Since the project I am working on at the National Council on Teacher Quality lies in a series of studies examining schools of education, let’s examine how the organization framed their last study in this series, No Common Denominator: The Preparation of Elementary Teacher in Mathematics by America’s Education Schools (Summary, Full report).

The report’s executive summary begins by stating the problem clearly and directly:

The impetus for this study is the mediocre performance of American students’ in mathematics compared to their counterparts around the world.

By referencing this problem, NCTQ taps into a popular refrain in today’s education policy debates. The TIMSS report highlighted this problem most recently, fueling a focus on STEM education in America. However, this problem also has a historical resonance for Americans, going back to the education panic sparked by the launching of Sputnik, through A Nation at Risk, to today’s fear of emerging competition with technologically advancing India and China. The story is familiar and that bolsters the broad-consensus in America that this is a problem and it does need to be addressed.

NCTQ claims this problem begins at an early age, with students not learning the fundamentals of math in elementary schools. Why? The study claims the students’ teachers are not adequately prepared to teach them mathematics.

a critical consideration must be the foundations laid in elementary school because mathematics relies heavily on cumulative knowledge. The link from there to the capability of elementary teachers to provide effective instruction in mathematics is immediate. Unfortunately, by a variety of measures, many American elementary teachers are weak in mathematics and are too often described, both by themselves and those who prepare them, as “math phobic.”

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Chad’s post on “The Quick and the Ed” led to a quick debate about the value of “new math” and specifically long division, an old algorithm to which Chad claims allegiance. First, let me disclose that I taught Everyday Math and love it, and that I hated long division in school. That said, I taught it here in DC, where it has not been dramatically successful (yes, Accountability People, my kids scores did go up while using the program). Yet I’m still a proponent of “new math,” and if you’re not, indulge me for a moment while I try to convince you.

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