ABSTRACT
When teachers are students, they attain mathematical competence. During teacher education programs, their mathematical competence starts to be connected to a primary concern about teaching and learning school mathematics. Teachers who do not acquire mathematical competence during schooling are unlikely to have another opportunity to acquire it. The National Center for Research on Teacher Education study of teacher education programs indicates that most United States teacher preparation programs focus on how to teach mathematics rather than on the mathematics itself. Reflecting on Chinese mathematics education one may notice that the upward spiral is not there by itself but is cultivated and supported by the solid substance of school mathematics in China. In China, textbooks are considered to be not only for students, but also for teachers’ learning of the mathematics they are teaching. Refocusing teacher preparation, however, creates another important task for educational research—rebuilding a solid and substantial school mathematics for teachers and students to learn.
