-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  **Date**               **Author**             **Subject**
  ---------------------- ---------------------- -------------------------------
  May 18, 2007           Doore, Stanley         [Transform Education - Use
                                                Virtual Schools and Student
                                                Centered
                                                Learning](#StanleyDoore)

  March 29, 2007         Reynolds, Jennilyn     [National Mathematics Advisory
                                                Panel](#JennilynReynolds)

  March 12, 2007         Garelick, Barry        [Comment on NMP Preliminary
                                                Report](#BarryGarelick)

  November 17, 2006      Stallcup, John         [National Math Panel
                                                Meeting_Public
                                                Comment](#JohnStallcup)

  November 9, 2006       Kohlberg, Gavi         [Comment from Palo
                                                Alto](#GaviKohlberg)

  November 02, 2006      Yang, Steven           [Public Written Comment for the
                                                4th Meeting](#StevenYang)

  October 22, 2006       Carthel, Chris         [Comments for the National Math
                                                Panel](#ChrisCarthel)

  October 13, 2006       North, Joseph          [Calculators,
                                                Indeed!](#JosephNorth)

  September 21, 2006     Meyer, Brian & Mary    [Additional
                                                Funding](#BrianMaryMeyer)

  September 08, 2006     Fretwell, Jack         [RE: June 29th Public
                                                Comment](#JackFretwell)

  September 07, 2006     Doore, Stan            [Re: Comments
                                                Follow-up](#StanDoore)

  August 31, 2006        Kalinowski, Melissa    [RE: National Math Panel
                                                Meeting in Cambridge from
                                                9/13-14](#MelissaKalinowski)

  August 30, 2006        Weintraub, Ben         [National Math Panel
                                                Testimony](#BenWeintraub)

  June 17, 2006          Doore, Stanley         [Suggestions & Comments for the
                                                NMP](#StanleyDoore)

  June 15, 2006          Hobbs, Forrest         [Math Curriculum
                                                Review](#ForrestHobbs)

  May 11, 2006           Malkevitch, Joseph     [Mathematics
                                                Education](#JosephMalkevitch)
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[]{#StanleyDoore .anchor}\-\-\-\--Original Message\-\-\-\--\
**From:** STANLEY DOORE \[mailto:stan.doore@verizon.net\]\
**Sent:** Friday, May 18, 2007 7:23 AM\
**To:** National Math Panel\
**Subject:** Transform Education - Use Virtual Schools and Student
Centered Learning

 Dear National Math Panel Members:

Attached are my recommendations on \"***Transformation of Education -
Use Virtual Schools and Student Centered Learning.***\"   They involve
the use of inexpensive interactive video platforms and current
technologies to fulfill Florida\'s Virtual School motto:  \"***Any Time,
Any Place, Any Path, Any Pace***\"

 You should include these recommendations in your recommendations. 

I look forward to hearing that you have included these recommendations
in your report to the President of the United States.

 Regards,

<Stan@doore.net>   email

![](media/image1.wmf)

**From:** []{#JennilynReynolds .anchor}Jennilyn Reynolds
\[mailto:jen@bigbrainz.com\]\
**Sent:** Thu 3/29/2007 2:46 PM\
**To:** Benbow, Camilla P\
**Subject:** National Mathematics Advisory Panel

Dear Camilla,

 

As a member of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel you have a great
opportunity and an important responsibility to \"foster greater
knowledge of and improved performance in mathematics among American
students\...,\" as it is stated in the Executive Order. Obviously, the
weight of this challenge should not be held on the shoulders of those on
the panel alone. But all who are in this nation should recognize their
individual responsibility and take action accordingly.   

 

In light of this, on behalf of Big Brainz, Inc., I would like to offer
you our full support in your endeavors and let you know we are ready to
participate!  Big Brainz is in the midst of creating and developing
vastly better technology than anything on the planet for teaching math.
We have released our first title, Timez Attack, and although we often
hear kids begging to learn their multiplication tables with Timez
Attack, we are still working on making it even more powerful and
effective.

 

Please let us know what Big Brainz can do to help support the
Instructional Practices Committee and strengthen the mathematical
foundation of the Nation.

 

Best wishes,

 

Jennilyn Reynolds

 

 

Jennilyn Reynolds

Big Brainz

Public Relations Director

\-\-\-\--Original Message\-\-\-\--\
**From:**[]{#BarryGarelick .anchor} Barry Garelick
\[mailto:barryg99@yahoo.com\]\
**Sent:** Monday, March 12, 2007 3:56 PM\
**To:** Flawn, Tyrrell\
**Subject:** Comment on NMP Preliminary Report

Ms Flawn:

 

I have just read through the preliminary report of the National Math
Advisory Panel.  I wish to express a concern I have regarding a
discussion that appears on pp 1 and 2 of the report.  The two paragraphs
of concern are:

 

\"The discussion about math skills has persisted for many decades.  One
aspect of the debate is over how explicitly children must be taught
skills based on formulas or algorithms (fixed, step-by-step procedures
for solving math problems) versus a more inquiry-based approach in which
students are exposed to real-world problems that help them develop
fluency in number sense, reasoning, and problem-solving skills.  In this
latter approach, computational skills and correct answers are not the
primary goals of instruction.

 

\"Those who disagree with the inquiry-based philosophy maintain that
students must first develop computational skills before they can
understand concepts of mathematics.  These skills should be memorized
and practiced until they become automatic.  In this view, estimating
answers is insufficient and, in fact, is considered to be dependent on
strong foundational skills.  Learning abstract concepts of mathematics
is perceived to depend on a solid base of knowledge of the tools of the
subject.  Of course, teaching in very few classrooms would be
characterized by the extremes of these philosophies.  In reality, there
is a mixing of approaches to instruction in the classroom, perhaps with
one predominating.\"

 

 I am concerned with the last two sentences of the second paragraph. 
The statements that extremes of either type of these philosophies are
not used exclusively in classrooms and that actually both types are
mixed implies that there is no problem.  To suggest that the
inquiry-based philosophy has had no effect because it has not been used
in its pure form, or because it is mixed with direct instruction is a
specious argument and conveniently sidesteps an extremely significant
issue.

 

The problem is more complex than characterized by these last two
sentences.  First of all, there are degrees of discovery or
inquiry-based learning.  There is general agreement within the
psychological community that knowledge is ultimately constructed by the
learner in order to be absorbed.  But such construction can occur with
passive type learning (i.e., direct instruction) just as it can with
hands-on activities (discovery learning).  Thus all types of learning is
discovery oriented, and one has to look at the gradations of discovery
learning.  Some types have minimal guidance, and other types rely on
structured guidance such as that found in textbooks such as Singapore,
Saxon, or Dolciani.

 

There are a host of math programs being used, however, that are informed
by constructivist theory of the minimal guidance variety, such as
Investigations in Number, Data and Space; Everyday Math, Connected Math,
IMP, Core Plus, and Math Trailblazers.  Some of these programs such as
Investigations, Trailblazers and Everyday Math, do not have textbooks. 
Teachers who must teach from such programs are unwittingly conducted
discovery-based classes by virtue of how the program is put together. 
Students are often not given enough prior information before being
presented with a problem that they must solve in group work, leading to
inefficient solutions.

 

Furthermore such programs typically do not teach to mastery
since students will be exposed again next year to the same topic through
\"spiraling.\"   The \"spiraling\" concept is picked up by other texts
and programs, which then engenders the use of discovery in classrooms,
since mastery is no longer as pertinent as it once was.  The last two
sentences would seem to ignore the highjacking of math programs going on
because of the increasing pervasiveness of the inquiry-based
philosophy. 

 

I would hope that consideration is given to better characterizing the
discussion of inquiry-based learning versus direct instruction.

 

Barry Garelick

\-\-\-\--Original Message\-\-\-\--\
From: John Stallcup\
Sent: Friday, November 17, 2006 6:42 PM\
To: National Math Panel\
Subject: National Math Panel Meeting_Public Comment

**Public Comment to** *"The National Math Advisory Panel"*

**Palo Alto, California November 5,6 2006**

**Presented by: John Stallcup**

**Co-Founder APREMAT/USA**

Mr. Chairman and panel members welcome to California, I thank you and
the Panel for this opportunity to speak today. I am the initiator and
Co-Founder of APREMAT/USA. APREMAT is the most effective Spanish
language early elementary math program in existence and is in use today
by over two million first, second, and third grade students in a number
of Latin American countries. APREMAT/USA as a program of the Heritage of
America Foundation will be providing the APREMAT program free to the two
million Spanish speaking first, second, and third grade students in the
US who by and large are failing to become proficient in mathematics.

I want to point to four areas of opportunity that need the Panel's
attention:

[First:]{.underline} There is a lack of focus, attention, energy or
concerted effort, on effective early elementary math education in
general and specifically for English language learners. Not only is
there no one person or entity in charge of early elementary math
education at the federal, or state level but no major grant making
authority either public or private funds early elementary math programs
that reach large numbers of students even though efforts to improve
reading are well funded across the board at all levels and by
corporations including Toyota and State Farm.

The lack of effective early elementary math instruction creates the
pervasive lack of computational skills in the middle grades and is a
primary cause of future problems learning algebra and higher math. You
cannot reasonably expect the average student to be able to master
Algebra without having learned their computational skills to the level
of automaticity.

There is a National Institute for Literacy, a National Science
Foundation, a Reading First initiative, support from all levels of
government and non profits for reading programs large and small. Not
only is there no National Institute for Mathematics, or a National
Mathematics Foundation, there isn't even a Mathematics **Second**
Initiative. There are no governmental organizations or initiatives
(present company excluded) focused exclusively on mathematics education
let alone elementary mathematics.

Symbols and hero's matter a great deal. Laura Bush and many other
celebrities champion reading. Who will champion mathematics? Without
focus you get failure. Without funding you flounder. Without attention
there is no energy.

If Mathematics education is ***"Mission Critical"*** you sure can't tell
by where the attention, energy and resources are going.

[Second:]{.underline} Math is a world language and a fungible skill set.
There are a number of proven well researched early elementary math
instructional programs being effectively employed to teach literally
millions of less academically fortunate students around the world that
could be effectively employed here with little funding or iteration and
are not. I would be surprised if anyone in the room had ever heard of
APREMAT before today and that is emblematic of a key problem in our
attempt at improving math education in the US. Cost effective, easy to
implement early elementary math instructional practice and programs have
been developed, researched and fielded around the world, and all but
completely ignored in the US to our continuing detriment.

There is near universal employment of the Abacus in parts of China to
enable their five year old students to acquire number sense, and compute
large columns of figures easily. Chinese students are getting a two year
head start over our best math students because they employ a simple,
easy to use, inexpensive, tool. In practice a near system wide
***"advanced placement"*** program. Chinese educators understand the
positive impact of the manipulative aspects of the abacus on brain
function for learning more complex subjects. All we need to get started
is a set of well produced Utube training pod casts, a few million
dollars for a supply of Abacus and the will to use them.

Many countries in Latin America use the APREMAT program. First initiated
in 1998 by a Honduran foundation APREMAT is already effectively used by
over two million first, second, and third grade students to learn
mathematics because it works. Unlike the US, if you don't pass the math
exam for your grade level in Latin America you do not advance to the
next grade.

If you think we have problems finding qualified math teachers willing to
work in harsh environments, imagine the problems educators have in the
jungles of Latin America (no roads, no windows, dirt floors, no college
degrees, no money, etc). Yet the second poorest country in Latin
America, Honduras created an effective easy to use, consistently
administered, inexpensive, research based, instructional practice for
teaching math on the radio in Spanish.

Two thirds of the three and a half million Hispanic k-3 students in the
US speak Spanish at home and are by a large margin not *"proficient"* in
math by any definition. Hispanic students taking the California high
school exit exam fail to pass the math portion more often than the
reading portion. The word's "destination disaster" come to mind.

[Third:]{.underline} We can choose to use the internet to empower math
education or not. But we cannot claim there is not an effective,
inexpensive way to do so. The greatest potential opportunity to advance
the level of mathematics instruction occurred a few weeks ago when
Google bought Utube. The internet is already an effective, albeit
disorganized "force multiplier" for education. The future of math
education may in large part be determined by how well educators,
organize and integrate online distance learning with the classroom.

Imagine if someone had bothered to video tape a years worth of Jaime
Escalante teaching calculus. India and Singapore are collaborating on
[www.heymath.com](http://www.heymath.com/) a math instruction website
for high school students. A great deal of math instructional content is
already available online, whether The Math Forum at Drexel University or
MIT's Open University. The opportunity is ***"here and now"*** to
organize both existing and new content into easy to use, effective math
education ***"toolsets"*** for students and teachers. The content is not
well organized or easy to navigate but I suspect the Googleplex down the
road could fix that in very little time.

[Fourth:]{.underline} Mathematics needs a new narrative. Mathematics as
a brand needs to be repositioned. When you listen to the majority of
Americans, discuss mathematics you get the distinct impression that
something in our bottled water or our Starbucks coffee has given us a
mass case of math phobic ***"dyscalculia*"**. This includes many
educators. In America we are ashamed when we are illiterate but it is ok
to be innumerate. The far too common and universally acceptable refrain
*"I am just no good at math"* implies a cultural belief in ability over
effort. This debilitating belief combined with the general acceptability
of being innumerate are two of the biggest impediments to increasing the
level of math achievement in the US.

In order to change the narrative two things must occur.

Parents must understand ***"How high is up".*** The ***"fraud of
proficiency"*** that now exists due to NCLB, must be exposed publicly to
enable parents to understand what mathematics problems their child needs
to be able to solve. This could be accomplished in part by providing an
online quiz based on the NAEP math questions with the national version
of ***"proficiency"*** as the yardstick. You could encourage daily
newspapers to publish the NAEP and TIMSS questions as well.

The Gross Rating Points (GRPs) of mathematics in the media (electronic &
print) need to be significantly increased. The number of hours available
of high quality, excellent, relevant, "Sticky" television programming
that either directly (Discovery Channel) or indirectly (CSI) teaches
science and history are in the thousands. The number of hours of
mathematics programming is to low to mention. Ask Madison Avenue and
Hollywood for help. I suspect no more proficient group of mathematics
professionals has ever been assembled. Expectations for this panel are
high. Educators across the country are hoping your work will result in
actionable concrete recommendations that work for all students no matter
their income, origin, or genotype. Although the Federal budget only
provides about 8% of education funding, you will set the mathematics
education agenda for at least the coming decade. The ability to
identify, clarify and help initiate fundamental positive changes in
mathematics education is in your hands.

I hope you create a clarifying focus on all levels of mathematics that
isn't there at the state or federal levels. I hope you encourage more
foundation support for early math education. I hope you will benchmark
and borrow proven effective mathematics instructional programs from
other nations. I believe if you leverage the internet today thru public
private collaborations you will accelerate the process of improvement
and last but not least please begin the process of changing the present
negative, exclusive debilitating, narrative to the positive, empowering,
inclusive, story that is mathematics. Thank you and good luck.

[]{#GaviKohlberg .anchor}\-\-\-\--Original Message\-\-\-\--\
From: Gavi Kohlberg\
Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 11:36 PM\
To: National Math Panel\
Subject: Comment from Palo Alto

**Public comment for meeting of National Mathematics Advisory Panel**

**November 6, 2006**

**Gavi Kohlberg**

**Stanford School of Medicine**

**Former CEO of Digi-Block**

I strongly urge the National Mathematics Advisory Panel to examine
scientific evidence related to **innovative** teaching and learning
methods and tools. While evaluating long-practiced teaching techniques
is clearly valuable and necessary, evaluating innovations in math
education is of utmost importance. Innovations should have tremendous
importance to us in math education, just as they have tremendous
importance to us in fields such as medicine. Innovations let us do
things that we couldn't do before, or let us do things better than
before. For example, the advent of imaging technology allows us to see
within the human body without opening it up. Perhaps an advance in math
education could allow us to teach place value so well we would not have
to teach it over again each time we introduce a new procedure!

Just to make clear the potential benefits of innovation. Note that
identifying an advance that can teach a segment of mathematics 20%
"better" would lead to huge benefits if it were identified and applied
to a significant portion of our students. I strongly believe that such
innovations currently exist and are underutilized.

To ground this public comment in reality, I'd like to briefly give an
example of an innovation that I believe is underutilized that could have
a tremendous effect on our ability to teach students the foundations of
mathematics.

The Digi-Block teaching method, invented by my father, mathematician
Elon Kohlberg, and honed by many dedicated individuals and teachers over
the last several years has the potential of increasing students'
understanding of number sense dramatically (both in terms of depth of
understanding as well as in efficiency of learning).

The great advance of Digi-Block is its merging of theoretical
mathematical ideas (like the elegance and complexity of base-10) with
educational realities (for example, that young children benefit from
tactile experiences) to build an effective framework for children to
learn and explore mathematics. This framework gives young children the
ability to do such things as proof their answers to problems, or even
proof the algorithms themselves.

Yesterday Mr. Williams deplored the recommendation to take away time
from geometry teaching, noting that it was the lone course that
emphasized proofs in the K-12 curriculum. Here is an innovation that
allows proof to be an integral part of elementary school math.

So far there has been very positive feedback from teachers who have
successfully implemented Digi-Block. In addition there is currently a
research study over a year underway with students with significant
cognitive disabilities in Phoenix, Arizona led by Dr. MaryLou Cheal at
Arizona State University. The preliminary results of this study show
tremendous improvement in number sense in a cohort that is believed to
have extremely limited mathematical potential. Hopefully, similar
improvement will be shown through a study in a broader cohort in the
near future.

In my opinion, one of the weaknesses of math education, particularly at
the foundation, the elementary school level, is that very few of the
individuals involved, from teachers to policy makers, have a strong
background in both elementary school education and higher level
mathematics. This severely hurts our ability to identify and evaluate
innovations, like Digi-Block, that make important advances that must be
appreciated both mathematically and educationally. Yet this is a
potential strength of this panel, where as a whole, these abilities are
present. So I respectfully urge you to make sure that important
innovations are recognized and, if effective, recommended to be
incorporated into mainstream mathematics education now and in the
future.

Thank you.

\-\-\-\--Original Message\-\-\-\--\
From: []{#StevenYang .anchor}Steven Yang\
Sent: Thursday, November 2, 2006 4:41 PM\
To: National Math Panel\
Subject: Public Written Comment for the 4th Meeting

**A Simple and Duplicatable Math Solution for the United States**

by Steven Yang, CEO and Founder, MathScore.com

I believe that the National Math Panel should emphasize a solution that
can ***easily be duplicated*** across every school within the United
States, regardless of teacher talent, access to computer technology, and
budget. Although proposals to hire staff, train teachers, entertain
students, and integrate technology all have merit, none of those types
of proposals will effectively scale to meet the needs of every school in
the United States.

According to the findings in TIMSS, Asian countries, such as Singapore,
China, and Japan greatly outperform the United States. They consistently
outperform us without having made any significant adjustments to the way
they teach math for well over 100 years. What they do differently is so
basic that it surprises me to see such confusion in the United States.

In Asian countries, students are forced to focus on math facts by
regularly doing timed tests. By the end of 4th grade, nearly 100% of all
students in these countries have complete mastery over their
multiplication and addition math facts. Kindergarteners are typically
exposed to addition, and by 2nd grade, addition math facts have already
become second nature. By the end of 4th grade, without question, these
kids know their multiplication facts. Furthermore, these students
typically demonstrate superior critical thinking skills. This is because
students who know their basics have a proper foundation on which to
build critical thinking skills.

According to student usage at MathScore.com, less than 1 in 5 of our 5th
grade users start the school year with mastery over multiplication math
facts! The root cause of failure of United States math students is an
inadequate foundation in basic math skills, caused by the failure to
memorize math facts at a young age. Nearly every Algebra I teacher in a
low performing school will agree with that statement. If you would like
some details regarding our analysis, I would be happy to supply you with
anonymous usage data.

As the solution, I believe the National Math Panel should suggest a
mandate on regular timed math tests starting with first graders. There
should be a standard on the number of problems, difficulty of the
problems, and the time allotted at each grade level. This way,
regardless of school resources, every teacher in the country can
unambiguously adhere to this approach. I also believe knowledge of math
facts should be tested on state tests. **This solution is simple,
measurable, and can be implemented easily in every school in the United
States.** It even supports the NCTM Focal Points.

For schools with computers, I believe technology can help. MathScore.com
provides customizable, printable math facts worksheet generators at no
charge. I believe these generators can make the process of producing
appropriate math facts worksheets as painless and efficient as possible.
We can also provide a patent-pending, adaptive learning system for
schools that have Internet access. I believe the proven improvement in
test scores seen by users of our system validates the approach of
starting with math basics before focusing on critical thinking skills.

If there is anything I can do to help, please feel free to let me know.

Sincerely,

Steven Yang

CEO and Founder, MathScore.com

\-\-\-\--Original Message\-\-\-\--\
[]{#ChrisCarthel .anchor}**From:** Chris Carthel\
**Sent:** Sunday, October 22, 2006 10:36 PM\
**To:** National Math Panel\
**Subject:** Comments for the National Math Panel

Dear Sir or Madam:\
\
I am a parent of two math students who are both in high school now. In
addition, I recently completed the mathematics necessary for a Bachelor
of Science degree in Chemistry. I experienced some difficulties in my
earlier math classes, including classes prior to (and including)
algebra, partly because of what I believe were shortcomings in the way
the courses were organized (i.e., curriculum) and taught (i.e.,
pedagogy).\
\
**Problem-Solving: Point A to Point B**\
\
One of the most frequent complaints I hear from my children and college
peers is \"I don\'t see how you got from point A to point B in that
solution.\" I have also had this compliant myself, and I see this as a
recurring problem in both teaching and textbook design.\
\
The better math textbooks (and teachers) I have seen include annotated
solutions that provide a clear explanation of how a problem progressed
to a solution through each intermediate step (e.g., what rule was
applied, what manipulation was performed, etc.). Good annotations of
solution steps provide not only an explanation of how to progress from
step to step, but can even serve as a sort of built-in remediation in
some cases. For example, a step in a calculus problem may require the
utilization of a trigonometric identity. Identification of this in an
annotation not only explains the transition but can also provide a
remedial effect. Annotations are universal in that they can serve every
student's needs. The advanced students can simply ignore them, while the
struggling students can use them to build up their skills. In fact, a
web-based textbook could even be configured so that every student could
decide for themselves whether to turn on or turn off the annotations.\
\
**Use of Technology to Enhance Math Education**\
\
I have seen some truly impressive web-based technologies, such as Java
applets, living graphs, etc., that could enhance the learning of
mathematics. But I have been surprised by the slow infusion of these
technologies into classrooms and textbooks. The value of these new
technologies is that they permit the student to make real-time, two- or
three-dimensional observations of the behavior of equations at different
values and limits. It makes the learning experience more real and
understandable. Although I am aware of some copyright concerns regarding
the use of electronic (e.g., PDF format) textbooks, students badly need
the ability to search and retrieve information as quickly as possible in
an electronic format.\
\
We are, in my opinion, long overdue for an electronic textbook approach
that resembles a web page. I am not necessarily advocating the complete
abandonment of physical textbooks, but perhaps an approach where the
textbook is bundled with an electronic version available via perhaps a
web account that contains the ability for word searches; quick linking
from tables of contents, glossaries, and indexes; interactive JAVA
applet-based figures and graphs where appropriate, etc. (e.g.,
<http://mathworld.wolfram.com/>).\
\
**The Need for National Math Standards**\
\
It is my sincere hope that by defining what is meant by "competence in
algebra" and "readiness for higher levels of mathematics" as described
in Executive Order 13398, Sec. 4.(a), the Panel will be in a position to
provide meaningful guidance for developing national math standards.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) publishes national standards
(including testing standards) for chemistry. I have been surprised to
discover that there is not, at least to my knowledge, an analogous set
of national standards for mathematics.\
\
**Teacher/Student Diligence**\
\
I have seen several brilliantly knowledgeable math teachers who
displayed only mediocre skill at *conveying* their knowledge in an
absorbable way. I have come to realize that student achievement in
mathematics is not simply a function of the teacher's knowledge of
mathematics, although teacher knowledge is certainly important. In my
opinion, the real magic of student achievement occurs as a result of a
teachers' *skill* at *conveying* their knowledge in an interesting and
organized way that can be easily absorbed by engaged students.\
\
Note that I limited my statement to engaged students. There is a
obviously a certain degree of diligence required of math students
themselves. This is what I think of as the \"you can lead a horse to
water, but you can\'t make him drink\" syndrome. The best teacher,
textbook, and curriculum in the world are all worthless to a student who
is not making the conscious choice of engaging themselves in the
learning process by showing up, paying attention, and absorbing,
applying, and practicing as much as they can. Students cannot be
overlooked as participants in the process.\
\
I mention students because I have seen some evidence in our American
culture, in particular K-12 math classes, of what I refer to as
"glorification of mediocrity" or "antagonism of success." In other
words, a peer pressure environment sometimes exists that utilizes
harassment and embarrassment to prevent some promising students from
achieving their full potential. I have seen potentially excellent
students make a conscious choice to perform badly in order to "fit in"
with their less engaged peers. It seems to fit with the old maxim
"misery loves company" This is perhaps better described as "laziness
loves company."\
\
Every child deserves to be freed from the bondage of what President Bush
has described as the "soft bigotry of low expectations," regardless of
whether that bigotry arises from a teaching institution, a specific
teacher, or a fellow student.\
\
Thank you for the opportunity to comment. I look forward with great
anticipation to the panel's conclusions and recommendations.\
\
Chris Carthel

\-\-\-\--Original Message\-\-\-\--

From: []{#BrianMaryMeyer .anchor}Brian & Mary Meyer
\[mailto:brmeyer@oneota.net\]

Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2006 2:04 PM

To: National Math Panel

Subject: (no subject)

Dear National Math Panel,

I am writing to ask why is there no additional funding specifically set

aside for technical support for secondary schools? Many school\'s

budgets are being cut back and the financial burden is given to the

students and their families. For example, TI-83 plus is approximately

\$100.00 plus tax. How many families can afford that one piece of

equipment when they may have several children needing additional school

supplies?

Wouldn\'t it make sense that the government has set up packages where
the

technology is much cheaper through the school?

Thank you, Mary Meyer

\-\-\-\-\-\-\-- Original Message \-\-\-\-\-\-\--

\> Subject: \"Calculators\", Indeed!

\> []{#JosephNorth .anchor}From: Joseph North

\> Date: Fri, October 13, 2006 12:58 pm

\> To: \<jennifer.graban@ed.gov\>

\>

\> Dear Ms. Jennifer Graban:

\> I would have some comments to share about \"Calculators\",

\> et caetera.

\> Now, when I attended Elementary School and High School

\> in the primitive country to the north of US, known as Canada,

\> circa 1952 - 1962, I never had an Electronic Calculator, and

\> I got a score of 800 / 800 in my SAT Achievement Mathematics

\> test in 1962, just allow me to assure you!

\> At McGill University, circa 1962 - 1966, I was allowed a

\> Slide Rule, even in exams!

\> Now, when I took the GRE in 1973 in Grad School, again up in

\> primitive Canada, intending to be admitted for Ph.D. in Physics

\> and Astronomy at UNC Chapel Hill, NC, my Aptitude Test,

\> Quantitative Ability acore was 720 / 800, just allow me to

\> again assure you! Oh, and I still have my ETS score mailings,

\> just in case you might like to examine same!

\> Now, when I lived in Fairfax County, Northern VA - \[w\]one of

\> the most affluent in America - I would quiz the young adults at

\> the swimming pool where I lived, circa 1999. They could not

\> correctly mentally convert the Fahrenheit temperature of 68

\> degrees to its equivalent Celsius temperature of exactly 20

\> degrees, saying they needed their Calculators to do that!

\> Now, fast forward to about 2 weeks ago at the swimming pool

\> where I live here in North Austin. I was talking with 2 young

\> College age adults, and we got into Math., WOW! So, I asked

\> them what this number was, 0.434294481903\.... They had no idea,

\> however, the young lady told me she had Mathematica installed on

\> her boyfriend\'s 64-bit computer. So, we went to the boyfriend\'s

\> father\'s apt., and they fired up Mathematica, and tried to find

\> out together whatever that crazy number was! And, they worked

\> hard for about 30 minutes before giving up - well, the football

\> game - Ohio State & our Longhorns - was about to begin, and that

\> was also important to them.

\> I asked if I could try it out, after the game had started.

\> They said I could. Now, I hadn\'t used Mathematica for about 20

\> years, and it employs some weird syntax, differing from that of

\> bc, PARI/GP, Maple, maxima, et caetera. So, I looked at the most

\> extensive online help provided by Mathematica, and, within \~ 10

\> minutes, I showed them what it - 0.434294481903\... - was! They

\> were all (including Dad) happy, and so WAS I!!

\> So, what lessons might we glean therefrom?! The use of complicated
\"Calculators\",

Graphing \"Calculators\", as well as

\> vastly more powerful Computer Algebra software does a disservice

\> to students who have NOT had a chance to really explore numbers -

\> with mind, pencil, and paper - as I HAD up in primitive Canada

\> so long ago, I believe!

\> Penultimately, then, what was that crazy number, please???!!!

\> \"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.\"\>
(ref.: John 8:32, KJV, 1611) therefor! Tempus fugit et ad augusta per
angusta. Nil desparare (Gauss), Joseph Roy D. North

\-\-\-\--Original Message\-\-\-\--

From: []{#JackFretwell .anchor}Jack Fretwell

Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006 2:51 PM

To: National Math Panel

Subject: RE: June 29th Public Comment

Hi Jennifer,

I can\'t make the Boston meeting and I know it\'s late, but  will you be
able to do anything with the attached comment?

 

Jack Fretwell

Starboard Training Systems

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\-\-\-\--Original Message\-\-\-\--

From: []{#StanDoore .anchor}Stan Doore

Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2006 12:15 PM

To: National Math Panel

Subject: Re: Comments followup

Hi:

I mailed a copy of the recommendations to Dr. Olsen at the NAS last
week.  I then thought I should email a copy to you all.  I hope this
didn\'t confuse you too much.  A copy of the letter is attached in PDF
format.

 

Regards, Stan Doore

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\-\-\-\--Original Message\-\-\-\--

From: []{#MelissaKalinowski .anchor}Melissa Kalinowski

Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2006 7:56 PM

To: National Math Panel

Subject: RE: National Math Panel Meeting in Cambridge from 9/13-14

Hi Jennifer,

Please accept the submission of written comments for the National Math
Panel meeting. Best regards.

Melissa Kalinowski

Elementary Marketing Director

PLATO Learning

![](media/image3.wmf)

\-\-\-\--Original Message\-\-\-\--

From: []{#BenWeintraub .anchor}Ben Weintraub

Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 5:56 PM

To: National Math Panel

Subject: National Math Panel Testimony

My name is Ben Weintraub. I am the CEO of Merit Software. Merit Software
has been producing educational math software sold to schools since 1983.
I have been with the company since 1990.

When the No Child Left Behind Act was passed, we sought to conduct
scientific-based research on the efficacy of our products. Prior to
2001, Merit had received a lot of nice comments from teachers about our
products. Many teachers had told us they were sure that our software was
the reason that their students improved their math ability.

The software is known for providing context-sensitive tutorials for
students while tracking scores for teachers. The approach allows
students to apply skills as they learn them, breaks troublesome concepts
down into understandable parts, provides multiple forms of help when
needed, and enhances communication among students, teachers, parents,
and administrators.

We felt that Merit programs were a good candidate to be the subject of
research because all student work is done on the computer, time-on-task
can be measured, and students advance when they demonstrate readiness.

In 2002 we began a research partnership with faculty at the Marshall
University Graduate School of Education in West Virginia to evaluate
Merit as a curriculum supplement.

The initial research was conducted on the use of Merit reading and
writing programs at a rural middle school. The evaluation was a
longitudinal study and divided students into control and treatment
groups. The results showed that the lower quartile students made
long-term gains in reading/language arts, and other subjects that were
not covered by the software. Math was one of these subjects. A paper
about the research was published this summer in the Journal of Computer
Assisted Learning.

In 2005 another study was started using Merit math software at a urban
middle school. In this evaluation, the school used our software for
fractions, word problems, pre-algebra, and basic algebra. The results
showed that:

\- The standardized test scores of the Merit treatment group were higher
compared to those who did not use the software.

\- The treatment has an extremely large impact. An effect size of .844
was calculated for the treatment group\'s test scores. Following
established guidelines by Cohen, where .14 is considered to be a large
impact, .844 indicates a substantial increase in math scores from pre to
post test.

\- A p-value of .001 was determined for the math scores of the treatment
group. This is evidence that these results were not a fluke or a
statistical oddity.

\- Positive results transferred to other areas of academic achievement.
Gains were seen in test scores for science, social studies and
reading/language arts.

\- Socioeconomic variables, such as ethnicity and free-lunch
eligibility, were found to be a statistically insignificant factor in
overall test scores gains.

A detailed paper about this research, which has been submitted as
exhibit to my testimony, was published this summer in i-Manager\'s
Journal of Educational Technology.

In conclusion, today\'s curriculum supplements can be very powerful and
can have a dramatic effect on student performance. Clearly there are
ways to prepare our nation\'s students for algebra. The evidence shows
that using supplemental software in schools can work.

Not every math software product sold to schools does work, or can work.
However, the ones that will work provide personalized instruction; allow
students to apply skills as they learn them; and tap into students\' own
desire to improve their skills.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance to the Panel.

Ben Weintraub

Merit Software

![](media/image4.wmf)![](media/image5.wmf)

\-\-\-\--Original Message\-\-\-\--\
**From:** STANLEY DOORE \[mailto:stan.doore@verizon.net\]\
**Sent:** Saturday, June 17, 2006 6:51 AM\
**To:** National Math Panel\
**Subject:** Suggestions & Comments for the NMP

Attached are two white papers (without graphics) which I gave to the
NMP: one on the use of video game platforms for educational purposes and
the other about teaching and using the International system of Units
(SI) exclusively in science courses and classes.

 

I sent these together with five copies of the SI UNITS poster with a
cover letter by mail to many members and ex-officio members of the NMP
following its May 22 meeting.  (I couldn\'t find addresses for some
members.)  Also, following is my letter to the editor published in The
Washington Times on 2006 June 16 which should be of interest to the NMP
concerning the evaluation of schools.

 

Please see that the NMP and others get these suggestions and
information.

 

Regards,

 

G. Stanley Doore

email:  <Stan.Doore@verizon.net>

 

  From **The Washington Times 2006 June 16** issue\
  \
    **Evaluating schools**\
    The manipulation of school evaluation, outlined in \"Student pool
manipulated for tests, report finds\" (Nation, Wednesday) can be reduced
substantially by using automated assisted learning (AAL). The article
tells how schools use tactics to prevent students who perform poorly
from taking tests used to measure school performance.\
    It\'s time to implement AAL across the board because it focuses on
learners rather than on schools. Evaluation of schools can be an
objective byproduct.\
    Video-game platforms such as the PlayStation Portable, Nintendo and
other video devices are ideal for providing more flexibility and
accountability in learning. Results can\'t be manipulated easily because
progress (testing) is built into AAL software. AAL can measure how much
students have progressed in a subject and help teachers identify much
more quickly those who need help. It\'s student-centered learning.\
    Because scoring is inherent in the software, automated assisted
learning scores could be used for graduation purposes. There would be no
need for the \"high stakes\" mass testing and test-taking preparation
being used now. Learners could progress at their own pace, wherever they
are, at times convenient to them. Moreover, AAL could be used by people
of all ages to help raise the education level of the entire population.
AAL would be a consistent and known standard.\
    It\'s time to transform our education system into a modern system of
learning using inexpensive technologies readily available.\
    \
    G. STANLEY DOORE\
    Silver Spring \
    

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\-\-\-\--Original Message\-\-\-\--

From: []{#ForrestHobbs .anchor}Forrest Hobbs

Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2006 3:58 PM

To: National Math Panel

Subject: Math curriculum review

I would like to send information about the Math-U-See curriculum for

the panels review. Our website is www.mathusee.com. We have been

involved in the home school/private tutorial world and have grown into

the recommended curriculum for most all learning challenged students.

We are designed very differently than a standard school book with

multiple strands of mathematics concurrently. We use manipulative

based methods up through Algebra 1 as well. I am hoping to introduce

the panel to what we have to offer children from Kindergarten through

pre-Calculus/Trigonometry. Thanks for your attention.

Sincerely, Forrest Hobbs; Regional Representative of Math-U-See, Inc.

\-\-\-\--Original Message\-\-\-\--\
**From:** []{#JosephMalkevitch .anchor}Joseph Malkevitch
\[mailto:joeyc@cunyvm.cuny.edu\]\
**Sent:** Thursday, May 11, 2006 10:20 PM\
**To:** National Math Panel\
**Cc:** joseph malkevitch\
**Subject:** Mathematics Education

Dear Advisory Panel,

I have read President Bush\'s Executive Order which charges the National
Advisory Mathematics Panel. I am concerned  that the way the charges to
this Panel are framed, there is a high risk that a system which has been
doing a good job and has been improving will be changed in a way that
damages mathematics education in the United States.

In optimizing the teaching of mathematics in the United States we need
to balance the need to train large enough numbers of STEM workers
without producing the large number of math-phobic Americans which has
been a consequence of America\'s approach to mathematics education in
the past. Producing large numbers of math-phobic Americans produces a
cycle where many children do not take the interest in STEM subjects that
they might because of parental attitudes. Although America has brought
forth such remarkable mathematicians as Michael Friedman, Stephen Smale,
and William Thurston (to mention but a few), we have also for
generations produced otherwise well educated Americans who openly
acknowledge a lack of understanding of the purpose and value of
mathematics. This, despite the fact that on a daily basis these
individuals take advantage of cell phones, computers, DVD\'s, and
medical imaging techniques which would not exist without mathematics
developed in the 20th century.  

Currently, America is the envy of many countries (both in the Far East
and Europe) in having developed highly creative practitioners of
mathematics. Some statements in the Executive Order suggest to me a bias
which will not give enough attention to new tools that are increasingly
becoming part of K-12 curriculum (e.g. probability, statistics, graph
theory, use of computers and calculators) and points of view about the
reason to study mathematics (to get insight into questions about
optimization, fairness, information, risk, etc.) in favor of unwarranted
attention to mechanical skills in arithmetic and algebra. There are
hints in the charge to the advisory panel that instead of optimizing
mathematical content and conceptualization, the emphasis will be on
regimentation of the way mathematics is delivered to the students.
Instead of emphasizing traditional basic skills, we should be teaching
mathematical modeling tools that make it possible to use mathematical
ideas in a flexible way when faced with new situations. Let us not undo
the progress being made by having innovative Liberal Arts mathematics
courses in college that are helping educate future parents and Americans
with a broader vision of what mathematics is truly about and how
applications of mathematics pervade modern life. We need to broaden the
reforms set in motion by the NCTM\'s Standards so that America can meet
its needs for STEM discipline students while developing a general public
who are knowledgeable about mathematics and its nature.

Sincerely,

Joseph Malkevitch

Joseph Malkevitch

Department of Mathematics

York College (CUNY)

Jamaica, New York 11451