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  • Mark W. Ellis

    Mark W. Ellis, Candidate for President-Elect

    Position: Professor (secondary education), California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) (2014–).

    Education: B.A. (sociology, mathematics minor), University of California, Santa Cruz; M.A. (secondary education—mathematics), Stanford University; Ph.D. (education), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC Chapel Hill).

    Previous Experience: Associate professor (2009–14) and assistant professor (2005–09), CSUF; instructor and research assistant (2000–05), UNC Chapel Hill; mathematics teacher: Pescadero (California) Elementary School (1997–2000) and San Benito (California) High School (1992–94, 1995–96).

    Memberships: NCTM, American Educational Research Association, Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE), California Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators, California Mathematics Council (CMC), Orange County Mathematics Council, TODOS: Mathematics for ALL.

    Activities in NCTM: Member: Educational Materials Committee (2013–14); Executive Committee (2012–14); Board of Directors (2011–14); Program Committee, Annual Meeting, San Diego (2008–10); liaison, American Statistical Association/NCTM Committee (2011–14); chair, Media Cluster Editorial Panel (2012–14); co–department editor, Problem Solvers,Teaching Children Mathematics (2006–09); coeditor, Mathematics for Every Student: Responding to Diversity, Grades 6–8 (2006–08); presenter, multiple annual meetings (2004–); reviewer, numerous publications (2005–). 

    Other Activities: CSUF: chair, Secondary Education (2009–12), and president, Researchers and Critical Educators (2007–09); AMTE: local arrangements chair, AMTE conferences (2009–10, 2010–11, 2013–14); CMC: chair, Student Hosts, CMC South Conference (2006–11); director or co-director, multiple grant-funded projects supporting the work of teachers of mathematics in high-need communities (2007–).

    Publications: Author: “Moving from Deficiencies to Possibilities: Some Thoughts on Differentiation in the Mathematics Classroom,” in Mathematics for Every Student: Responding to Diversity (NCTM 2008); “Leaving No Child Behind Yet Allowing None Too Far Ahead,”Teachers College Record (2008); “Constructing a Personal Understanding of Mathematics: Making the Pieces Fit,” Mathematics Teacher (MT) (2007); coauthor: “Multidimensional Teaching,” Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School (2013); “A Conceptual Approach to Absolute Value Equations and Inequalities,” MT (2011). Numerous other publications.

    Honors: Google Faculty Fellow (2011–12); National Board Certified Teacher (1999; renewed 2009).

    Statement: I entered mathematics teaching with a sense of excitement, possibility, and responsibility grounded in the belief that all students deserve access to classrooms that support their growth as learners of mathematics and as individuals, and this still drives me twenty-three years later. NCTM has always been my professional home, where I turn to strengthen and stretch my practice. As teachers today adapt to new standards, new practices, and new systems of assessment, NCTM still has much to offer and must strengthen its position of leadership in supporting the teaching of mathematics by (a) increasing member engagement through greater website interactivity and social media presence, (b) promoting digital networks where teachers share strategies, experiences, and encouragement, (c) broadening access to high-quality professional resources, and (d) advocating for federal, state, and provincial policies that reflect respect for teachers’ work and provide resources for teachers’ professional growth.

    Public discussions about mathematics teaching and learning are common nowadays. NCTM must work together with members and Affiliates to transform the public mindset about school mathematics from something intelligible to only a privileged few to something everyone can understand and even enjoy. As a means to address longstanding inequities in students’ access to and success with mathematics, these efforts must include moving away from language that inscribes students with deficits and toward language that recognizes their possibilities for growth.

    One strategy that I will encourage is for NCTM to identify and amplify the work of schools and districts that have demonstrated a commitment to and success with improving learning outcomes for all students by implementing policies and practices aligned with NCTM's Principles and Standards for School Mathematics and Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All. Such efforts will further the goal of establishing a new normal for mathematics education, where student success in making sense of mathematics is expected, the potential of all students is nourished, and student achievement cannot be predicted by background characteristics.

    As NCTM president, among the initiatives I will pursue are (1) publicizing the message that mathematics makes sense when students are given opportunities to engage in guided inquiry, articulate and refine their thinking and reasoning, and take ownership of mathematical knowledge and understandings, and (2) promoting actions that alter unproductive policies and practices of curriculum and assessment that limit students’ access and opportunities to learn mathematics. To this work I will bring excitement about the opportunity to serve, a powerful vision for what is possible in mathematics classrooms, and a deep sense of responsibility for learning from members and Affiliates how NCTM can better support their work and engage them in its endeavors.