[jackmaney]

> I would like to see every elementary school have a math specialist, who knows advanced math, to help students with their overall understanding when they get off track.

Note: This response is US-centric.

These individuals are exceedingly rare (if they exist at all). In fact, I would be absolutely shocked if 100 such people existed. College students who go into Elementary Education are stereotypically terrified of mathematics, and they have (at most) one required math course. This course is a "general methods" course that essentially acts as a survey of the elementary school mathematics that they'll be teaching.

[pflats]

There are more than you think, I assure you. Consider the people who write elementary curricula, who implement it in large cities, who teach middle school and high school mathematics but might prefer to teach just mathematics at an elementary level. Consider NCTM[1], TERC[2], EDC[3], and UChicago[4], and their programs and work. Consider the math coaches, who instruct their peer elementary teachers on teaching mathematics.

Until these positions exist, are respected, and are not first on the chopping block the next time budget cuts roll around, these people will continue to exist under the radar. (I'd gladly transfer into a Elementary Math Specialist position, if I was sure it wouldn't threaten my family's livelihood.)

[1]: http://www.nctm.org/resources/elementary.aspx

[2]: https://www.terc.edu/display/About/Mission+and+Vision

[3]: http://ltd.edc.org/mathematics

[4]: http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu