This article addressed California's proposed math curriculum framework which has ignited a ferocious debate, touching off a revival of the 1990s math wars and attracting national media attention. Early drafts of the new framework faced a firestorm of criticism, with opponents charging that the guidelines sacrificed accelerated learning for high…

The National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) looks across the world for innovative and successful policies and practices, grounded in research and supported by the wisdom of practice, to share with partners. In response to concerns about student performance in mathematics, particularly following the precipitous drop in test scores…

When asked about school mathematics, students rarely describe it as meaningful or relevant. Research shows that students are more engaged when they are challenged to think critically, and can connect the content to their lived experiences. This "Equity Tool" is designed to assist educators in reviewing curricula to determine if it…

Mathematics curricula have traditionally focused on content knowledge, often in the form of a scope and sequence of increasingly difficult mathematics. The importance of using and applying mathematics is recognised in the current Australian Curriculum Mathematics (AC: M) as 'proficiencies' that are intended to be integrated with the content. There…

To promote and facilitate the teaching of math modeling throughout the K-16 setting, the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics recently published the GAIMME (Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Mathematical Modeling Education) Report. This paper provides insight into how the…

The importance of multiplicative thinking in supporting students' learning of key topics and success in further mathematics is widely and clearly stated in mathematics education literature. However, multiplicative thinking is not clearly stated in curriculum documents of many countries including Australia. In the "Australian Curriculum:…

By using high-leverage models to connect student learning experiences to overarching concepts in mathematics, teachers can anchor learning in ways that allow students to make sense of content on the basis of their own prior experiences. A rectangular area model can be used as a tool for understanding problems that involve multiplicative reasoning.…

Despite claims to the contrary, K-12 educators are applying the racial prejudice of critical race theory (CRT) to school lessons. In recent months, parents and policymakers around the country have objected to CRT's mischaracterization of American history in the academic subjects of history and civics. Critical race theorists, however, have also…

Building on the work of Schmidt et al., we propose a definition of curricular coherence for K-12 mathematics that encompasses both the arrangement of topics, which we call coherence of content, and the habits of mind the curriculum fosters in students, which we call coherence of practice. We give examples to illustrate each. [For the complete…

Descriptions of mathematical thinking have an extended lineage. Sometimes accurate and sometimes not, sometimes misinterpreted and sometimes not, characterizations of mathematical thought processes have inspired and at times misled people interested in designing or framing mathematics instruction. Challenges the field faces in conceptualizing…

As U.S. school leaders anticipate the end of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds and contemplate possible budget shortfalls, they will have to make hard choices about how best to leverage limited resources to improve student outcomes. With the stakes high, lawmakers and experts urge school system leaders to rely on research and…

As we move further into the digital age, the acquisition of digital literacy (DL) and computational thinking (CT) skills is emerging internationally as an essential goal for students in contemporary school curricula. As the world becomes more uncertain and volatile due to impacts of artificial intelligence (AI), international unrest, climate…

Gail Burrill is a Mathematics Specialist in the Program in Mathematics Education at Michigan State University. She previously served as secondary teacher and department chair. She was President of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and is currently President of the International Association for Statistical Education. She is a Fellow…

In 2016, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District in southern California began the process of adopting a new math curriculum. Teachers and community members were dissatisfied with the existing program because it wasn't meeting teachers' instructional needs or students' learning needs. Public dissatisfaction made it imperative to involve teachers…

The number and algebra strand of the "Australian Curriculum: Mathematics" (2015) advocates for holding together the study of number and algebra across years K-8--a position that mathematics educators have endorsed in many countries. This recommendation along with the report "Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics"…