Preparation for Math Teachers

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Washington State University is committed to supporting and training future mathematics teachers at all levels—from elementary school generalists to high school specialists, and from community college instructors to professors at four-year research universities.

• WSU faculty members are nationally recognized pedagogy experts, serving as invited speakers at regional and national conferences, publishing scholarly work in professional journals, and attracting funding from state and national agencies.Approximately one-third of our mathematics majors are working on their secondary education teaching credentials.

• The department supports attendance of WSU preservice secondary mathematic teachers at the annual Northwest Mathematics Conference to learn about current trends in mathematics education.

• Our master’s degree in mathematics education is designed to prepare students to teach at the community college level.

• Our graduate certificate in college teaching introduces modern theories of learning and research-based pedagogical strategies for the college mathematics classroom.
• Every year, WSU elementary education majors take 1,200 semester credit hours of math instruction.

For future elementary teachers

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics offers one of the strongest elementary math education preparatory programs in the Pacific Northwest and compares favorably to national programs.

All elementary education majors take a full year of coursework, with the first semester organized around problem solving, number systems, and algebraic reasoning, and the second semester covering probability, descriptive statistics, and geometry. Both courses are conducted in an activity-based mode of instruction in a well-equipped laboratory setting, thereby modeling how future teachers will teach elementary school children. An optional third semester of mathematics education coursework is expressly directed to the needs of the middle and upper elementary teacher.

WSU courses support national standards established by the National Council of Teachers Mathematics and help teachers create classrooms that will prepare their students for success.

For future secondary teachers

Courses designed to support your success in the classroom:

• Mathematics for Elementary Teachers III: designed for middle school teachers
• Intersections of Culture and Mathematics
• Mathematics for College and Secondary Teachers: a capstone course to tie college level mathematics to high school curriculum as well as to study connections between content areas within mathematics.

Middle-level math endorsement

Available to teacher candidates and new and experienced teachers who wish to add an additional endorsement in middle level mathematics to their secondary or elementary certification. More information is available through the WSU College of Education.