Implementing and using mathematics standards in North Carolina

School Science and Mathematics, Oct 2001 by Joyner, Jeane M, Bright, George W

North Carolina has a history of supporting and using national standards in structuring the stateadopted mathematics curriculum framework. This focus is associated with increased achievement of North Carolina students. The connection of the 1989 revision of the framework to the 1989 National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards seemed to increase acceptance of the framework by teachers, school boards, and the public; revisions since then have been explicitly responsive to evolving national standards. Plans for the next revision include attending to the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. To inform leaders in North Carolina about the Principles and Standards, a symposium was held in September 2000. This symposium provided a model for making the Principles and Standards visible to different constituencies. It is also important to involve teacher education institutions in sharing the Principles and Standards with new teachers so that they enter teaching with a deep understanding of and appreciation for standards.

Getting the messages of the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (National Council of Teachers ofMathematics [NCTM], 2000) to educators, parents, and policy makers is an enormous task being addressed in numerous ways across North Carolina. Like all states, North Carolina faces many educational challenges. During the last decade the state has seen students' mathematics achievement scores rise, but it has further to go. The state has set goals of providing higher quality mathematics programs for all students, closing gaps between minority and white students' achievement, and recruiting, educating, and retaining teachers capable ofproviding quality mathematics programs at all levels.

Standards and the Standard Course of Study

In North Carolina the state-approved framework is called the Standard Course of Study (SCS). Revisions of the SCS were approved by the State Board of Education in 1989 for K-8, 1992 for high school, and 1998 for K-12. In the late 1980s, consultants at the Department of Public Instruction realized that by delaying the approval until 1989, they could rewrite the SCS so that it would be consistent with the draft of the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM, 1989). The major work on this revision occurred during late 1988 and early 1989 between the release of Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics: Working Draft (NCTM, 1988) and the release of Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (Standards; NCTM, 1989). This revision was significant in that a major emphasis was placed on conceptual understanding and problem solving at every level. The mathematics content was organized into seven strands for each of Grades K-8; the strands paralleled the strands in the Standards. When the high school courses were revised in 1992, the issues raised the 1989 Standards were being discussed at secondary levels, so this revision responded both to the Standards and to reflections on the implications for secondary school mathematics. North Carolina included more data investigations in the algebra-related courses, encouraged the use of calculators in the classroom, and expected calculator use on state tests. At that time there were conversations about integrated mathematics courses, but none were included in the 1992 revision of the SCS.

Being able to document the relationship of the 1989 SCS with the 1989 Standards provided a boost to the acceptance of the SCS by teachers, school boards, and parents across the state. The positive reaction to this revision made clear to the Department of Public Instruction that future revisions should be planned to take advantage ofevolving national standards. Consequently, the Professional Teaching Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM, 1991) and the Assessment Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM, 1995) received attention in state-sponsored professional development activities throughout the 1990s. The 1998 revisions of the SCS were completed as work on the Principles and Standards was getting underway. The 1998 SCS incorporated more focus on applications, continued use of technology, and integrated mathematics courses in high school.

Current state policy requires that the SCS be revised every 5 years; the next revision is scheduled for approval by the State Board of Education in 2003. The Department of Public Instruction mathematics consultants who are responsible for establishing and leading the review of the current SCS, guiding the development of revisions, and leading statewide public review sessions are already making plans for how they will build on the Principles and Standards as part of the process. Because of the positive impact of the 1989 Standards on mathematics education in North Carolina, state mathematics education leaders know that the Principles and Standards will also be a critically important resource for the revisions ofthe SCS and the implementation of the new SCS after 2003.