ACCLAIM would facilitate delivery of doctoral, specialists, and masters degrees in mathematics education and masters degrees in mathematics for classroom teachers, community college mathematics faculty, private college mathematics and teacher education faculty, adjunct faculty at all post-secondary institutions, and persons interested in a second career in teaching mathematics. The Center would establish two advanced degree cohorts, one composed of doctoral and specialist students and one composed of masters students, every two years. These cohorts would begin every two years, with the first cohorts entered in the Appalachian area. Subsequent cohorts would add students from other rural regions of the four states and eventually from other rural areas across the country.
Doctoral and specialist advanced programs in mathematics education would include core courses common to both degrees. The core would include a total of 24 semester hours in (a) learning, teaching, and assessing mathematics; (b) mathematics; and (c) rural education. These specialized courses would include existing courses, modified existing courses, and new courses developed specifically through ACCLAIM for students in the programs. Upon completing the core courses, doctoral students would complete at least 18 additional hours of coursework, with at least nine of the hours devoted to quantitative and qualitative research methodology. Specialist students would complete six additional hours and a degree project that might include action research, curriculum development, or integration of technology. Additional courses might include existing courses in technology, leadership, mathematics, rural education and sociology depending on studentsí career goals and interests.
The ACCLAIM masters program in mathematics education would include courses that already exist at the four institutions and would retain the residential summer component that is found in the doctoral and specialist programs. The masters degree in mathematics would be a traditional program with electives from mathematics education and rural education available to students.