Research has documented that doctoral preparation in mathematics education varies greatly across institutions of higher education (McIntosh and Crosswhite [13], Reys and Kilpatrick [18], Reys and Dossey [15]). This study reports data gathered from over 500 doctoral graduates in mathematics education from 23 institutions in the USA from 1997 to 2014 as they self-assessed their research preparation during their doctoral program. At least 80% of the doctoral graduates rated their preparation as adequate or very well addressed for qualitative methods and quantitative methods. The opportunities for research internships as a regular part of their doctoral program varied greatly. For example, specifically, 50% of doctoral students at one institution reported extensive work on research projects in K-12 schools while at another institution only 10% reported extensive work on research projects in K-12 schools. Almost 70% of the doctoral students reporting submitted manuscripts for publication during their doctoral program and most of them resulted in at least one scholarly article, with about 10% of the doctoral students authoring or co-authoring 5 or more published articles prior to graduation. While most new hires as faculty members in institutions of higher education are expected to write proposals for funding, this study found that a majority of the doctoral graduates reported their experience in proposal writing was either not addressed or at best barely addressed. We hope this work begins an international conversation about the preparation of mathematics education researchers.

research preparation, mathematics education, methodology, statistics, internships, scholarship.