A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

In the course of developing this action strategy, the interagency working group solicited input from a wide range of interested organizations. The mathematics and mathematics education communities in particular are well organized to respond to the Presidentís challenge. The working group met with two umbrella organizations that provided access to many sources of input from these communities: the Mathematical Sciences Education Board (MSEB) of the National Research Council (NRC) and the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (CBMS), Each organization includes stakeholder representatives ranging from school teachers to university mathematicians and from educational researchers to those in industry using mathematics on a daily basis. Their recommendations to the working group are summarized below.

In addition, both the National Science Foundation and the Department of Education consulted with a wide range of potential stakeholders, including informal discussion with winners of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, meetings with the Eisenhower Regional Consortia. meetings of advisory committees, and meetings of professional organizations of teachers, principals, superintendents, mathematicians, scientists, and engineers.

While the working group focused its information gathering on strategies to support improving achievement toward high standards in mathematics, many of the individuals and organizations that provided input were keenly interested in the nature of the voluntary national test. Thus, the discussions with these groups included the exchange of information about the test of mathematics in eighth grade as well as about the working group's objectives. This interest in the test is reflected in the recommendations made. The working group was reminded, both implicitly and explicitly, that the voluntary national test is only a means to an end. The end must be kept in sight, both in test development and in the strategies the working group might develop to improve achievement.

In addition to meeting with these groups, the working group asked MSEB for a letter report addressing the issues raised in the President's Directive. MSEB offered three overarching recommendations:

• Construct and sustain a Federal effort that brings together, in a coherent framework for decision-making, the various National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Education programs that will significantly influence K-8 mathematics education.

• Devise a long-term plan (8-10 years, offset from political cycles) of interactive development involving test redesign and strategy adjustment, with ongoing monitoring and oversight.

• Invest in a sustained agenda of basic research to better understand what mathematical thinking is, how to foster it through curricular choices and instructional practice, and how to support teachers in doing so.

Within the framework of the President's Directive, all groups emphasized the importance of teacher education (both initial preparation and subsequent professional development), with both MSEB and CBMS highlighting this area in their written input. CBMS and MSEB emphasized the need for establishing certification programs for middle school teachers in mathematics. They cited the importance of an enhanced role for higher education in preparing teachers and in providing support for teachers through on-going professional development.

MSEB and CBMS also pointed to the emergence of new and innovative middle school mathematics curricula. They urged that the action strategy include ways to publicize, promote, and provide adoption guidance concerning model programs. They also agreed that technologies ranging from the Web to calculators have potential to help improve mathematics education. However, MSEB noted the importance of technical support for use of technology in the classroom and of equity issues in the use of that technology.

The outside groups also recognized the value of a public information campaign that can, in the words of the MSEB letter report, highlight "the importance of mathematics in applications, the beauty of mathematics as a field, and the role of mathematics as a gateway to careers and to higher education." Several of the mathematics and mathematics education organizations stand ready to assist in the development of such a campaign. MSEB recommends that public information efforts address coordination of the national test with associated action strategies.

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[Appendix 4]

[Appendix 6]