Alabama has completed a major milestone under its 2022 Numeracy Act: all 44 math course sequences submitted by the state's educator preparation programs have been reviewed and approved by the Alabama Numeracy Act Course Review Committee, according to a report from A+ Alabama. The Alabama State Board of Education was scheduled to vote to acknowledge the approval at its October 2026 meeting.
The approvals mark the culmination of a multiyear overhaul of how Alabama trains elementary and early childhood math teachers. Before the Numeracy Act, prospective teachers were required to take four math-content courses from a math department plus one math methods course. The new model requires four courses that integrate elementary math content with pedagogy, aligned to the Alabama Math Course of Study. State administrative code now mandates that each initial certification program in early childhood education, early childhood special education, elementary education, and collaborative special education K-6 contain at least 12 credit hours in numeracy, including learning specific to dyscalculia.
Integrated courses replace split preparation
The ALSDE Office of Mathematics Improvement has published guidelines recommending a four-course sequence totaling 12 semester hours: Operations with Numbers (K-2 content), Operations with Numbers (3-5 content), Operations and Algebraic Thinking (K-5), and Geometry, Measurement, and Data Analysis (K-5). Each course blends content with instruction in error analysis, student misconceptions, assessments, dyscalculia, and differentiated learning.
In March 2025, the State Board of Education eliminated the so-called "4x12" requirements, which had mandated that teacher candidates complete 12 credit hours in each of four subject areas including mathematics. The change gave educator preparation programs flexibility to incorporate the new numeracy coursework without raising total degree credit hours.
New math assessment for teacher candidates
The Alabama State Department of Education selected the Educational Testing Service to develop a new Foundations of Mathematics Assessment. The exam will consist of up to 50 multiple-choice questions taken in a two-to-three-hour period, covering K-5 content and pedagogy in number and operations, algebraic reasoning, geometry, and measurement. Questions will follow the Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching Released Items format.
The assessment will become consequential for teacher candidates graduating in 2029 and later. Candidates graduating in 2027 and 2028 will take pilot versions, while the Praxis Multiple Subjects: Mathematics will remain the state board-approved assessment during the transition.
Current Praxis assessments test only mathematical content knowledge and do not evaluate pedagogy. In 2024, 1,067 individuals earned passing scores on required Praxis math subtests in Alabama, with 75 percent passing on their first attempt.
How Alabama compares with other states
Following Alabama's 2022 Numeracy Act, multiple states have passed math-reform legislation. As of July 2026, 22 states have passed laws or implemented new policies related to math education since 2022, according to Education Week. Alabama's legislation addresses teacher certification and preparation changes, an area few states have addressed. No state math law identified includes a grade-retention element, which is common in reading laws.
Louisiana's 2023 law requires a 50-hour math course for all fourth- through eighth-grade teachers, a prescriptive mandate focused on in-service educators rather than preservice preparation, according to Edmentum. Mississippi's 2024 Mississippi Math Act establishes three-times-yearly K-5 screening and statewide coaching for grades two through six but does not include a comparable teacher-prep course-sequence overhaul. Texas passed a 2025 law mandating professional development for K-3 teachers through new Mathematics Academies piloting in 2026-27, again focusing on in-service training, according to the Texas Education Agency.
New Mexico's SB 29, which raises math coursework requirements for teacher licensure and mandates district math professional-learning plans, is one of the few state laws besides Alabama's to directly alter preservice math coursework requirements for certification, according to the New Mexico Legislature.
Research base for the course model
Alabama's 12-credit-hour requirement and course structure are directly informed by a 2012 recommendation from the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences, which called for 12 semester hours blending content and pedagogy, with six hours for numbers and operations treated algebraically and six hours for measurement, data, geometry, and additional algebraic ideas.
Research cited by Alabama's Postsecondary Mathematics Task Force found that advanced mathematics coursework such as pre-calculus, calculus, and statistics does not adequately prepare candidates to teach foundational K-5 math content or address numeracy-related learning differences. The task force concluded that high-level math courses are not an appropriate substitute for the study of mathematics for elementary teachers and should be considered electives.
Ball and Bass (2000), cited in Alabama's guidelines, argued that the traditional split between content courses taught by math departments and pedagogy courses taught by education departments leaves teachers to integrate the two on their own. The Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (2012) recommends courses that blend content and methods, while the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (2017) calls for sustained learning experiences that develop deep content knowledge connected to pedagogical content knowledge, including how elementary students reason about mathematics.
Education Week's 2026 analysis notes that while some states specifically required changes aligned with "evidence-based" math practices, there is less consensus about what evidence-based math instruction looks like compared with reading, and fewer states have addressed teacher certification or preparation changes.