by NCTM President Henry (Hank) Kepner
NCTM News Bulletin, May/June 2008 (PDF)
As I begin my tenure as NCTM president, I am humbled by the responsibility that you have entrusted to me. I will guide the Council in realizing its mission—serving as an ever more powerful public voice for mathematics education, providing vision, leadership, and professional development to support teachers in ensuring equitable mathematics learning of the highest quality for all students.
I look forward to helping NCTM take advantage of the interest generated by the National Mathematics Advisory Panel’s recently released report, Foundations for Success, to turn public attention to the teaching and learning of mathematics. NCTM has issued a preliminary response to its Principal Messages, and the Board and several committees will be studying the report and task group documents in greater depth.
A year and a half after its release, NCTM’s Curriculum Focal Points for Prekindergarten through Grade 8: A Quest for Coherence and related materials have been downloaded more than a million times and continue to serve as visible, valuable resources. In a significant new development, NCTM has just released Focus in Grades 3–5, the first in a series of publications to support educators in the implementation of a curriculum based on the focal points.
As president, I will be privileged to unveil a major publication devoted to curricular considerations in support of mathematical reasoning and sense making at the high school level. Building on NCTM’s Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, the new project also emphasizes that students should experience problems that they can solve with understanding by making use of representations and connections, and communicating their mathematical reasoning and results clearly and effectively.
The success of such ambitious curricular initiatives as these depends on a highly skilled corps of mathematics educators. I will support and expand NCTM’s efforts to provide professional development and outreach to teachers, including on-the-job support through publications, educational materials, e-workshops, online resources, and pilot programs, that address the mathematical knowledge necessary for teaching.
I am delighted that the Council has established equity as a strategic priority. As president, I pledge to use my experience and energy to help NCTM realize its vision of equitable instruction for all students. NCTM recently hosted a summit in which national Affiliates shared expertise on issues of equity and discussed how to leverage efforts for students. One of my goals is to make sure that equity efforts are expanded to forge a stronger connection with students with special needs, including the “gifted” and “at-risk.”
During my presidency, NCTM’s research clips and briefs will continue to provide teachers with useful, practical, research-based information on topics of pedagogical relevance. I am excited about NCTM’s Research Agenda Conference this summer, bringing together researchers, practitioners, mathematicians, and policy leaders to recommend issues of high priority for research that will be useful to practitioners.
According to the report of the National Math Panel (2008), “instructional practice should be informed by high-quality research ... and by the best professional judgment and experience of accomplished classroom teachers” (p. xiv). I envision NCTM as the premier source of “professional judgment and experience of accomplished classroom teachers.” I look forward to working with you in our common quest to guarantee a mathematics education of the highest quality for every student.