The goal of this research was to answer the question, ‘‘Who teaches mathematics content courses for prospective elementary teachers at colleges and universities in the United States, and what are these instructors’ academic and teaching backgrounds?’’
The authors decided to conduct a survey of all higher institutions in the United States.
They surveyed 1,926 institutions, and a faculty member from each of 825 institutions participated in the survey. The survey results point out that most institutions are not meeting the recommendation of requiring prospective elementary teachers to complete nine credits hours of mathematics content courses designed specifically to support them in thinking carefully about elementary mathematical ideas.