General Requirements for Licensure in Mathematics:

• Completion of the College requirements for graduation including the core curriculum requirements.
• Completion of the requirements for a mathematics major. Candidates for mathematics licensure are required to complete Mathematics 210: Mathematical Modeling.
• Completion of the requirements for the Teacher Education Program.

Course Requirements:

• EDU 121 (History of Educational Theory and Practice)
• EDU 242 (Educational Psychology and Teaching Exceptionalities)
• EDU 250 (Multicultural Education), or 260 (Social Diversity and Inequality in Education), or 320 (Growing up Jim Crow), or 340 (Education in African American Society)
• EDU 400 (Organization for Teaching)
• EDU 410-411 (Internship in Teaching)
• EDU 420 (Seminar in Secondary Education)

Other Requirements:

• Minimum scores on the Praxis Series or minimum scores on the SAT
• Students will need to meet the requirements for admission to the Program and admission to student teaching.
• Candidates must demonstrate their qualifications as Future-Ready Educators by providing the six required pieces of evidence as described here .  To demonstrate depth of content for Evidence #2, candidates for mathematics licensure must submit to the Department of Education a copy of their major project completed for Mathematics 210: Mathematical Modeling.

Standards for Mathematics Teachers

The following standards are mandated by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and are imbedded in the specialty area coursework.

Standard 1: Number sense, numeration, numerical operation, and algebraic thinking.

Teacher candidates possess the mathematical knowledge needed to enable students to understand numbers, ways of representing numbers, and relationships among numbers and number systems and to enable students to understand meanings of operations and how they relate to one another.  Candidates enable students to develop computational fluency and to make reasonable estimates.  At the middle and secondary grade levels, teacher candidates need the mathematical knowledge to enable students to transfer their understanding of numbers and number operations to symbolic expressions involving variables. 

• Understand and apply the mathematics of natural, integer, rational, real, and complex number systems.
• Understand and apply the mathematics of algebraic structures (e.g. groups, rings and fields) and rules for operations on expressions, equations, inequalities, vectors and matrices.
• Demonstrate skill in using algebra to model real-world applications.

Standard 2:  Spatial sense, measurement and geometry

Teacher candidates possess the mathematical knowledge needed to enable students to analyze the characteristics and properties of 2- and 3-dimensional geometric shapes; to develop mathematical arguments about geometric relationships; to understand units, processes of measure, and measurable attributes of objects; and to apply appropriate techniques, tools, and formulas to determine measurements.  They enable students to develop the visualization, spatial reasoning, and geometric modeling to solve problems.  Teacher candidates particularly at middle and secondary grade levels need the mathematical knowledge to enable students to use coordinate geometry in solving problems, to understand concepts of symmetry, and to apply transformations.

• Understand core concepts and principles of Euclidean geometry in the plane and space.
• Use axiomatic reasoning and demonstrate facility with proof.
• Understand and apply the use of coordinates in 2- and 3-dimensional geometry, vectors and transformations, including matrix representations of transformations.
• Understand and apply trigonometry from a geometric perspective and demonstrate skill in using trigonometry to solve problems.

Standard 3:   Patterns, relationships, and functions

Teacher candidates possess the mathematical knowledge needed to enable students to understand patterns, relations, and functions.  This includes the use of algebraic symbols to represent and analyze mathematical situations, the use of mathematical models to represent and understand quantitative relationships, and the analysis of “change” in various contexts.

• Understand and move flexibly among algebraic representations (e.g. tables, graphs, or formulas).
• Understand and recognize patterns in data that are modeled by important classes of functions.
• Understand and perform transformations of functions by arithmetically combining, composing, and inverting.
• Demonstrate and apply knowledge of important classes of functions (e.g., polynomial, exponential and logarithmic, rational, and periodic), including the effect of changing parameters within these classes of functions.
• Use functions to solve problems in calculus, linear algebra, geometry, statistics, and discrete mathematics.

Standard 4: Data analysis, probability and statistics

Teacher candidates possess the mathematical knowledge needed to enable students to formulate questions that can be addressed with data, along with the necessary skills to collect, organize, and display relevant data to answer those questions.  They enable students to select and use appropriate statistical methods to analyze data, to understand and apply basic concepts of probability, and to develop and evaluate inferences and predictions that are based on data.

• Engage in data investigations, including formulating questions and collecting data to answer questions.
• Understand and use standard techniques for organizing, displaying and analyzing univariate data, with the ability to detect patterns and departures from patterns.
• Understand and use standard techniques for displaying and analyzing bivariate data (e.g. scatter plots, correlation and regression).
• Understand and use theory and simulations to study probability distributions.
• Use probability models to draw conclusions from data and measure the uncertainty of those conclusions (e.g. confidence intervals and hypothesis tests).
• Understand and use basic rules and knowledge of probability such as conditional probability and independence, and develop skill in calculating probabilities associated with these concepts.
• Understand and use basic concepts of discrete mathematics (e.g. graph theory, combinatorics, iteration and recursion, modeling).

Standard 5:   Mathematical process skills

Teacher candidates possess the mathematical knowledge needed to enable students to develop skills in problem solving, making connections between various branches of mathematics, reasoning and proof, and communication and representation of mathematical ideas.

• Use algebraic reasoning effectively for problem solving and proof in number theory, geometry, discrete mathematics, and statistics.
• Judge the reasonableness of numerical computations and their results.
• Judge the meaning, utility, and reasonableness of the results of symbolic manipulations, including those carried out by technology.

Standard 6:  Mathematical tools

Teacher candidates must be versed in the appropriate use of mathematical tools and manipulatives.

• Understand appropriate use of technology (e.g. graphing calculators, computer algebra systems, dynamic drawing tools, spreadsheets, or statistical graphing software) to explore algebraic, geometric and data analysis concepts.
• Use appropriate math manipulatives (e.g., algebra tiles, computer virtual manipulatives, or computer applets) to clarify and develop mathematical concepts.