The editor of the JRME Monograph Series describes the new review process, which more closely resembles that of submitting a book proposal. He also explores the form that a monograph’s content can take, such as being a treatise on a single issue, a report of a lengthy research study, a report of a series of studies, or a synthesis of a large body of research.

The study of functions is a critical route into teaching and learning algebra in the elementary grades, yet important questions remain regarding the nature of young children’s understanding of functions. This article reports an empirically developed learning trajectory in first-grade children’s (6-year-olds’) thinking about generalizing functional relationships. Findings suggest that children can learn to think in quite sophisticated and generalized ways about relationships in function data, thus challenging the typical curricular approach in the lower elementary grades in which children consider only variation in a single sequence of values.

This study concentrated on the theory–practice problem in mathematics teacher education. The authors examined 13 student teachers’ use of theory when they reflected on teaching practice in a class specifically designed to optimize the chance for theory use. The authors describe a case study that illustrates the nature and level of one student teacher’s use of theory and discuss variations in all the student teachers’ reasoning and differences in their depth of theory use.

The author introduces the construct of fragile and robust mathematical identities to explore the experiences that influenced the mathematical and racial identities of high-achieving Black college students in mathematics and engineering. These students maintained high levels of academic achievement in these fields while enduring marginalization, stereotyping, and other forms of racialization. The author recommends more nuanced interpretations of the interplay of human development, racialized experiences, and distinctly race-related risk and protective factors that complicate mathematical identity formation for Black college students in mathematics and engineering fields.

Guest editors and reviewers are acknowledged for their work on the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education in 2014.

The index covers the January 2015 to November 2015 issues of the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education.

The Editorial Panel of Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School is seeking submissions for the department, Informing Practice. The articles written for this department should entice and invite classroom teachers to learn about aspects of research that are closely related to their classroom practice.