Mathematics and School Reform in India

Initial efforts toward reform in mathematics education in India evolved out of a more general concern for educational reforms as they assumed a pivotal role in the agenda of modernization and development after independence. Mathematics as a foundational aspect of science and technology assumed a privileged status with recommendations to keep up with developments in technologically advanced countries. This led to the creation of an unduly loaded curriculum with little attention to children’s cognitive and developmental capacities and other more social and humane aspects of a well-rounded education. The early decades after independence were largely focused on providing access, and other than the rhetoric of equality and quality and overarching recommendations, little investment was made into researching the more nuanced aspects of learning and teaching and the social implications of schooling. Several important national commissions and two major policies put forward important recommendations for reform in mathematics education with suggestions for both curriculum and pedagogy. The early decades after independence saw a greater commitment to higher education, especially in the sciences and technology, and this began to shape the school curriculum, with mathematics as a major concern. Although critiques of the system were never totally absent, efforts at intervention in schools and at the ground level were initially made by smaller groups and nongovernmental organizations (NGOS), and then also nationally and regionally, to transform processes of schooling and learning with a focus on the learner rather than the content alone. A particularly large and comprehensive national effort at reforming school education in all subject areas was the National Curricular Framework, coordinated and initiated by the National Council of Educational Research and Training in 2005. This was a radical attempt at framing an alternative idea of schooling and learning, focused on the child, but with an acute awareness of the larger social, economic, and political structures within which schools, classrooms, teachers, and students are implicated.

Projects: Building Michigan's Capacity for Middle School Mathematics Curriculum Reform

The Building Michigan's Capacity for Middle School Mathematics Curriculum Reform project is a four-year statewide collaborative effort that is designed to lead the reform in mathematics education within Michigan's middle schools. The project addresses the need for improved achievement in mathematics by students in Michigan and places a high priority on building the mathematics content and pedagogical background of its participating teachers to accomplish that goal.

Generative Topics: Building a Curriculum around Big Ideas

Data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) point out “a comparative lack of focus and coherence in the American mathematics curriculum” and an absence of “meaningful connections between the big ideas of mathematics” (Schmidt 1997). These findings, along with those reported in other international comparisons (e.g., Stevenson and Stigler 1992), suggest that we must carefully examine the actual content of both our written and our implemented mathematics curriculum to be sure that it gives students the focus and coherence they need to develop mathematical understanding. Although teaching methodology is important, no issue is as fundamental to the heart of teaching or as important to reform in mathematics education as our decision about what to teach.

In the Comfort of Their Own Homes: Engaging Families in Mathematics

Is an effective way available to engage parents in mathematics activities with their children, help them reinforce concepts introduced in class, give them an opportunity to communicate regularly with teachers, and make them aware of the need for reform in mathematics education? You bet! A project that we first piloted in our district in 1995. and have since expanded, helped us accomplish those goals with great success.

Assessment of a Problem-Centered Mathematics Program: Third Grade

Six classes received problem-centered mathematics instruction for 2 years in second and third grade. This instruction was generally reflective of a socioconstructivist theory of knowing and compatible with recommendations for reform in mathematics education. A class-by-instruction factorial design was used to compare students in problem-centered classes for 2 years with students in problem-centered classrooms for 1 year, and with students in textbook classes for 2 years on a standardized achievement test. In addition, classes using problem-centered instruction for 2 years were compared with students in problem-centered classes for 1 year on an instrument designed to assess students' conceptual development in arithmetic and an instrument developed to examine personal goals and beliefs about reasons for success in mathematics. The results of the analyses indicate that significant differences exist in arithmetic learning for students in problem-centered classes for 2 years on the standardized achievement test and the arithmetic test. The results indicate that after 2 years of instruction in reform-based classes, students score significantly higher on standardized measures of computational proficiency as well as conceptual understanding. Additionally, these students hold stronger beliefs about the importance of finding their own or different ways to solve problems.