The following scenario is a composite of many discussions with middle school mathematics teachers. It illustrates how problems can arise if all the schools in a district do not share common beliefs, values, and goals:
At an afternoon staff meeting, one middle-grade mathematics teacher began sharing his concern about a recent high school decision to adopt a highly interdisciplinary curriculum. The new program would integrate algebra and geometry. It also would eliminate all tracking and ability grouping. This philosophy would be very different than the one used at the middle schools. The teacher was worried that the freshman mathematics curriculum would be very repetitive and somewhat boring for his eighth grade students who already had finished algebra, not to mention the 15 students who also had finished geometry. How well would they transfer into the new high school mathematics curriculum? How would the new high school plan change the way that everything currently was structured in the middle grades? What about textbooks? What about consistent and prerequisite vocabulary?