Educators, researchers, and other partners in education reform have carefully articulated a new vision of mathematics learning and curriculum in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' (NCTM's) Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989). NCTM took the first step toward preparing today's students for tomorrow's challenges in 1986, when it charged the Commission on Standards for School Mathematics to create (1) a coherent definition of what it means to be mathematically literate, and (2) a set of standards that would guide efforts to revise and improve school mathematics curricula and to evaluate the success of mathematics reform. The resulting NCTM Standards should be viewed as facilitators of reform, rather than as a set of directives. They are designed to help schools achieve national expectations, while allowing and encouraging local initiatives.
The Standards represent a major effort to develop mathematically literate citizens. They are intended "to ensure quality, to indicate goals, and to promote change" (NCTM, 1989, p. 2). They stress the need to provide all students with "opportunities to share the new vision of mathematics and to learn in ways consistent with it. Students should be encouraged and enabled to explore, reason logically, draw inferences, and employ a variety of mathematical methods to become mathematically literate." (NCTM, 1989, p. 6) To help students develop their mathematical power, the Standards list five goals for students. They also offer a summary of changes in content and emphasis in mathematics that focuses on problem solving, reasoning, communicating, representing mathematical situations in a variety of ways (verbally, numerically, graphically, geometrically, or symbolically), and connecting mathematics to other academic subjects and to the world outside of school. Content-specific standards have been written for three grade- level groups: K-4, 5-8, and 9-12. Each set of standards discusses the need to accommodate students' differing talents, abilities, interests, achievements, and special needs.
Soon after the Standards appeared, mathematics educators asked for greater direction to help them achieve the type of teaching and learning described in the Standards. In response, NCTM developed a second set of standards, Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM, 1991). The Professional Standards address changes that must occur in the role of teachers in the classroom and in the school environment itself, as well as the systematic, long-term support needed for those changes to occur. NCTM also developed a set of resource materials, the Addenda Series, to provide teachers with exemplary classroom ideas and dynamic activities to realize the vision of both the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards and the Professional Standards.
NCTM developed its Standards in response to a recognized need for change in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Such change is needed because our world is becoming more mathematical - more technological. We are surrounded by mathematical situations and are regularly required to make mathematical decisions. These decisions require a sense of number; the ability to estimate and to analyze and reason with data; an understanding of probability and two- and three-dimensional geometry; and many other mathematical abilities that are not taught in a traditional arithmetic-focused mathematics curriculum.
Educators must understand not only why these changes are needed, but also how change is taking place in their schools. Therefore, knowledge about the process of change can help mathematics educators make decisions and build their capacity to influence change in local contexts.
The NCTM Standards have gained widespread support and have greatly influenced curriculum writing at the state and local levels and the content of textbooks, supplementary curriculum materials, and tests. For this reason, the NCTM Standards appear throughout the mathematics critical issues of Pathways:
The Standards hold great promise for helping teachers and the broader education community shape the mathematics curriculum and the teaching of mathematics. We hope that the synthesis of research and best practice in the mathematics critical issues of Pathways will further guide teams of educators working to create exemplary mathematics programs and to improve mathematics teaching and learning for all.
Date posted: 1995
