Commentary on the Final Report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel

Foundations for Success: The Final Report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel (2008) excludes the view of students learning the social practices of mathematical reasoning and the use of mathematics in understanding and modeling situations. The authors argue that by filtering research to only “statistically significant individual effects, significant positive mean effect size, or equivalent consistent positive findings,” the report misrepresents the resources that education research affords for improving mathematics education and education in general. The authors argue that only offering research results of statistical comparisons is inappropriately limited. They recall a strategy developed by the National Academy of Education in which researchers and educators collaborate to strengthen educational practice in local settings and to provide analyses and develop resources intended to support travel of their innovations to other sites.