Views on High School Mathematics Education

This web page presents responses of mathematicians, mathematics educators and teachers of mathematics, to a set of questions on secondary education in mathematics. These are the questions:

1. When you consider what high school graduates should understand about mathematics, what do you care about most?

2. What do you think should be essential features of every high school mathematics curriculum?

3. How would we know when high school mathematics education is working well?

4. What do you think is most important in the mathematical background, attitude towards mathematics, and pedagogical approaches of high school mathematics teachers?

5. What first attracted you to mathematics?

6. What are your expectations of higher education in mathematics (a) for your own students as they go on to colleges and universities and (b) for prospective mathematics teachers? (asked of high school mathematics teachers only)

This project was inspired by the efforts of Al Cuoco and Wayne Harvey of Education Development Center, Inc. to increase the involvement of mathematicians in high school mathematics education. Their work has resulted in a project funded by the National Science Foundation and entitled Building on Strengths: Stimulating Cooperation Among Mathematicians and Mathematics Educators.

Selected responses to the five questions appeared in the August 1996, September 1996, and February 1997 issues of the Notices. The names of the respondents and their affiliations are:

Joshua Abrams, Massachusetts Academy of Mathematics and Science, Wocester, MA

Susan Addington, California State University, San Bernardino

George Andrews, Pennsylvania State University

Richard Askey, University of Wisconsin, Madison

William Barker, Bowdoin College

Hyman Bass, Columbia University

Curtis Bennett, Bowling Green State University

Mark Bridger, Northeastern University

Judith Broadwin, Jericho High School, Jericho, NY

Maureen Burkhart, John Marshall High School, Los Angeles, CA

Janice A. Bussey, Tracy High School and Merrill F. West High School, Tracy, CA

Carol Castellon, University Laboratory High School, Urbana, IL

Loring Coes, Rocky Hill School, East Greenwich, RI

Amy Cohen, Rutgers University

John B. Conway, University of Tennessee

David Cox, Amherst College

Arnie Cutler, The Geometry Center, Minneapolis, MN

Margaret DeArmond, East Bakersfield High School, Bakersfield, CA

Walter R. Dodge, New Trier High School, Winnetka, IL

Edward Effros, University of California, Los Angeles

Solomon Garfunkel, Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications

Andrew Granville and John Hollingsworth, University of Georgia

Leon Henkin, University of California, Berkeley

Boyd Hemphill, John Cooper School, The Woodlands, TX

Diana Herrington, Clovis High School, Clovis, CA

Jo Ellen Hillyer, Newton North High School Newton, MA

Roger Howe, Yale University

Deborah Hughes Hallett, Harvard University

Fern Hunt, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Raymond Johnson, University of Maryland

Dan Kennedy, Baylor School, Chattanooga, TN

Harvey Keynes, University of Minnesota, Member

Cynthia Lanius, Milby High School, Houston, TX

John R. Lassen, Mountain Pointe High School, Phoenix, AZ

Catherine Latham, Lynn English High School, Lynn, MA

Johnny W. Lott, SIMMS Project, University of Montana, Missoula

Philip R. Mallinson, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH

Kenneth Millett, University of California, Santa Barbara

Eleanor Palais, Belmont High School, Belmont, MA

George Papanicolaou, Stanford University

Stephanie J. Peterson, Chandler High School, Chandler, AZ

Stephen Rodi, Austin Community College

Judith Roitman, University of Kansas

Susan S. Roosenraad, Northfield High School, Northfield, MN

Arnold Ross, Ohio State University

Han Sah, State University of New York at Stony Brook

Michael Sherman, Belmont Hill School, Belmont, MA

Glenn Stevens, Boston University

Jackie Sullivan, Clovis High School, Clovis, CA

Wendy Tokumine, Farrington High School, Honolulu, HI

Alan Tucker, State University of New York at Stony Brook

Zalman Usiskin, University of Chicago School Mathematics Project

H. Wu, University of California, Berkeley