Many sets of state and national mathematics standards have come and gone in the past two decades. The Common Core State Mathematics Standards (CCSMS), which were released in June of 2010, have been adopted by almost all states and will be phased in across the nation in 2014. The main difference between these standards and most of the others is…

High academic standards are an important first step in ensuring that all Alaska's students have the tools they need for success. These standards reflect the collaborative work of Alaskan educators and national experts from the nonprofit National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment. Further, they are informed by public comments.…

For over a decade, research studies of mathematics education in high-performing countries have pointed to the conclusion that the mathematics curriculum in the United States must become substantially more focused and coherent in order to improve mathematics achievement in this country. To deliver on the promise of common standards, the standards…

A math teacher describes an approach to help special education students solve addition and subtraction problems through a system involving finger counting. The systems for subtraction and addition solve the problem faced by students unable to memorize facts and unable to use their fingers when numbers exceeded five. (Illustrations of the approach…

Discusses classroom practices that promote the understanding of number concepts in the primary grades. (Author/NB)

Developing concepts, modeling, and solving problems form the core of essential learning about addition and subtraction. That educators may make the task more difficult than necessary is the thrust of several recent studies. Highlights from these studies (with suggestions for instruction) are presented. (JN)

Discusses ways of teaching integers to children who have a wide range of ability. The strategies involve not only the "right" answer but also such considerations as learning the meaning behind the operators, relating operations with integers to real-world situations, and finding a variety of ways to solve the problems. (JN)

"Math Facts Memory Made Easy" is a program which provides teachers with an effective alternative instructional method and an accompanying curriculum designed to improve students' ability to memorize basic mathematical facts. General information about the program and examples of strategies used are presented. (JN)

First-grade children mastered 72 of 100 addition facts by the middle of the grade, with mastery being defined as a two-second response to a given addition fact. A sequence of activities is presented that serves as an outline of the approach taken. (JN)

This report illustrates a simple, short, yet relatively little known partial check on addition that elementary school pupils can be lead to discover, and later taught to understand. The process can also be used for subtraction and is viewed as more useful than the traditional check of casting out nines. (MP)

Describes how a 2nd grade class learned to add and subtract effectively by packing and unpacking "Aunt Mary's candies." (KHR)

Eight students with Down's syndrome, aged 11 through 13, were taught to add by counting-on in a 5-day teaching program. Teaching included instruction in component skills and use of precision teaching techniques. All students continued to use the technique six months later and generalized the technique to other materials. (Author/DB)

Relating natural language to mathematical language is an important component of elementary mathematics education. This paper describes new steps toward a computerized database of addition and subtraction word problems that could provide teachers and students with access to critical natural language terms and expressions for mathematical…

This paper describes the Rational Number Project (RNP), teaching experiments concerned with the teaching and learning of fractions among 4th and 5th grade students. Interviews with 4th grade students who used the RNP curriculum and with students who used a traditional curriculum were conducted by RNP staff as well as classroom teachers. This paper…

Reviews: "ArithMagic (Counting, Addition, Subtraction)" which uses graphics to illustrate/review basic arithmetic concepts; "The Sweet Shop" which uses graphics (and a character called Mr. Jellybean) to teach arithmetic concepts; and "Math Magic," a monster-filled arcade game that teaches addition and subtraction.…