Baylor School of Education Mathematics Education faculty members are taking on significant leadership positions in the Texas Council of Teachers of Mathematics (TCTM), with the election of Dr. Sandi Cooper as the organization’s next president and the relocation of the journal to Baylor, where two faculty members will be editors.

Cooper, professor and coordinator of the Mathematics Education Program at Baylor, currently serves as TCTM president-elect, after being chosen through a statewide election of the membership of the professional organization. She will take office as president in January 2017.

Cooper has served on the TCTM board for two terms as a Central Regional director and previously served as president the local affiliate, Central Texas Council of Teachers of Mathematics (CTCTM), from 2012-14. She was recently named the 2016 Centennial Professor at Baylor.

“When I was asked to run for president, I felt that I could provide effective leadership because of my experience on the board,” Cooper said. “As president, I hope to lead the board in the development of new initiatives that would provide beneficial resources to all mathematics teachers in the state. I see this as an opportunity to not only provide support to Texas mathematics teachers, but to encourage the next generation of mathematics education leaders to keep moving the profession forward to make a difference for all mathematics teachers.”

Cooper said TCTM offers grants to teachers to improve mathematics teaching and learning, and TCTM supports the next generation of teachers by offering scholarships for preservice math teachers.

The leadership for TCTM’s journal has also moved to Baylor. Dr. Trena Wilkerson, professor and graduate director in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction, is editor of the TCTM journal, Texas Mathematics Teacher, and clinical assistant professor Dr. Rachelle Rogers is associate editor. The journal itself has moved its home to the Baylor School of Education.

“We are excited to be able to host the journal here in the School of Education. It has been with the organization for many years and we are excited to think about the changes that could be possible with bringing it somewhere new,” Cooper said.

Rogers, the associate editor of the journal, said that TCTM and the journal are important to parents, teachers and pre-service teachers because of the support and resources they bring.

“Teachers are so busy, meeting all the requirements of high-stakes testing and helping individual students, that there should be a central location to make it easier for them to find rich resources and to know the current conversations,” Rogers said. “The journal gives them a go-to spot that they know is of quality. That is where we want our expertise to come in; the journal is a dependable, reliable, rich resource for all our constituents.”

Wilkerson said the benefits of having the journal at Baylor extend to Baylor students. “It is not only a great opportunity for us to learn and to contribute to math teacher education, but it is also a great opportunity for our students here — particularly our graduate students who are moving into math education — because they will have the experience of working with the journal,” Wilkerson said. “We are looking at different ways to expand the journal, different ways of offering the journal, and just new ways where we can support teachers in the field.”

Wilkerson, who is an elected member of the board of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) board, said she has been involved in the organization since she started teaching high school in 1976.

“I felt that it was important to have a group of people in my profession that I could work with and share resources with who were like-minded in the sense of preparing to teach mathematics in elementary, middle school or high school,” Wilkerson said. “And I also felt that it was important to be involved at the state and local levels, so I have been involved at all three levels as a member and with various officer positions.”

Wilkerson said, “I think is important [for teachers] to be part of a community that supports mathematics and mathematics education, where you can collaborate and learn and support one another. With TCTM, the local affiliate, and NCTM, one of our goals is to identify exemplary resources for teachers to use in the classroom. These are resources that have been vetted and are very powerful for learning and addressing math literacy.”

Cooper agreed that the organizations provide invaluable support to mathematics educators. “Being a part of TCTM, as well as our local affiliate, CTCTM, and our national organization, NCTM, is important as a professional in mathematics education,” Cooper said. “I have been a member of NCTM since 1985, and my involvement in the organization over the years has helped to shape me as a professional in this field.”

— By Taliyah Clark

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