In a New York Times story summarizing a national report advocating teaching only a few basic math skills in each grade instead of many, mathematics professor Sybilla Beckmann, who helped author the report, helps to explain things. “We tried to identify the really key things, the things a student has to focus on to progress,” she said. “People like to paint this in terms of black and white, back-to-basics and constructivism, but I think there’s a lot of agreement about what students need to know.”