5 Get better math teachers at the elementary level. I think elementary teachers are hired based on other strengths of qualities, not their math abilities.

5 All elementary teachers should be required to take 2 math for elementary teacher courses so that they have the background knowledge.

6 The skills of the teachers at the elementary level. My son was absolutely soaring in math when as a second grader he was in the 2/3 combination class, and then had the same teacher in 3rd grade. She was a great, skilled and challenging teacher. In 4th grade, the learning stopped. The 4th grade teacher let the more advanced students languish while the other less advanced students caught up. By 5th grade, most of the students were homogeneous in their math skills. The kids who as 4th graders were in a 4/5 combination class had done 5th grede math in 4th grade. When they got into 5th grade, their accelerated math program slowed down.

To conclude, the teachers need to learn more than one teaching strategy. If a teacher is strong in math, they should teach all the kids in that grade math.

Get better math teachers in middle school:

9 The middle school math instruction is horrible. IM7 did not prepare this child for Algebra, and it has been an uphill struggle. The teaching levels and competence at high school vary widely.

11 Improve math instruction at all levels especially the early algebra (in middle school) and geometry. If these subjects aren't taught well -- it is difficult for the student to "catch up" without much at-home assistance. HELP!

9 Based on past experience in middle school -- need stronger, more enthusiastic & knowledgeable teachers teaching algebra. Had a very poor experience.

Get better substitute math teachers:

12 More depth in county substitute teachers. My daughter's teacher was out on sick leave during the last three weeks of the fall semester. The entire class missed three rather important weeks of instruction because the county was unable (or unwilling) to provide a qualified substitute. As a result, scores on the final exam were low across the board and some students' semester grades dropped a full grade. At the margin, colleges' decisions may have changed based on the experience in calculus.

Get better math teachers:

2 Get rid of the math supervisor for the county.

8 I think the county needs to assure that they are placing teachers in classrooms to teach math that are competent, with a strength in mathematics. Students need a strong background in math and especially in middle and high school, cannot afford to "lag behind" due to poor instruction

6 Good teachers, stronger teachers, teachers who are certified in the subject area of math. Unlike with some subjects, you cannot "wing it" with math!

7 Hire more math teachers with math degrees

11 Try to find the very best math teachers & keep them TEACHING! Get rid of the incompetent ones (warm bodies being their only qualification).

3 Alternatives to just teaching something with one method. All children learn in more than one way. I.e., if a basic concept is not grasped teaching one way, then steps should be taken & tailored to each child. My child is expected to move onto the next concept before the previous is grasped. This leads to frustration & worse, low self-esteem

3 Teaching to the different learning styles through all grades -- not just in elementary grades

3 Using innovative teaching styles

3 More interesting and challenging presentation of concepts

3 Need to have teachers that make math fun and keep students enthused

4 Better teacher preparation and training!

? More teachers dedicated & appropriate specialty

1 Teachers training

2 More teacher training.

1 Faculty should have expertise in the subject they teach

6 Better teachers

12 Quality of teachers

10 Better teachers!

12 Better teachers

5 Better teacher

6 Get better teachers, who communicate better with students [illegible]

10 Q11: Yes. Only because she's a naturally good math student. Teacher instruction not strong.

10 With the county's push in math, why don't we have qualified teachers? As a whole, I'm very disappointed in the teachers my daughter has had at [ ]. What are coaches teaching math?

8 Finding that special person who can TEACH math. "Knowing" math is not enough. Even the non-technical student in college is expected to be successful in college algebra. Our son was not prepared and is having great difficulty at college. Because of poor staffing, we could not get him in a class where the teacher could teach. Because the teacher was so poor, and the grades were so low, the teacher had to give points for "mickey-mouse" non-math activities. Is any supervisor watching the day-to-day performance of the staff to note these problems?

6 Q11: No. She had a lousy math teacher first semester, but now she's with a new teacher & it seems to be going well

9 Q6: Yes. If the teacher is equipped to teach adequately. Our 1st semester teacher was not.

Q11: If she'd been taught this past semester, I would have been pleased, but she lagged behind because she had subs a lot and little instruction.

4 I believe it all depends on the teacher student relationship. It makes the learning process easier for the student.

10 Teachers need to be better trained & able to answer questions. Classes where significant numbers of students don't pass, get a D or leave the class should be carefully evaluated. Including the teacher's ability to convey & explain material.

3 The teacher! My child's teacher was a late hire at [ ] (mid-Aug.) She graduated in 1992 -- never taught before fall 2000. She is rather clueless and mediocre at best.

7 More training & support for new teachers!

11 Quality of teacher training needs to be improved

5 Improved teacher skills & interest in teaching math.

4 Better teaching/more organized teaching

7 More teacher training in teaching for all types of learners

4 Q11: Not certain. Not satisfied with math teacher, but thank goodness she is not my daughter's regular teacher.

Q14: Teacher ability and information home to parents

8 Better teachers/training

12 Better trained teachers!

3 Teachers seem less skillful teaching math, esp. in the advanced math groups

2 Assuming there are not the resources to provide smaller classes for a "Math Initiative" program (which would be ideal!) teachers need better training in how to teach a class with multiple levels of math ability. Many teachers just don't know how to challenge more advanced math students who are mixed in with a diverse class. Also, I wish there was more guidance -- if not standards-- on the methods teachers should use to help kids grasp new math concepts. Don't just hand out worksheets & plod through.

3 Patient, attentive teachers who look for ways to encourage learning of math & instill confidence in the subject. Sometimes teachers need to go above & beyond basic instruction.

3 More instruction for the teacher; up until this year his instruction has been outstanding, but his teacher this year does not seem to know how to teach this high level math. I believe they could move faster with a better teacher. (It is not her fault -- the teachers need more training.)

3 Need teachers with stronger math background and know how to make math class interesting!!

8 Teaching ability

3 More highly qualified teachers

5 Math is not a priority, Perhaps we should find teachers that like to teach math!

8 I have found that a) either the teacher teaching math is not a "math" teacher so is not a good teacher & not qualified to teach math in the first place or b) the math teacher has very poor teaching skills -- they know the subject but can not clearly & simply demonstrate it to the students. this is a terrible vacuum in our children's lives personally and professionally. the only kids that I know who are good in math and are excelling in higher math are tutored or go to Sylvan's (which I can not afford!) or Kumons schools.

4 Adequate instruction although some teachers need more training

3 Teacher instruction. New less experienced teachers don't seem to be grasping children's needs soon enough -- took half the year to identify math gaps!!

K More sensitive and creative math teachers. There seems to be a lot of "burn-out." I'd like to see more teachers, especially in middle & upper schools, enjoy their profession a little more.

6 Her teacher seems unsure of herself, telling students to ask their parents to explain problems. Maybe she needs additional training. This is her first year of teaching this program.

10 Teachers need to be better trained. Those who cannot meet the needs of the students either have to be let go, or retrained. Also, shuffling students different semesters to different teachers, so as to spread the "poor" teachers around is unacceptable. Every student deserves a qualified teacher.

7 My child is fortunate to have an excellent instructor. I believe, however, there are instructors who are not teaching the curriculum adequately & grades of those students should be examined with others of that particular instructor & somehow something should be done to correct the situation of students failing when they are in advanced classes. We need to have all instructors to be strong teachers -- math is important!

1 Some better teacher training. I found a recent mistake in interpretation.

5 This year for the first time I feel the teacher does not like math, considers it onerous, and then makes it onerous for the students. A teacher that tells a student a perpendicular is a capital T and marks wrong an upside down T doesn't understand perpendicular his/herself. A teacher who marks wrong the formula for area of a circle written as A = [r-squared pi] does not understand the rule of multiplication that states AxB = BxA, therefore [pi r-squared] = [r-squared pi].

We feel it is very important that the teacher doesn't express, even in a subtle way, their dislike for a subject, particularly as students are transitioning into middle school.

We feel excessive rigidity is the problem. This teacher does not let the students present their own unique aspect. Students give correct answers but when they are not given exactly as taught, the students are marked wrong. The result of this is that the student concentrates on pleasing the teacher rather than thinking for themselves.

3 We need more qualified math teachers.

10 The experience this year has been difficult. Initially, to my knowledge, there was not a syllabus sent to parents detailing what the student would learn and when. Then, due to the unforeseen illness of the teacher, there were several substitutes that came in. According to my child, and I believe him, they were not trained to teach math and mainly sat there (babysitters). When the new teacher came in, it was the belief that this person "caught them up" for what was lacking. However, it was evident that when the mid-term was administered that my child, they were all sorely lacking the knowledge to complete this mid-term. My child stated, and I believe it, that there were questions never seen before in class instruction. Fortunately, I am well prepared, as is his father, to tutor at home. I feel for the average child whose parents cannot help, the children are in trouble. Indeed, when the review sheet for the mid-term came home, there were problems I had never seen in any of the homework assignments. My older child was able to handle college level math courses; however, I know some of his friends who were in NHS, as well as A students, who could not pass Calculus in college. Therefore, I am not sure that [ ] is doing what it needs to prepare these young people for college level math.

9 Quality of teachers and appropriate placement

5 More training opportunities for teachers.

2 More robust instruction in math & science

5 Q7: It needs to be taught and reviewed by a teacher who actually knows what the children's needs are

Q12: Very informed. Although my child tells me that the program is not what the teachers claim it to be.

Q14: Instruction -- Teach math, not testing tools. Decrease the rhetoric and increase hands on. Hire teachers who like children.

11 Better teachers

5 Q6: Yes. More or less. Instruction presentation is unimaginative.

Q7: Level of material is acceptable, but method of presentation is dull and unimaginative -- appears identical to the way I learned math 35 years ago.

Q14: Quality of instruction is mediocre at best. Teachers have limited knowledge of the subject. Method of presentation is unimaginative, fragmented and repetitive. It seems almost identical to the way math was taught to me (35 years ago!!). Only the most motivated students are excited by the subject as it is presented. This is very unfortunate!!

4 More staff training

4 More teacher training

3 Teachers need to know what they are teaching

1 In our case, a teacher experienced with 1st graders and their needs. The current teacher is disorganized, gives multi-step, confusing directions that the students don't understand. So much time is wasted with behavior problems, we feel our [illegible]

11 The quality of math teachers must be improved! The teachers are sometimes less knowledgeable than the students, and it is frustrating as a parent to always have to teach what the teachers cannot!

4 Better teachers

5 While this year my child has excellent instruction, I believe some years math is the area where teachers have the most trouble teaching. Teacher instruction needs to be uniformly high.

3 Also, I think that teachers that teach math should be required to take a course that instructs them to teach math to a particular grade. For example, if a teacher is teaching the middle 5th grade math class, he or she should take a refresher course in the MC curriculum for 5th grade.

1 How can MCPS make these improvements when many teachers have limited knowledge of the material? Maybe the teachers can be ABSENT FROM THEIR CLASSES to attend MORE WORKSHOPS! Does MCPS aim for 10% or 20% teacher attendance? When I taught school we had our training on our own time, not on our students' time.

7 Delivery of instruction

3 I would like to see each 3rd grade teacher teaching the same math topic at the same time. In my son's school one teacher might be doing symmetry, one multiplication, and one problem solving skills.

On an individual note, my son's math teacher is leaving all the "harder math skills" to the end -- i.e., multiplication and division, which has me worried.

8 No. Math is her hardest subject. But I believe the teacher has difficulty conveying the information to such a large group. She can't get the concepts across. The teacher has stayed after school for my daughter. We are looking for a math tutor to reinforce what has been learned & help with the concepts.

8 Better teaching methods.

8 Improve teaching

7 The style of classroom instruction

11 Various methods for teaching

3 Easier comprehension method

4 Q7: Teaching style needs to be different

2 Q14: Coordination among same-grade teachers

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