Welcome to Steve's Blog

Rejuvenating the Mathematics Education Profession

An Unsolicited Proposal to NCTM from Steven Rasmussen for a New 10-Year Strategic Direction

2009 will mark the 20th anniversary of the release of NCTM’s Mathematics Content Standards, an ambitious attempt by our professional community to offer strategic vision for mathematics education in U.S. schools.  Ever since their release, NCTM has invested a large portion of its organizational efforts and resources in building support for that vision.  The “standards movement,” begun by NCTM, has taken hold in mathematics and across disciplines.  Most states have ratified NCTM’s vision and incorporated our Standards into standards documents of their own, and curriculum has changed as a result.

Welcome to My Taxi Diaries—Commentary on My Mathematical Adventures in Asia

Click this Link to Visit My Taxi Diaries (password protected)

Please email me if you would like a password to access the Taxi Diaries.

Background on Taxi Diaries:

I originally set up my Taxi Diaries blog to accompany my talk for the California Math Council’s 2007 Conference in Asilomar, Reflections on Math Education in Asia: a Math Travelogue.  I have revised it for my talk at the 2008 meeting of the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics in Salt Lake City.  I will maintain it and add to it from time to time for friends and colleagues interested in Asia and my reflections on mathematics education there.  This is not written as a public, published blog.  From time to time I will excerpt material and develop it for publication.

Final Report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel

Some Observations after Reading the Final Report

On the day that the NMAP released its final report to the public, I was interviewed by Sean Cavanaugh, a reporter from Education Week. The thoughts in this post were penned in preparation for that interview. Cavanagh's article can be read by clicking this link: Panel Calls for Systematic, Basic Approach to Math.

NPR—China’s Labor Advances May Affect US Prices

It's not just me saying it!

On April 3 I listened to an interesting discussion of economic change in China on National Public Radio (China’s Labor Advances May Affect US Prices. In the story, NPR host Steve Inskeep talked with NPR's Frank Langfitt and Alexandra Harney, author of  The China Price, about what the future may hold for the world economy. One topic was the need for Asian countries, China and India specifically, to shift their education programs to stress innovation.

Will We Go the Way of the Codfish?

Math and Science Teachers in the United States: Will We Go the Way of the Codfish—or Will Our Country Invest to Rebuild Our Stock?

(Note: I wrote this piece in the fall.  Some of the data may already be dated.  If you have relevant data on this issue, please send it to me via the comment facility of this blog--or point me in the direction of data if you know where I should look.  Thanks.)

Many public and private reports over the last decade have spotlighted the pipeline crisis faced by schools as they try to place qualified teachers in classrooms. President Bush, in his 2006 State of the Union address, brought unprecedented attention to the problem. It’s clear that our country is threatened by a crisis in education that undermines the sustainability of America’s future as a world technological and scientific leader. Solving America’s crisis in mathematics education requires unprecedented steps to recruit, develop and retain qualified new math teachers. But, surprisingly, there seems to be very little organized effort to quantify the problem or model strategies to solve the crisis, let alone sustained national effort to address the crisis with policies and programs and dollars.

Social Dimensions of Technology

Adapted from remarks prepared for a seminar at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, March 2007

Note: this seminar was aimed at educational journalists. It was organized by the School of Journalism and the Algebra Project. I was on a panel of six and our moderator was Danny Glover, who is a big spporter of Bob Moses and the Algebra Project. I was excited that I'd be introduced by Danny Glover. I don't usually get introduced by celebrities. I spoke last and just as Danny was about to introduce me, he got a cell call and had to step out of the room. So someone just as nice but far less distinguished stepped in. Later that night at a NYC restaurant with my wife and kids I made Danny "introduce" me. So now I can rightfully claim I've been introduced by Danny Glover—even if he only introduced me to my wife and daughter and her boyfriend!

I am a publisher of mathematics and science materials for schools and a developer (www.kcptech.com) of educational software.  The materials that I publish share an educational point of view—they support student inquiry, collaborative and interactive pedagogies, conceptual knowledge as a requisite for procedural fluency, independence in analysis and thought, and engagement as the key to student success.  The technology that our company develops—The Geometer’s Sketchpad, Fathom, and TinkerPlots—are among the most widely used and ratified school software tools in the world.  It is from the perspective of my work in software development, funded in part by the National Science Foundation, and my work with educational policymakers and organizations in more than a score of countries, that I share these thoughts,  I am more activist than academic, although I make my contribution to change indirectly by producing materials that enable qualitative change in classrooms.  With respect to technology, I would like to raise a few issues that, in my experience, merit attention in a discussion about the interactions between education, social justice, and the media.  These are three-fourths developed ideas, written to provoke other ideas—perhaps yours, certainly mine.

Buy "Steve's Algebra Pill"

Faster, Cheaper, More Effective!

If I were to start over in business in 2008, I would announce and sell “Steve’s Algebra Pill”—a simple remedy that, if taken daily, would ensure success on a standardized test and miraculously move a child from below basic to proficient on anyone’s assessment—guaranteed.  After all, that’s what our country wants.  And, amazingly, it seems many inside and outside the education community are ready to buy—if only we can deliver the exact formula combining standards, assessments, and curriculum. States refer to the magic mix as “alignment,” (as in “the planets are perfectly aligned”) and sincerely believe that it alone will magically trigger student success.  I think I’ll target governors as my first customers.
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Elsewhere in this blog (see my Taxi Diaries), I discuss my observations over 25 years working in Asia on mathematics education.  I’ve visited many countries that we, in the United States, perceive to have already discovered the magical cure. I’ve talked to and worked with colleagues at all levels in those countries—from teachers to ministers of education.  I’ve looked at standards (uninspiring for the most part), curriculum (ranges from very good to boring and archaic), and assessments (dominated by the all-important college entrance exam that mediates the scarce resource of a college education).  I’ve visited classrooms and talked with students.  I’ve visited universities.  All the while looking for the magic formula that I could import and sell here in the U.S.

To my dismay, I’ve come to a simple conclusion about legendary mathematical miracle cures thought to exist Asia.  There is no magic formula there.  1.  Most Asian countries invest vastly more resources in education (relative to their economies) than we do in the U.S.  They support and fund education at levels that allow student and teacher success.  And guess what—it pays off. 2. When faced with the enormous pressure to accomplish in order to get into the university, kids will work hard—and families will support and urge their kids to work hard, sacrificing a lot, to help them succeed.

Unfortunately, this simple truth won’t help me make money.  Adequate funding of education is too tough a proposition to sell.  And I don't think we're going to accept a driving principle that only 5, 10, or 20 percent of our children are going to go to college.  Better to keep my mouth shut and go with the Algebra Pill.

If selling my Algebra Pill doesn’t work, I think I’ll try: “Tax Shelters for the Rich: Invest in the Booming Mathematics Failure Industry, Make Millions, and Help the U.S. Economy Out of Recession.”

Want to invest?