Does the National Math Panel’s Report Add Up?

Sean Cavanagh: Wecome to Education Week’s online chat, “Does the National Math Panel’s Report Add Up?”

We’d like to thank our sponsor of this chat, Carnegie Learning.

I’ll begin by asking both Vern and Skip to introduce themselves briefly, explaining where they work now, and their connection to elementary and middle grades math.

Vern Williams:

I’m Vern Williams and I have been teaching middle school math in Fairfax County VA for about thirty-six years. I’m currently teaching at Longfellow Middle School in Falls Church VA.

Vern Williams:

I would hope that parents become more proactive in the math education of their children by researching the materials/textbooks used at their childrens’ school. They would be wise to make sure that their children are receiving an excellent grounding in the basics.

Sean Cavanagh: Just a bit of background about the panel:

The National Mathematics Advisory Panel was created through an executive order signed by President George W. Bush on April 18, 2006. The panel was given two years to produce recommendations, based on the “best available scientific evidence,” on the “critical skills and skill progressions for students to acquire competence in algebra and readiness for higher levels of mathematics.” The panel had 19 voting and five non-voting members, who included cognitive psychologists, mathematicians, representatives of think tanks and professional organizations and other math experts.

Sean Cavanagh:

Here’s some more background on the panel’s finding for our viewers:

One major conclusion of the panel is that a few key areas of elementary and middle school math are “critical foundations” to students’ mastery of algebra. Those foundations are: proficiency with whole numbers, fractions, and elements of geometry and measurement. A coherent, and sequential approach to teaching math is especially important, the panel found.

What is the most important step policymakers could take to improve the quality of elementary and middle grades math instruction?
Revamp math curriculum
( 36% )

Improve professional development
( 36% )

Strengthen teacher liscensure requirements
( 7% )

Promote elementary math “specialists”
( 19% )

Improve quality of math tests
( 1% )

Sean Cavanagh: More background for our audience today:

One of the more interesting points of discussion in the panel report focused on elementary math “specialists.” Most elementary school math in the United States is taught by “generalist” teachers, who are expected to cover all subjects – from math to science to language arts – during the course of a school day. Some observers have suggested that U.S. schools would be better off using elementary math “specialists,” who teach only that subject in school. The panel did not make a specific recommendation about the use of math specialists. It did, however, call for more research in that area, saying that specialists could be a practical alternative to attempting to increase all elementary teachers’ math content knowledge, which the group described as “a problem of huge scale.”

What do you think of the use of specialists in elementary math?

Francis (Skip) Fennell:

My opinion is that with 40+ recommendations there must be something for most anyone - most anyone. What are take aways for me - less is more in ensuring that all students have a strong foundation, elementary mathematics specialists - are, at minimum, a good idea (he says with admitted bias), the fact that conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and problem solving are ALL important - all the time. That’s enough - there are others.

Sean Cavanagh: Dan,

The section of the panel’s report on the importance of fractions (page 18) says that students should be able to locate positive and negative fractions on a number line; represent and compare fractions, decimals and related percents, and estimate their size. It also says, among other points, that students should be able to understand fractions in many contexts, as they arise naturally.

Vern Williams:

Charlotte,

Excellent question! Of course my standard answer is when they are ready, i.e. when they have a strong background in arithmetic which includes being able to compute and understand the basic concepts behind arithmetic. The push for every student taking algebra by eighth grade is causing problems ranging from poor algebra skills to pretend algebra courses.

Vern Williams:

John,

Back in the day if you wanted to teach math to seventh graders you had to be certified to teach 7-12. Even though I teach seventh and eighth graders, I use concepts that I might also use if I taught seniors in high school. So bring back 7-12 certification!

Sean Cavanagh: Last year, the U.S. Department of Education undertook a number of efforts to publicize the findings of the National Math Panel. I wrote a story about this work at http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/10/10/08mathpanel.h28.html.

The department’s work included the distribution of 160,000 pamphets for parents, highlighting the panel’s recommendations. The department also promoted the panel’s work on the “Doing What Works” web site, at http://dww.ed.gov/topic/topic_landing.cfm?PA_ID=8&T_ID=22.

Should the Obama administration take an active role in promoting the panel’s findings? And if so, how?

Vern Williams:

Sean Monroe

Give the veteran teachers real inservice involving real math content instead of force feeding them the newest teaching methods.

Vern Williams:

Mikki,

Pre-service elementary school teachers should be required to take more mathematics courses in college and inservice teachers as I stated in a previous comment should be exposed to more content through professional development. We also need to include mathematicians in designing courses for both pre-service and inservice teachers.

Sean Cavanagh: One issue that emerged in the panel’s work:

While the panel concluded that more research is needed in many areas of math, it also found the differences in the quality of teaching play a substantial role in students’ math achievement. Differences in teachers account for 12 percent to 14 percent of the total variability in students’ math achievement gains during an elementary school year, the panel found. At the same time, relatively little is known about what makes an effective math teacher, the panelists said. Is it their background in course content? Professional degrees? Performance on teacher licensure exams? Or teacher certification? Little is know. See Education Week’s story on this topic from last year: “Essential Qualities of Math Teaching Remain Unknown”:

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/04/02/31math_ep.h27.html

Sean Cavanagh: We’re nearing the end of our alloted time. A reminder that a transcript of the discussion will be available on the same page viewer went to today.

Sean Cavanagh: That’s all the time we have. Thanks for all of the great questions, and to Skip and Vern for their hard work (and fast typing) today.

We’d also like to thank our sponsor, Carnegie Learning..