The purposes of the study were: (a) to determine the perceived educational benefits gained by the student in the elementary mathematics methods course; (b) to determine if students found the course content and teaching strategies relevant; (c) to determine the extent to which students were able to incorporate course content and teaching strategies into their teaching styles; and (d) to determine first and second year in-service elementary school mathematics teachers' consensus as to the relevancy of the course. The study was based on a sample of 200 in-service elementary school mathematics teachers in the State of Texas and surrounding states during the 1976 spring semester. The in-service elementary school mathematics teachers' population was selected on the basis that they were teaching mathematics in the elementary school. The in-service elementary school mathematics teacher sample provided the source of data for the study. A single instrument was used ot obtain the data. This instrument was divided into two areas: (1) content area; and (2) teaching strategy area. There were forty items in the instrument and four open-ended questions. The statistical techniques used for analyzing the data were the UNISTAT 1-STATJOB series and the t-test for examining the difference in means between two independent samples at the .05 level of significance. Findings. Results of the UNITSTAT-1 JOB series and the t-test values indicate that there were no significant difference between: (a) first year and second year graduates of the program; (b) the grade levels being taught by the graduates; (c) the environment where the teachers are teaching; and (d) methods of instruction. Conclusions. An analysis of the data obtained from the in-service elementary mathematics teachers' questionnaire revealed a number of facts pertinent to both first year and second year graduates of the program. Respondents from both samples reported similar responses in the areas of years of teaching, grade levels, methods of teaching and teaching environment. Sixty-six of the in-service elementary mathematics teachers were first year teachers, and thirty-eight were the second year teachers that met requirements for the elementary mathematics method component of the competency-based teacher education program. [...]