Ruth M. Heaton
Candidate for Director, At-Large

Position:  Teachers Development Group Chief Executive Officer, West Linn, Oregon (2017–present)

Education:  BS (elementary education), MEd (curriculum and instruction), University of Vermont; PhD (curriculum, teaching, and educational policy), Michigan State University

Previous Experience:  University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) Professor (1995–2017); Elementary School Teacher (1979–1989)

Memberships:  National Council of Teacher of Mathematics (NCTM); Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE); American Educational Research Association (AERA); AERA Special Interest Group for Research in Mathematics Education (SIG-RME); National Council of Supervisor of Mathematics; TODOS: Mathematics for All; Oregon Council of Teachers of Mathematics; National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

NCTM Activities:  Journal for Research in Mathematics Education Editorial Panel (2012–2015)

Other Activities:  AERA SIG-RME President (2016–2018), Annual Meeting Program Chair (2018); National Science Foundation Learning Network Conference for Math Science Partnerships Conference Co-Organizer (2011, 2012)

Publications:  Co-author: “Translating Professional Development for Teachers into Professional Development for Instructional Leaders,” Mathematics Teacher Educator (2017); “Connecting Teacher Professional Development and Student Mathematics Achievement: A Four-Year Study of an Elementary Mathematics Specialist Program,” Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education (2017). Author: Teaching Mathematics to the New Standards: Relearning the Dance, (Teachers College Press 2000).

Honors:  AMTE Nadine Bezuk Excellence in Service and Leadership Award (2016); UNL Gilmartin Professor of Math Education (2014–2017); University of Nebraska System Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award (2006).

Statement:  NCTM is situated to advocate relentlessly for marginalized PK–12 students’ math success and help teachers confront, with humility, the shortcomings in their own practices. NCTM should work with its journal and book authors to identify PK–12 teachers who have worked visibly on equity within their teaching practices. With these organic math leaders, NCTM can create a library of audio and video podcasts, with teachers narrating their learning to disrupt failure and gain pedagogical insight. Furthermore, NCTM can publish a second edition of the groundbreaking Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All and integrate further concerns for access, equity, and empowerment.

With its launch of Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK–12, NCTM has reached out to PK practitioners. NCTM can build a new partnership with NAEYC, similar to synergistic partnerships with AERA and AMTE.

To the NCTM Board I bring a wealth of experience as a practitioner, scholar, and leader working collaboratively with teachers, mathematicians, researchers, and stakeholders in support of PK–12 teachers to ensure that the most vulnerable learners succeed.