Mathematics Department

Single Subject Program Overview

The Single Subject Program is designed for those Math majors and/or minors who are interested in teaching Math in a high school or junior high school. To teach in a public school in California, certain requirements must be met. The Single Subject Program at CLU has been approved by the State of California: persons completing the program are eligible to pursue a Single Subject Teaching Credential upon their graduation from CLU.

The Single Subject Teaching Credential in mathematics authorizes a person to teach mathematics classes in California public schools. To apply for this credential, a person must demonstrate subject matter competency in one of two ways:

  1. by completing a subject matter preparation program such as CLU's, or
  2. by earning on passing score on a multipart subject matter examination (CSET) administered by the state.

State documents about standards for mathematics in the public schools include:



Requirements

The requirements for completion of CLU's Single Subject Program in Mathematics include course work, field experience, interviews, and the creation of a portfolio documenting the student's competency to teach Mathematics at a California public school.

Course Work

Specific courses have been selected and/ or created to meet the needs of our future teachers. See Form A, "Requirements for Subject Matter Preparation Program". Flexibility has been built into the program to the extent possible -- note that there are several places where a student has choices. The Capstone option is in place to give students flexibility in the future, but has not yet been incorporated.

Field Experience

The program requires a minimum of thirty hours of field experience. Options:

  • take Education 362, Career Decisions in Education (requires a thirty-hour internship in a mathematics classroom),
  • take Cooperative Education 492 (involves a minimum of sixty hours interacting in a mathematics classroom and working on a specific project, tutoring in CLU's Math Lab, or independent tutoring overseen by a faculty member),
  • tutor in CLU's Math Lab without enrolling in Cooperative Education 492, or
  • tutor independently (e.g. for Upward Bound), with regular reports to a faculty member.

Interviews

Each student will participate in a summative and formative review of his/ her work in the program at the end of every academic year. This review will be conducted with the student's advisor. Additionally, each student is required to present an oral defense of his/ her portfolio before a departmental review committee, during the last month of a student's course work in the subject matter preparation program in mathematics.

Portfolio

The portfolio is designed to document a student's progress towards achieving subject matter competency in mathematics. It should be updated at the end of each semester. Samples of course work that demonstrate enhanced skills should be included, as well as reflective summaries of learning acquired through course work, field experience, and other relevant activities. Specific forms that may be included are detailed below with links to the forms themselves.

  1. Subject Matter Preparation Checklist (Forms A and B) -- to be maintained by the student and the advisor to document progress and plan for program completion.
  2. Development Plan (Form C) -- may be initiated by the student or the advisor. Students are encouraged to write a Development Plan when they wish to develop strengths or competencies going beyond the program requirements. For instance, a student may wish to develop expertise in the use of a particular mathematical software package, learn a language other than English, cultivate coaching skills, conduct independent research, or explore in more depth a topic only introduced in a class or through independent reading.
  3. Area of Strength (Form D) -- may be initiated by the student, to document either the completion of a Development Plan or the acquisition of a strength or competency beyond the program requirements.
  4. Oral Portfolio Defense (Form E) -- completed by departmental faculty following the student's Oral Defense of his/her portfolio, then included in the student's portfolio.
  5. Progress Toward Competency (Form F) -- to be filled out by the student's advisor, in consultation with the student, and placed in the portfolio at the end of every academic year.
  6. Subject Matter Competency, Final Review Form (Form G) -- completed by departmental faculty, following the student's Oral Defense and discussion between the committee members, then included in the student's portfolio. This form also accompanies departmental recommendations for a student applying to credential programs and for a teaching position.
  7. Required Essays (Form H)--Multiculturalism and Ethnicty in Mathemetics along with (Form I)--Gender Issues


Important Deadlines

It is important that you declare your intention to earn a Single Subject waiver in Mathematics as early as possible. There are many classes and extra options that need to be completed: your advisor will help you stay on track to complete the waiver by your graduation. The following deadlines are the last possible date to complete the various components of the Single Subject program. Unless otherwise specified, any paperwork or documents should be turned into your advisor.

Declaration of Intent

If you wish to complete the Single Subject Program, then you must notify the Program Coordinator (Dr. Fogel) and your advisor via email by the above date.

Portfolio

Your portfolio should be complete on the submission date. However, to allow for the addition of materials from the current semester, you may indicate (in the portfolio) up to two documents that will be submitted as addendums.

Addendums

If, when you submitted your portfolio, you identified any items relevant to your current classes that you would be submitting later, then you may submit them no later than one week before the defense of the portfolio. You must submit four copies of these items to your advisor.