ABSTRACT
This chapter reports research on what students know and are able to do when they study from Standards-based elementary school mathematics curricula. To place the research and development done by these curriculum projects in context, the chapter describes the typical elementary mathematics curriculum in the 1980s, and it reports results from both national and international studies of mathematics achievement of elementary students at that time. The chapter summarizes the recommendations for Grades K-4 in the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1989). It provides a description of efforts by the National Science Foundation to fund the development of instructional materials for the elementary grades that would seek to implement the reform recommendations. The changes advocated by the K-4 Standards required that new instructional materials be available to those interested in attempting to reform curriculum.
