Policy, politics and the national mathematics advisory panel report: Topology, functions, and limits

Analyzing Foundations for Success: The Final Report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel (2008), the author situates it in evolving U.S. intergovernmental relations about education, ongoing policy discourses, and texts. State and local policy makers exercise considerable discretion on education, even with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Federal policy makers rely on these policy makers and an expanding extrasystem of education providers to implement their proposals. The report’s alignment with some key ideas in current policy discourses may increase the likelihood that some recommendations will get attention, but intergovernmental arrangements, changing political winds, and worsening economic circumstances pose major implementation hurdles.