Mark Hoover
Connect
Location
Room 2614
Mailbox 1600
610 E. University Ave.
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1259
Mark Hoover is an education researcher and mathematics teacher educator. He acknowledges that American society is rooted in a colonial history that confiscated indigenous people’s lands, enslaved Africans, and patronized women. In response, he conceptualizes public school mathematics teaching that disrupts default patterns of injustice and prepares students for civic participation.
Instead of documenting injustice, he interrogates his white privilege and investigates teaching, with an understanding that teaching, to be educational, must be just. Instead of developing a curriculum, a particular method of teaching, or an assessment to drive improvement, he investigates the work entailed in teaching, its mathematical demands, and its professionalization (while sensitive to how standards and accountability can oppress). He draws inspiration from civil rights activist Robert Moses and teacher and education colleague Deborah Ball. Although his background is in mathematics, his interests extend to teaching and teacher education across subject areas, including tasks for teaching and assessing the subject-matter work of teaching, conceptual-analytic methods for studying teaching and its subject-matter demands, and productive engagement of mathematicians in mathematics education. Although his past research has only indirectly connected to social justice, current research explores explicit connections.
Hoover teaches courses in the following program(s):
Teacher Education
Educational Studies
Selected Publications
"Equitable teaching and its content knowledge demands [Manuscript submitted for publication]."
Goffney, I. M., & Hoover, M. (2026). Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education.
"Conceptions of teaching and justice as pivotal to mathematics teacher educators’ thinking about mathematical knowledge for teaching."
Hoover, M., Dahlgren, M., Mosvold, R., & Goffney, I. (2023). Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 1–27.
"Practice-based research on the teaching of mathematics: Progress and imperatives for the future."
Hoover, M., & Ball, D. L. (2021). Nordisk Matematikkdidaktikk: Nordic Studies in Mathematics Education, 26(3–4) 171–190.
"Considerations for STEM education from PreK through grade 3."
Sarama, J., Clements, D., Nielsen, N., Blanton, M., Romance, N., Hoover, M., Staudt, C., Baroody, A., McWayne, C., & McCulloch, C., (2018). Waltham, MA: Education Development Center, Inc. Retrieved from http://cadrek12.org/resources/considerations- stem-education-prek-through-grade-3.
"Making progress on mathematical knowledge for teaching."
Hoover, M., Mosvold, R., Ball, D. L., & Lai, Y. (2016). The Mathematics Enthusiast, 13 (1&2), 3-34.
"Common tasks of teaching as a resource for measuring professional content knowledge internationally."
Hoover, M., Mosvold, R., & Fauskanger, J. (2014). Nordic Studies in Mathematics Education, 19 (3-4), 7-20.
"Assessing math to know math"
Hoover, M. (2014). Berkeley, CA: Mathematical Sciences Research Institute.
"Making progress in mathematics education: Lessons learned—past, present, and future."
Thames, M. H., & Ball, D. L. (2013). In K. Leatham (Ed.), Vital directions for mathematics education research (pp. 15-44). New York: Springer.
"Building coherence in research on mathematics teacher identity, knowledge and beliefs by developing practice-based approaches. "
Thames, M. H., & van Zoest, L. (2013). ZDM—The International Journal on Mathematics Education, 43(3), 583-594.
"Measuring the mathematical quality of instruction."
Learning Mathematics for Teaching Project. (2011). Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 14(1), 25-47.
"What mathematical knowledge does teaching require? Knowing mathematics in and for teaching. "
Thames, M. H., & Ball, D. L. (2010). Teaching Children Mathematics, 17(4), 220-225.
“Content knowledge for teaching: What makes it special?”
Ball, D. L., Thames, M. H., & Phelps, G. (2008). Journal of Teacher Education, 59(5), 389-407.
“Using math to teach math: Mathematicians and educators investigate the mathematics needed for teaching.”
Thames, M. H. (2006). Berkeley, CA: Mathematical Sciences Research Institute.
“Review of Learning discourse: Discursive approaches to research in mathematics education”
Thames, M. H. & Ball, D. L. (2005). Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 6(4), 421-433.
“In attention to equity in teaching elementary school mathematics”
Ball, D., Hoover, M., Lewis, J., Bass, H., & Wall, E. (2004). Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.