ABSTRACT
In recent years, the professional mathematics education community has been engaged in considerable discussion regarding ways to enhance the form and content of precollege mathematics instruction. Reports from the National Academy of Sciences (National Research Council [NRC], 1989) and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 1989, 1991) have stimulated educational practitioners and policymakers to focus their attention on mathematics education reform. These reports have specified new goals for mathematics education and have provided descriptions of mathematical proficiency, using terms such as reasoning, problem solving, communication, conceptual understanding, and mathematical power. At least two things are striking about these new descriptions of mathematics proficiency and new goals for mathematics education. One is that the descriptions do not emphasize procedural facility, which has long been the major goal of school mathematics. Although an emphasis on understanding, reasoning, and problem solving is not new in mathematics education, the degree of emphasis in contemporary discussions of mathematical goals is much stronger than in the past. A second novel aspect of current conceptions of mathematical proficiency and goals for students is the emphasis placed on communication.
