| In order to change the direction of mathematics education, the training of elementary teachers in the United States needs to be of equal or higher quality than top preforming countries. However, pre-service elementary teachers in the United States fall behind their peers in other countries in mathematical content knowledge and mathematical pedagogical knowledge. The problem is that data to predict the future performance of pre-service teachers once they are practicing professionals are not available, and teacher educators do not have the tools to screen out individuals who will be ineffective in the classroom. The nature of this study was to analyze pre-graduation data of pre-service teachers to examine the relationship between these data and the mathematics performance of the students being taught by these same pre-service teachers once they were practicing professionals. Specifically, the purpose of this quantitative study was to examine teachers who were graduates of a teacher preparation program in Southwest Florida post-secondary institution. A final sample of 44 first, second, or third year elementary teachers of grades three and higher during the 2012-2013, 2013-2014, and 2014-2015 school years was utilized in the study. The results indicated there was no statistically significant relationship between the Value Added Measures of Mathematics scores (VAMM) of the sample and the Florida Teacher Certification Exam (FTCE) General Knowledge Mathematics Section score, r2 = .025, F(1,42) =1.064, p = .308; the mean score for the mathematics standards on the FTCE Elementary Subject Area Exam, r2= .009, F(1, 42) = 0.395, p = .533; Grade Point Average (GPA) in mathematics content courses, r2 = .007, F(1,42) = 0.314, p = .578; GPA in mathematics pedagogical courses, r 2 = .003, F(1,42) = 0.122, p = .729; or internship evaluation scores, r2 = .002, F(1,42) = 0.071, p = .791. The results also indicated there was no statistically significant relationship between the VAMM of the sample and any combination of the independent variables. The practical significance of the study was that elementary education teacher preparation programs need to examine their curriculum and assessment instruments to ensure effective measurement of the progress of pre-service teachers. Further research investigating the ability of licensure exams to measure readiness of future teachers as well as investigation on the ability of VAMM scores to quantify one's ability to teach mathematics would be beneficial. |
