Implementing the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards: What Will Implementation Take?
A long history of traditions has grown up around what is meant by a good mathematics teacher and a good mathematics student. As many educators recognize, however, those traditions have little in common with mathematics in the world of the 1990s. Mathematics as it is used in the real world is not about the memorization of theorems or rote procedures for getting right answers. It is not about performing well on multiplechoice or short-answer tests under time constraints. “At the heart of mathematics is the search for sense and meaning, order and predictability. Mathematics is the study of patterns and relationships” (Richardson and Salkeld, in press). The challenge for mathematics educators is to align the culture of school mathematics with the culture of mathematics in the real world. With its publication of the Curriculum and Evaluation S tandards for School Mathematics (1989), the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) established the direction for such mathematics reform.