Biography

Biography

Juli K. Dixon, Ph. D., is a professor of mathematics education at the University of Central Florida (UCF). Dr. Dixon is focused on improving teachers' mathematics knowledge for teaching so that they can communicate and justify mathematical ideas and expect their students to do the same. Prior to joining the faculty at UCF, Dr. Dixon was a secondary mathematics educator at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a public school mathematics teacher in urban school settings at the elementary, middle, and secondary levels. She is a prolific writer of K-12 books, textbooks, book chapters, and articles. A sought-after speaker, Dr. Dixon has delivered keynotes and other presentations throughout North America. She is an author of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s (HMH’s) Into Math, Go Math, and AGA and Integrated Mathematics for High School as well as for Waggle (K-8 Mathematics). She is co-author of Solution Tree’s Making Sense of Mathematics for Teaching book and video series and author of The Fact tactics™ fluency program: Building reasoning skills for multiplication in grades 3-6 also published by Solution Tree. Especially important to Dr. Dixon is the need to teach each and every student. She shares her personal story of supporting her own children with special needs to learn mathematics in an inclusive setting. Dr. Dixon received a bachelor's degree in mathematics and education from SUNY Potsdam, a master's degree in mathematics education from Syracuse University, and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction (with an emphasis in mathematics education) from the University of Florida.

Areas of Expertise
  • Mathematics Education
  • Professional Development
  • Curriculum Design
Education
  • Ph.D. in Instruction and Curriculum – Mathematics Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
    M.S. in Mathematics Education, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
    B.A. in Mathematics and Education (dual major), State University of New York at Potsdam, Potsdam, NY

Research

Juli Dixon has a funding history of over $11,200,000 secured at UCF including a $2.6 million in NSF grants (2007-2011; 2021-2026) and an Institute for Education Sciences (IES) grant funded for close to $3.5 million (2012-2015). This funded research led to publications and supported doctoral students. She has an excellent record of refereed/peer-reviewed scholarly publications with 11 books, and 50+ articles, chapters, and proceedings. Most of her research is published with graduate students indicating her key role as mentor. This work has led to numerous invited major presentations and keynotes throughout North America. She is lead author on the school mathematics textbook series, Go Math, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH). This series was adopted by 85% of Florida’s public elementary schools and is one of the leading textbook series for the entire country. She is also a lead author on HMH's Into Math and Waggle.

Research Interests
  • Improving student achievement by focusing on deepening teachers’ knowledge of mathematics for teaching and supporting communication and justification of mathematical ideas;
    Determining how best to support teachers in creating a shared image of best practice in mathematics instruction; and
    Developing mathematics curriculum that is focused and meaningful.
Current Funded Projects

Bush, S. B. (PI), Dixon, J. K. (Co-PI), Brooks, L. (Co-PI), & Moore, B. (2021-2026). (Dixon 25% effort). Empowering STEM teachers with earned doctorates: A UCF-OCPS Noyce program for elementary and middle school mathematics teachers. (2021-2026). National Science Foundation (NSF): Noyce Track 3, funded $1,459,394

Awards

  • Shirley Schwartz Urban Education Impact Award, Council of Great City Schools, to UCF for work with which I had a key role, 2022.
  • Florida Council of Teachers of Mathematics (FCTM) Kenneth Kidd Mathematics Educator of the Year Award, 2021
  • Inaugural UCF Luminary and Inductee, UCF Scroll & Quill Society, 2017
  • UCF Teaching Incentive Program Award, 2005-2006, 2011-2012, 2016-2017
  • UCF Faculty Fellow for Inclusion, 2015-2016
  • William R. Jones Outstanding Mentor Award, Florida Education Fund, 2014
  • UCF Women Making History Award, 2014
  • UCF Research Incentive Award, 2004-2005, 2012-2013
  • UCF Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award, 2005-2006, 2012-2013
  • Outstanding Research Award for 2003 – 2004 from the New York College Learning Skills Association (NYCLA), 2004

Courses

  • MAE 7930 Seminar in K-8 Mathematics Education
    This course is required in the doctoral program for students in the K-8 Mathematics Education Specialization of the Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction. This course supports synthesis of the learning in the program.
  • MAE 7804 Content Knowledge for Teaching K-8 Mathematics I
    This course is required in the doctoral program for students in the K-8 Mathematics Education Specialization of the Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction. This course addresses pedagogical content knowledge for supporting K-8 mathematics teachers. Topics include whole number concepts and operations, and rational number concepts and operations.
  • MAE 7804 Content Knowledge for Teaching K-8 Mathematics II
    This course is required in the doctoral program for students in the K-8 Mathematics Education Specialization of the Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction. This course addresses pedagogical content knowledge for supporting K-8 mathematics teachers. Topics include elementary school mathematics content knowledge for teaching geometry and measurement and middle school mathematics content knowledge for teaching integers; proportional relationships; equations, expressions, and inequalities; geometry and measurement; and statistics.
  • IDS 7500 Seminar in Education Research – This course is required in the doctoral program. Students in the mathematics education track participate in classroom teaching experiments. This course is centered around the research meetings that are a major component of those experiments.
  • MAE 6899 Seminar in Teaching Mathematics – This course is required in the M.Ed. in K-8 Mathematics and Science program and an elective for other masters and doctoral programs in mathematics education. It is focused on content for teaching K-8 mathematics. Students explore whole number concepts and operations in base 8 and then move back to base 10 as they develop deep understanding of fraction concepts and operations. Emphasis is also placed on developing conceptual understanding of measurement and geometry.
  • MAE 6318 Current Methods of Elementary School Mathematics (course lead) – This course is required in the M.A. in Elementary Education. Students explore strategies of instruction grounded by the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards for Mathematics as well as the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics for computation and concepts of number, geometry, and measurement and instructional materials.
  • MAE 3311 Elementary Mathematics for Teaching II – This course is required for elementary education majors. Students make sense of fraction concepts and operations and link their conceptual understanding to procedural fluency. Students also explore decimal concepts and operations and measurement.

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