Melissa Boston

Dr. Melissa Boston is Associate Dean for Teacher Education and Professor of Mathematics Education at Duquesne University. Dr. Boston teaches mathematics methods courses for elementary, middle school, and high school teachers, and she has taught similar courses at Slippery Rock University and the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to this, Dr. Boston taught middle school and high school mathematics. Dr. Boston provides professional development and conducts research nationally. She has obtained and directed grants for professional development projects from the Heinz Foundation, National Science Foundation, and Spencer Foundation, and she has served as external evaluator for three Mathematics-Science Partnership grants. In her research, Dr. Boston examines mathematics teaching and learning through classroom observations and collections of students’ work, using the Instructional Quality Assessment (IQA) in Mathematics Toolkit, for which she is lead developer.

Dr. Boston is a member of National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE), and Pennsylvania Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (PAMTE). Dr. Boston served on NCTM’s Student Explorations in Mathematics committee, as Associate Editor of Mathematics Teacher Educator (2012-2015), as Series Editor for NCTM’s 2017-2018 Annual Perspectives in Mathematics Education, on NCTM’s Principles to Actions Toolkit development team, and on research advisory boards. She was awarded the Association of Teacher Educators’ 2008 Distinguished Dissertation Award.

Dr. Boston is lead author of NCTM’s Taking Action: Implementing Effective Mathematics Teaching Practice Grades 9-12. She has published her work in scholarly journals (Elementary School Journal, Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, International Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, Journal of Mathematics Education Leadership, Urban Education) and book chapters.

Dr. Boston received her B.S. in Mathematics and Secondary Mathematics Education from Grove City College. From the University of Pittsburgh, she received an M.A. in Mathematics and Ed.D. in Mathematics Education.