A friend with a B.S. in Mathematics and an M.S. in Statistics would like to teach math/statistics at a US university which is not research oriented as a full-time faculty member. To do so, it seems like it might be necessary to have a PhD. However, my friend is not interested in statistics research, so she's thinking instead about trying for a PhD in Math Education. Is this viable? Are there alternative routes?
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1A PhD in Math Education will most likely be research into how to teach math (and maybe, how to teach it to 5-year-olds, not to university students!). That is not at all the same thing as training to be a math teacher.– alephzeroCommented Feb 27, 2017 at 4:14
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1@alephzero: Research into mathematical teaching, learning, cognition....at all levels, yes. I was trying to get at this in my answer.– Pete L. ClarkCommented Feb 27, 2017 at 6:07
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4 Answers
A friend with a B.S. in Mathematics and an M.S. in Statistics would like to teach math/statistics at a US university which is not research oriented as a full-time faculty member.
I have some questions. First, do you mean a specific university, or will any university do? Second, do you really mean "university," or could it be a "four-year college" or a community college? Third, by full-time do you really just mean full-time, or do you mean tenure-track?
A few data points:
In my department (mathematics, UGA) we have faculty with master's degrees who are teaching full-time, but they are not tenure-track. Some of these positions are "permanent" by any reasonable standard -- e.g. some of these faculty have been there for multiple decades. A friend of mine just got hired into one of these positions, so I know a bit about them and I don't think they're going away anytime soon. In fact my friend has a bachelor's in math and a master's in statistics.
At my PhD program's Visitation Day on Friday, I met with a woman who is a faculty member in the math department at a four-year college relatively nearby. She has a master's degree and has been teaching there for about five years.
In some regions of the country (e.g. New York City) even community colleges tend to hire people with PhDs. But there is a lot of variation. You can read e.g. here for more details. My understanding is that even in the community college scene having a doctorate makes a difference in your job titles and responsibilities.
However, my friend is not interested in statistics research, so she's thinking instead about trying for a PhD in Math Education.
The "so" confused me. This makes as much sense to me as saying "physics" or "computer science" in place of "math education." In other words, these are all academic fields that are closely connected to mathematics but distinct from it. So far as I know (and I do know about the math ed PhD program at my university, although I also know it's one of the best in the US and therefore is probably not representative of all departments) being a math ed PhD student is much like being any other PhD student: you are being trained in research and implicitly/explicitly groomed for an academic research career (though many graduates will end up elsewhere).
So getting a PHD in math ed is an excellent idea if your friend is deeply interested in math ed research. Well, and also if she can find funding: in my experience, one of the main differences between math and math ed PhD programs is that the former are much better funded than the latter. But since you didn't mention any prior training in that area, I'm a little concerned that you are viewing this as some kind of degree for people who are interested in teaching rather than research. That might be true for certain people and/or certain programs, but it's not true for all.
The idea of someone joining a PhD program in field X because they don't like field Y makes me very nervous. I would certainly encourage your friend to learn as much as she can about post-secondary academic jobs available to people with master's. A combination of math and statistics sounds rather valuable to me, and it may well be that your friend is employable now.
answered Feb 27, 2017 at 1:43
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1Many people with math ed doctorates end up in positions at teaching-oriented institutions where the job is to implement new pedagogy and to supervise and train other instructors. If you actually want to teach at a community college, then a doctorate in math ed is arguably a more useful (attractive to employers) credential than a PhD in mathematics. Commented Feb 27, 2017 at 2:36
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1@Brian: I agree with your comment. A lot of straight up math PhDs end up at teaching-oriented positions as well, and obviously all other things being equal, you are going to be better prepared for math-related teaching experiences if the topic of your PhD research concerned math education than straight up math. My point is that a PhD program in X is an intense, protracted immersion in the research of X. Just because you like teaching math does not mean that you are interested in math ed research. (I am a counterexample!) Commented Feb 27, 2017 at 2:45
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Thanks for the reply, @PeteL.Clark! (As an aside, I really enjoyed your write up of real induction.) In response to your initial question: We're not looking for any particular school--any would work. It needn't be a university itself (despite the title I wrote!), a college or community college would work just as well. The position doesn't necessarily have to be tenure track, and we were thinking that it may not even be possible to get a tenure track position. Commented Feb 27, 2017 at 15:49
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In our experience, it seems like colleges/universities are not often willing to hire full time instructors without a PhD, and faculty members at community colleges either have a PhD or somehow have other experience. This makes us feel like we need to find a route of least resistance into a teaching position. Of course, a PhD offers a lot more than just the 'qualification' to teach at most colleges/universities, but the position that my friend has in mind is one that exclusively teaches. Commented Feb 27, 2017 at 15:50
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Concerning your comments on getting a PhD in field Y instead of field X. It doesn't seem to us (and we understand that we may be mistaken!) that math education is as removed from math as computer science given that the end goal is teaching math. Although, it certainly may be in terms of research. Commented Feb 27, 2017 at 15:50
I have such a teaching position for statistics in the sociology department in Germany rather than the US. The route I, and others I know in similar positions, followed is to get a PhD in a substantive field we care about (in my case sociology), but give it a methodological/statistical focus.
So with this logic the PhD in Math Education would be a viable option if (s)he is interested in research on teaching mathematics and wants to give the statistics classes at departments in the field of education/pedagogy. If (s)he'd rather teach statistics at say a political science department, I would recommend getting a PhD in political science and give it a statistical focus.
answered Feb 27, 2017 at 9:02
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That's an interesting route that we hadn't at all considered. Thank you! Commented Feb 27, 2017 at 15:50
As others have also said, the field of mathematics education is very different from either mathematics or statistics. This should be clear after glancing at some research papers in a few of the standard math education journals, such as The Journal of Mathematical Behavior and Journal for Research in Mathematics Education.
On the other hand, the job market is quite a bit better for candidates in mathematics education than for candidates in mathematics, at least this was the case about 15 years ago:
More Jobs Than Job Seekers in Mathematics Education by Gabriela Montell, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 19 February 2002. [Freely available text copy here.]
If your friend is mostly interested in teaching mathematics at the college level, and not in researching the teaching/learning of mathematics, she may want to consider a Ph.D. program in mathematics designed for those mainly interested in teaching college level mathematics, such as the following:
Ph.D. in Mathematics with a Concentration in College Teaching at Central Michigan University (Mt. Pleasant, Michigan)
Ph.D. in Mathematics with Teaching Emphasis Requirements at Washington State University (Pullman, Washington)
There are probably other similar programs, but I didn't find any in the amount time I spent searching. I recommend asking about such programs in the Mathematics Educators StackExchange. Make sure that when you ask the question, and also when you talk to your friend, that what is desired is a program designed for those who want to teach mathematics, and not for someone who is interested in research about the teaching/learning of mathematics.
answered Feb 27, 2017 at 17:49
Commonly universities are able to hire some "instructors" or adjunct faculty type positions. Many times such positions are open even to people with only an MS in stats or math.
These positions are good options for both parties: The university gets a "cheap" teaching option for lower division courses, and the teacher can get a job with only a master's degree.
A PhD in math education is another option. Depending on the school, math ed is a program focused on teaching in a secondary school setting ( Jr high, middle school, high school). These programs require much less graduate level math. Many times undergraduate math topics would be the highest type of math they cover. The math ed professors at my university probably would be unable to teach even a senior level math class on a topic like abstract algebra or complex analysis. Their research focuses on topics like using computers in a pre-algebra class, or the benefits of group projects in learning high school geometry.
One program I would look for is a PhD in collegiate math teaching. This type of program teaches students graduate level math, but with an emphasis in teaching.
answered Feb 26, 2017 at 21:59
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I should have mentioned in my question that we were looking for full-time positions. Adjuncting is nice, but the pay is quite small. Your last paragraph is really interesting. I've never heard of a PhD in collegiate math teaching. Could you provide some links to such programs? Commented Feb 27, 2017 at 0:43
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2My experience with the math education field is certainly limited, but I'm not sure you're describing it accurately. You write: "Depending on the school, math ed is a program focused on teaching in a secondary school setting ( Jr high, middle school, high school)." I wonder what you mean by that. The math ed PhD programs that I know focus on...research in math education. So secondary math education is certainly a research topic, but I don't know of any PhD program in any subject whose goal is to produce secondary teachers. Commented Feb 27, 2017 at 1:17
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@PeteL.Clark I've taught at two schools where "Math Ed" focused on secondary education almost exclusively. Sometimes they also researched things like introductory freshman calculus at the collegiate level, but they certainly did not research mathematics much above that. I am not indicating that the focus of a math ed PhD is becoming a secondary teacher yourself, but rather on how to produce such teachers. I know of several programs that primarily research just such a topic. Commented Feb 27, 2017 at 2:08
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1@Vladhagen: I'm not confused as to why you brought up Math Ed -- indeed, the OP asked about it. I'm confused by the way you describe it, (e.g. "There is nothing wrong with math ed." Right -- who said there was?) I just can't extract the intended moral from the long paragraph in your answer. But let me move on: "One program I would look for is a PhD in collegiate math teaching." That sounds very interesting. I am not specifically aware of any such programs in the US. Could you include some links in your answer? Commented Feb 27, 2017 at 2:58
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1@Pete L. Clark: A couple of examples are Ph.D. in Mathematics with a Concentration in College Teaching at Central Michigan University and The Ph.D. with Teaching Emphasis Requirements at Washington State University. There are surely other examples, but I only tried one google search and I only looked at the top few hits on the first page hits for that search. Commented Feb 27, 2017 at 15:32