Clements Named to President's National Mathematics Advisory Panel

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A University at Buffalo professor who has spent his career ensuring that underrepresented children's potential to learn math does not go unrealized has been named a member of the President's National Mathematics Advisory Panel (NMP).

Douglas H. Clements joins 16 other experts on the panel, which was formed in April 2006. A professor in the Department of Learning and Instruction in the Graduate School of Education (GSE), Clements is nationally recognized as an expert in early childhood mathematics education and the role of computers and technology in education.

The panel, which also includes six ex-officio members, advises President Bush and U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings on the best use of scientifically based research to advance the teaching and learning of mathematics.

"To keep America competitive in the 21st century, we must improve the way we teach math and we must give more students the chance to take advanced math and science courses in high school," Spellings said in announcing the appointment of additional members to the panel. "America's high school graduates need solid math skills, whether proceeding to college or going into the workforce."

UB President John B. Simpson noted that the critical role that a solid foundation in mathematics education plays in preparing students to succeed in the 21st century has been a subject of increasing national interest. 

"Public research universities like UB," he noted, "are uniquely positioned to address issues like this, and nowhere is this potential more evident than through the application of truly revolutionary research like the early childhood models of pedagogy that Professor Clements has pioneered.

"As an internationally distinguished scholar in the field of early childhood math research and development, Professor Clements is in the vanguard of this field of inquiry," Simpson added. "Few in the academy -- or outside it -- understand the critical importance of this endeavor as deeply as Professor Clements, and as his inclusion among the handful of scholars in the nation appointed to this federal

advisory panel attests, even fewer have exerted the kind of far-reaching impact that he has done."

Mary H. Gresham, dean of the Graduate School of Education, also praised Clements' appointment to the prestigious panel.

"Professor Clements is the type of faculty member everyone wants," she said. "His research is innovative and challenges practices that impede student and teacher achievement. At the same time, it is highly valued for its relevance to the profession.

"His appointment to the President's panel is an acknowledgement of his stature in the field of mathematics education and is an extremely well-deserved kudo for this wonderful educator," Gresham added.

Clements said he is honored to be one of the members charged with the responsibility to create recommendations for major changes and specific directions for mathematics education in the United States. He said he also is proud to represent UB at the national level.

"This is exciting news for mathematics education at UB, as it will give that program, and the Graduate School of Education (GSE), additional national visibility," Clements said. "It's an honor to be chosen for the panel in a process that respects a variety of realms of expertise."

Clements received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities in 2006, and is a recipient of UB's "Sustained Achievement" award. He received his doctorate from UB in 1983 and has taught at the university since 1988.

Clements' work has been supported through a number of grants from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Educational Sciences (IES) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

In 2005, those organizations joined with the National Institutes of Health to form the Interagency Education Research Initiative (IERI) program, which bestowed a five-year, $6 million grant to Clements and his GSE colleagues – Julie A. Sarama, associate professor of learning and instruction, and Jaekyung Lee, assistant professor in counseling, school and educational psychology – to "scale up" the model for implementing their research-based pre-kindergarten mathematics curriculum.

The funding enabled the trio to implement Sarama and Clements' already-successful TRIAD intervention, including the "Building Blocks" pre-K mathematics curriculum and extensive professional development, on a much wider basis to discover its adaptability and impact longitudinally and nationally.

The program name TRIAD is an acronym for "technology-enhanced, research-based instruction, assessment and professional development." Although the TRIAD intervention has been shown to increase math achievement in young children, especially those at risk, Clements said in 2005 that a larger sampling was needed to see how the program works in a variety of school systems, more distant from the developers.

Further, "effective scale-up considers not only an increase in the number of classrooms, but also increased diversity of settings, increased complexity and the challenges of sustainability," he said. "It uses strategies to achieve broad success and avoid the dilution and pollution that often plagues such efforts."

TRIAD has been implemented in pre-kindergarten teachers and children in three states, with children from 150 pre-K classrooms being followed through their completion of first grade.

In New York, local participating schools include preschool classrooms in the Buffalo Public Schools. Preschool data has been collected, and the program is being widened next year. In Massachusetts, the Boston Public Schools have participated in the project and are likewise expanding it on their own to all classrooms. In a recent development, IES increased the grant to $7.2 million, so that schools in Nashville, Tenn., could be included.

Clements has published more than 100 refereed research articles, eight books, 50 book chapters and 200 additional publications in the areas of mathematics education, educational technology and early childhood education. He is active in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), was chair of the editorial panel of the council's Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, and was a writer on NCTM's Principles and Standards in Mathematics Education and the recent Curriculum Focal Points for Prekindergarten to Grade 8 Mathematics: A Quest for Coherence.

The NMP, modeled after the National Reading Panel, examines and summarizes the scientific evidence related to the teaching and learning of mathematics, with a specific focus on preparation for and success in learning algebra. The panel will issue a final report by Feb. 28, 2008, that provides policy recommendations on how to improve mathematics achievement for all students. Among the topics addressed by the panel are critical skills and skill progressions needed to learn algebra and prepare for more advanced courses; the proper role and design of standards and assessment in promoting student competence in math; and the processes by which students of various abilities or backgrounds learn math.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, the largest and most comprehensive campus in the State University of New York.

Clements is a resident of Williamsville.