with regards to challenges associated with working memory. We chose to focus on students' experiences when finding the area of composite shapes due to the multiple steps involved for…

Research suggests the importance of mathematics knowledge for teaching (MKT) for enabling elementary school teachers to effectively teach mathematics. MKT involves both mathematical content knowledge (M-CK) and mathematical pedagogical content knowledge (M-PCK). However, there is no consensus on how best to prepare elementary preservice teachers…

For many students, developing mathematical reasoning can prove to be challenging. Such difficulty may be explained by a deficit in the core understanding of many arithmetical concepts taught in early school years. Multiplicative reasoning is one such concept that produces an essential foundation upon which higher-level mathematical thinking skills…

This study explored how mathematics content and methods courses for preservice elementary and middle school teachers could be improved through the integration of a set of instructional materials based on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). A set of eight instructional modules was developed and tested. The study involved 7…

In recent years, national organizations, mathematics educators, and policy makers have called for the development of elementary school mathematics coaches to improve mathematics teaching and learning in elementary schools. The literacy field has found success and promise in the work of instructional coaches, and the mathematics education community…

This study uses a large nationally representative data set (ECLS-K) of 5,181 students to examine the extent to which exposure to content and instructional practice contributes to mathematics achievement in fifth grade. Using hierarchical linear modeling, results suggest that more exposure to content beyond numbers and operations (i.e., geometry,…

In a mathematics course for prospective elementary teachers, we strove to model standards-based pedagogy. However, an end-of-class reflection revealed the prospective teachers were considering incorporating standards-based strategies in their future classrooms in ways different from our intent. Thus, we drew upon the framework presented by Simon,…

A sample of third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade student responses to the question "What is a fraction?" were examined to gain an understanding of how children in upper elementary grades make sense of fractions. Rather than measure children's understanding of fractions relative to mathematically conventional part-whole constructions of…

Prospective elementary teachers hold preconceived ideas about elementary school students' attitudes toward mathematics. We found that there exists a gender bias with prospective teachers expecting girls to have negative attitudes toward mathematics and boys more likely to have positive attitudes toward mathematics. We found that these…

Reforms in mathematics education call for K-12 teachers to employ standards-based pedagogies, which embody the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics' principles and standards. In order to effectively support teachers' implementation of standards-based curricula, professional development must be provided that meets teachers' needs. The…

This study examined (a) the differences in preservice teachers’ procedural knowledge in four areas of fraction operations in Taiwan and the United States, (b) the differences in preservice teachers’ conceptual knowledge in four areas of fraction operations in Taiwan and the United States, and (c) correlation in preservice teachers’ conceptual…

This article describes the design and implementation of an assessment instrument for Numbers and Operations, the first course in a program to train elementary mathematics specialists. We briefly describe the course and its content, and then we elaborate on the process we used to develop the assessment instrument and the corresponding rubric for…

Typically, experiences shape one's attitudes toward the "thing" that is being experienced, whether it is a person, pet, movie, etc. Classroom experiences also shape one's attitudes toward a subject, teacher, learning, and so forth. Studies have shown that attitudes become more negative as students move from elementary to secondary schools.…

This study investigated preservice elementary teachers' achievement goal orientations for learning mathematics and the relationship of those goals to their attitudes toward mathematics. Self-report instruments were administered to assess three achievement goals--mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoid, and three constructs of…