Partly this noninterest in mathematical expertise reflects an attitude widespread among educators [Hi] that “facts”, and
indeed all subject matter, are secondary in importance to a generalized, subject-independent teaching skill and the development of “higherorder thinking”. Concerning mathematics in particular, the study [Be] is often cited as evidence for
the irrelevance of subject matter knowledge. For this study, college mathematics training, as measured
by courses taken, was used as a proxy for a teacher’s mathematical knowledge. The correlation
of this with student achievement was found to be slightly negative. A similar but less specific
method was used in the recent huge Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) of
comparative mathematics achievement in fortyodd countries. For TIMSS, U.S. students demonstrated
adequate (in fourth grade) to poor (in twelfth grade) mathematics achievement
[DoEd1–3]. To analyze whether teacher knowledge might help explain TIMSS outcomes, data on
teacher training was gathered. In terms of college study, U.S. teachers appear to be comparable to
their counterparts in other countries.