Ruminations on the Final Report of the National Mathematics Panel

National Mathematics Advisory Panel (NMAP, 2008) was released. President George W. Bush had established the Panel and charged its members to use the best available scientific research to give advice on how to improve mathematics education. The Panel “found no research or insufficient research relating to a great many matters of concern in educational policy and practice” (p. xv). The Panel acknowledged that, in light of the perceived lack of high-quality research, instructional practice should also be informed by “the best professional judgment and experience of accomplished classroom teachers” (p. xiv). My goal in this article is to illustrate some of the points made in The Final Report using my own experiences. Many, but not all, of the illustrations used in this article will refer to the experiences in the middle school. The illustrations represent principles I especially would like to convey to pre-service teachers.