ABSTRACT
Evaluation requires an object, a scale of value, and some way of collecting information about the object to which the scale of value can be applied. A school mathematics curriculum is an abstraction that can only be glimpsed through such means as examining statements of goals, analyzing mathematical and pedagogical features of materials, observing lessons, finding out how teachers understand the curriculum, and assessing what students have learned. Anyone proposing a new school mathematics curriculum faces the task of justifying its adoption. A Standards-based reconstitution of school mathematics entails adopting different learning goals for students. When several Standards-based curricula are compared, it becomes even more important to look at patterns of outcomes than just whether one curriculum is better overall than another. The difficulties of changing school mathematics are especially formidable in the United States, with its system of state and local control of education.
