Alegebra teachers have their say.

In 2006 President Bush appointed the National Advisory Panel to "...to foster greater knowledge of and improve performance in mathematics among American students..."

During the 20 months the Panel conducted a survey of 743 teachers who revealed that their student's background preparation for Algebra 1 was weak.  The teachers indicated that students need to become more prorficient with basic mathematical concepts and skills.  A sample response from a teacher was:

"Students need to be better prepared in basic math skills and not be quite so calculator dependent.  Also, more training in thinking skills."

I personally believe that students who have the ability to reason through a difficult problem, or take a situation and identify multiply ways to come to a solution, will be better prepared for their math classes in high school.  In elementary school, students need to be given the tools they need to compete, and a solid understanding of the math basics should be one of those tools.  It is very interesting to me to see these kinds of responses from teachers.  Hopefully the information in this report will make it to the appropriate people that will work to implement the suggestions.

To find more information on the report from the National Math Panel visit www.ed.gov/MathPanel.