An Update:National Math Panel

United States Department of Education - MSP Regional ConferenceChicago, Illinois

Francis (Skip) FennellProfessor of Education

McDaniel College&

President, National Council of Teachers of MathematicsWestminster, MDMarch 11, 2008

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What’s important

• A strong K–12 mathematics education for all students is important for our nation’s economic stability, future national security, and workforce productivity.

• Everyone must be mathematically literate and recognize the importance of mathematics learning. NCTM believes that teachers and what they do in the classroom are at the heart of making this vision a reality.

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• 86% of U.S. voters believe that the U.S. must increase the number of workers with a background in science and mathematics or America’s ability to compete in the global economy will be diminished.

• The Tom Friedman – effect!The Tom Friedman – effect!• Competitiveness – an advantage for new ideasCompetitiveness – an advantage for new ideas

Rising Above the Gathering Storm, NAS, 2005

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From the Secretary…

• ““We must encourage students to We must encourage students to take more advanced math and take more advanced math and science classes. Employers today science classes. Employers today need workers with ‘need workers with ‘pocket protectorpocket protector’ ’ skills – creative problem solvers with skills – creative problem solvers with strong math and science strong math and science backgrounds.”backgrounds.”

RAGS Effect II

Margaret Spellings, June 21, 2007

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America’s Pressing Challenge: Building A Stronger Foundation

• Our nation must devote the necessary resources Our nation must devote the necessary resources now to revitalize our precollege STEM education now to revitalize our precollege STEM education system. We cannot wait for a new system. We cannot wait for a new SputnikSputnik episode to energize our population to rise to this episode to energize our population to rise to this challenge – we must recognize the existing crisis challenge – we must recognize the existing crisis and take the necessary actions.and take the necessary actions.

NSF, 2006

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Mathematics for all students

• NCTM supports programs and practices that encourage the acquisition of high-level mathematics skills by a wide range of overlapping populations:– children of poverty, – English language learners, – urban and rural students, – students of all races and ethnicities, – students with learning difficulties, – students who are female, and – students who are mathematically gifted.

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And yet…

• Important, but NOT for meImportant, but NOT for me– Parents are aware of the importance of Parents are aware of the importance of

math, but remain complacentmath, but remain complacent– Students pay lip service to the Students pay lip service to the

importance of higher level math…importance of higher level math…

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The goal!

• Every student doing mathematics and making sense of it

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Curriculum and Assessment

• Increase efforts to focus and align the PreK-8 curriculum to achieve coherence.

• NCTM supports developing stronger intervention programs and assessments, with an emphasis on the ongoing use of formative assessments.

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Number of 4th-Grade Learning Expectations per State by Content Strand

Number&

Operation

Geometry

Measurement Algebra

Data Analysis,

Probability & Statistics

Total Number of Learning

Expectations

California 16 11 4 7 5 43

Texas 15 7 3 4 3 32

New York 27 8 10 5 6 56

Florida 31 11 17 10 20 89

Ohio 15 8 6 6 13 48

Michigan 37 5 11 0 3 56

New Jersey 21 10 8 6 11 56

North Carolina 14 3 2 3 4 26

Georgia 23 10 5 3 4 45

Virginia 17 8 11 2 3 41

Reys, et al., 2006

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The Story

• Is not about:

– ‘math wars’– reform vs traditional mathematics– how hard mathematics is.

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The National Math Panel Report

• Is about:– The importance of mathematics for math and

science intending careers and for all citizens– The importance of algebra– The important foundational topics for all

students, which lead to algebra– A recognition that conceptual understanding,

proficiency, and problem solving are equally important and linked

– Verification that effort in doing mathematics – engaging in it – is important for all.

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President’s Executive Order

• The panel will advise the President and the Secretary of Education on the best use of scientifically based research to advance the teaching and learning of mathematics, with a specific focus on preparation for and success in algebra.

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The President’s executive order calls for…

• The critical skills and skill progressions for students to acquire competence in algebra;

• The role and design of assessments…• The processes by which students learn…• Instructional practices that are effective…• The training, selection, placement, and

professional development of teachers…• Needs for research in the field…

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Task Groups & Subcommittees

• Task Groups– Conceptual Knowledge and Skills – Learning – Instructional Practices– Teachers and Teacher Education– Assessment

• Subcommittees– Instructional Materials– Research Policies and Mechanisms– NORC Survey of Algebra Teachers

• Reviews and Meetings– 16,000 research studies and related documents– Public testimony from 63 organizations– 11 panel meetings

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Conceptual Knowledge & Skills

• Curriculum focus and coherence PreK-8• Closure with topics• Major Topics of School Algebra

– Should be the focus of school algebra – however algebra is “presented.”

• Proficiency with the Critical Foundations– Whole numbers, fractions, particular aspects of

geometry and measurement.– Benchmarks

• Access to algebra• Teacher background

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Critical Foundations

• The Critical Foundations identified and discussed here are not meant to comprise a complete preschool-to-algebra curriculum. However, the Panel aims to recognize the Critical Foundations for the study of Algebra, whether as a part of a dedicated algebra course in Grade 7, 8, or 9, or within an integrated mathematics sequence in the middle and high school grades. These Critical Foundations deserve ample time in any mathematics curriculum.

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Fluency with Whole Numbers1. By the end of Grade 3, students should be proficient with the addition and

subtraction of whole numbers. 2. By the end of Grade 5, students should be proficient with multiplication and division

of whole numbers.

Fluency with Fractions1. By the end of Grade 4, students should be able to identify and represent fractions

and decimals, and compare them on a number line or with other common representations of fractions and decimals.

2. By the end of Grade 5, students should be proficient with comparing fractions and decimals and common percents, and with the addition and subtraction of fractions and decimals.

3. By the end of Grade 6, students should be proficient with multiplication and division of fractions and decimals.

4. By the end of Grade 6, students should proficient with all operations involving positive and negative integers.

Benchmarks for the Critical Foundations

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Fluency with Fractions (cont.)

5. By the end of Grade 7, students should be proficient with all operations involving positive and negative fractions

6. By the end of Grade 7 students should be able to solve problems involving percent, ratio, and rate and extend this work to proportionality.

Geometry and Measurement

1. By the end of Grade 5, students should be able to solve problems involving perimeter and area of triangles and all quadrilaterals having at least one pair of parallel sides (i.e. trapezoids).

2. By the end of Grade 6, students should be able to analyze the properties of two dimensional shapes and solve problems involving perimeter and area, and analyze the properties of three-dimensional shapes and solve problems involving surface area and volume.

3. By the end of Grade 7, students should understand relationships involving similar triangles.

Benchmarks for the Critical Foundations

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Learning Processes

• Preschool background;• Need for the curriculum to develop conceptual

understanding, computational fluency, and problem solving;

• Importance of computational proficiency – facts, standard algorithms, and properties;

• Fractions;• Role of student effort;• Diverse learners;• Readiness.

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Teachers & Teacher Education

• Need for effective teachers;• Relationship between teachers’ mathematical

knowledge and student achievement – importance of content knowledge;

• Strengthening teacher education and professional development;

• Mathematics teacher specialists;• Salary incentives for recruiting and retaining

teachers.

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Do you remember?

• When I got everything done, I just sat down in the middle of my room and cried.

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“I didn’t call myself anything. I was more than a teacher. And less. In the high school classroom you are a drill sergeant, a rabbi, a shoulder to cry on, a disciplinarian, a singer, a scholar, a clerk, a referee, a clown, a counselor, a dress-code enforcer, a conductor, an apologist, a philosopher, a collaborator, a tap dancer, a politician, a therapist, a fool, a traffic cop, a priest, a mother-father-sister-brother-aunt-uncle, a bookkeeper, a critic, a psychologist, the last straw.”

“Teacher Man” Frank McCourt (p.19, 2005)

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Why do they leave?

• Too little planning time,Too little planning time,• Too much paperworkToo much paperwork• Unreliable assistanceUnreliable assistance• A general lack of support, including limited A general lack of support, including limited

pay!pay!• We must sustain and support teachers!We must sustain and support teachers!

• And then: “There is a trust there (at my school). And then: “There is a trust there (at my school). They look at me as a professional, and it really They look at me as a professional, and it really makes or breaks whether you stay.”makes or breaks whether you stay.”

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Instructional Practices• Recommendations that instruction should be

entirely child centered or teacher directed are not supported by research;

• Cooperative learning – TAI;• Formative assessment;• Real world problem solving;• Explicit instruction with students who have

mathematics difficulties; • Software;• Calculators;• Mathematically gifted students.

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Instructional Materials

• Books are too long – too much stuff;

• Need for coherence – states and school districts;

• Mathematical accuracy needs to be ensured.

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Assessment

• NAEP and state tests – represent the Critical Foundations;

• Revise NAEP Content Frameworks;• More appropriate balance re: how algebra

is defined on NAEP;• Item quality – NAEP and state tests;• Calculators should not be used on items

designed to assess computational facility.

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Research Policies & Mechanisms

• Methodologically rigorous scientific research in mathematics education is needed;

• Agencies should fund research that involve rigorous research in mathematics education;

• PreK-12 schools should be provided with incentives to become more directly engaged in educational research.

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And the teachers said…

• Three areas of poorest preparation:– Fractions, solving word problems, &

study habits.• Instructional Materials• State Curriculum Standards• State Assessments• Biggest challenge – Unmotivated students.

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Potential Implications• Conceptual Knowledge and Skills

– Critical Foundations– Benchmarks– Major Topics in School Algebra

• Learning – cognitive science perspective• Instructional Practices

– Formative Assessment– Real World Problem Solving– Technology

• Assessment – NAEP• Teaching – Content background, Professional Development• Research Needs• Funding, National Initiatives…

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Math: It should be elementaryTalk about March Madness: The National Math Panel is about to issue its big report on the state of math education in America.

OK, we know, that doesn't exactly juice the excitement meter like the Sweet 16 (although, while we're digressing, just think of how much math there is in the NCAA Tournament, what with its first round of 64, its Elite Eight and Final Four, and not until the championship round do you hit a prime number). Still, the National Mathematics Advisory Panel report will be big for math educators.The panel was convened by President Bush in 2006 to figure out what to do about American math education, which some regard as so bad as to constitute a national crisis. Its impending report  was the topic of a "webinar" -- an unfortunate coinage for a seminar on the Web -- held Tuesday by the New York-based Hechinger Institute, which supports journalism about education.Francis "Skip" Fennell, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and a member of the national panel, said the report would be issued sometime in mid-March, and would focus on what American schools need to do to prepare students in elementary and middle school so that they are ready for algebra when it hits them in eighth or ninth grade. Fennell didn't want to give away a lot of what would be in the report, but this much was clear: The report will say what many mathematicians have been saying for years. The United States needs to prepare students to compete with the rest of the world by being like much of the rest of the world.

That means far fewer topics per year in elementary math classes. (Asian and European schools tend to teach just a few topics each year but teach them well; American schools teach as many as 100.) Smaller textbooks. More "coherence." And much better teacher training.

Participants in the webinar (there's that word again) delivered some zingers. Bill Schmidt, a professor at Michigan State University, said he briefed about 25 members of Congress recently on the need for a national math curriculum. Those are fighting words in some quarters, but Schmidt (who stressed "national, not federal") said the idea generated some interest. Richard Schaar, former president of the division of Texas Instruments that makes educational calculators, said the alternative to a radical improvement in math education was the wholesale flight of good jobs to other countries. As things stand, he said, the United States is in a "national security crisis" because the government can't find enough qualified U.S. citizens to fill engineering jobs that require security clearances. And Fennell, the most reserved of the three, described the current math curricula in the United States as "a mess."

One final note: The word of the day is ... fractions. The National Math Panel found that American students have a miserable grasp of fractions, and that keeps them from succeeding in higher math, Fennell said. Anyone who has sat in on a high school algebra class knows that's not a half-baked idea.

-- Mitchell Landsberg

February 27, 2008

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Education Panel Lays Out Truce In Math Wars

Effort to Fix 'Broken' System Sets Targets for Each Grade, Avoids Taking Sides on MethodBy JOHN HECHINGERMarch 5, 2008; Page D1

A presidential panel, warning that a "broken" system of mathematics education threatens U.S. pre-eminence, says it has found the fix: A laserlike focus on the essentials.

The National Mathematics Advisory Panel, appointed by President Bush in 2006, is expected to urge the nation's teachers to promote "quick and effortless" recall of arithmetic facts in early grades, mastery of fractions in middle school, and rigorous algebra courses in high school or even earlier. Targeting such key elements of math would mark a sharp departure from the diverse priorities that now govern teaching of the subject in U.S. public schools.

"Without substantial and sustained changes to the educational system, the United States will relinquish its leadership in the twenty-first century," reads a draft of the final report, due to be released next week by the Department of Education These benchmarks mirror closely a September 2006 report by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, which many viewed as a turning point in the math wars because it recognized the importance of teaching the basics after the group for years had placed more emphasis on conceptual understanding. Francis Fennell, president of the math teachers group and a panel member, said the group's specific recommendations could help parents determine whether their kids are on the right track.

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News

• Release – March 13, 2008; Longfellow Middle School, Fairfax County Public Schools

• Title: Foundations for Success: Final Report National Mathematics Advisory Panel

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Questions?Questions?

More info needed?

Google the National Math Panel

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f

ffennell@mcdaniel.edu

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