ABSTRACT
Across the United States, the math education community is embarking on its third reinvention in just over two decades. This movement started in the flurry of reform efforts emerging after the landmark Nation at Risk report (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983), which warned of a “rising tide of mediocrity” in American education. Standards-based math education reform was initiated with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM, 1989). These voluntary standards were developed to guide classroom practice, teacher professional development, and student evaluation. The standards promoted a rigorous and challenging view of mathematics. Although there was great enthusiasm among supporters, widespread change did not materialize. Why? Research by Schoenfeld (2014) and others shows that there are three dimensions in teachers’ decision-making: resources, orientations, and goals. These early reform efforts were likely undone by a combination of all three: inadequate curriculum and assessment tools, very traditional orientations to what it means to teach and learn mathematics, and the beginnings of accountability movements narrowing the goal of school to the generation of high test scores.
