Implementing and using mathematics standards in North Carolina

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

Because North Carolina is a state textbook adoption state, every revision ofthe SCS has implications for the development of textbooks. Textbooks are reviewed and rated as to their alignment with the SCS to determine if they are eligible to be included on the official textbook adoption list. As new revisions of the SCS are drafted and refined, the Department of Public Instruction sponsors meetings for textbook companies to inform them about potential changes in the SCS. These companies are pleased to be able both to learn about potential changes and to have the opportunity to comment on those changes.

In support of the SCS, the Mathematics Section of the Department of Public Instruction created a variety of supplementary materials for use by North Carolina teachers. The most visible ofthese materials is the series called Strategies for Instruction in Mathematics. There is one book for each grade, K-8. Each volume includes week-by-week essentials, ideas for instruction and assessment of each goal and objective, and blackline masters. These ideas are directly related to the elements ofthe SCS, so they are indirectly responsive to NCTM's Standards.

Standards and Statewide Testing

The various standards documents have had a positive influence on the SCS and, therefore, indirectly on the state's testing program. North Carolina end-ofgrade tests for Grades 3-8 and end-of-course tests in high school are designed to assess the objectives of the SCS. The state tests are high stakes with consequences for schools, teachers, and students, so their alignment with the curriculum, thus indirectly with national standards, is important. Increases in student achievement in mathematics as reflected by the National Assessment for Educational Progress scores for Grade 8 are frequently mentioned by state officials as evidence of a standards-based focus of the mathematics SCS during the 1990s.

Projects in Support of Standards

With the adoption of a more standards-based curriculum in 1989 and with the pending state testing tied directly to North Carolina's SCS rather than a commercial achievement test, it was evident that many teachers were not well-prepared to implement the new SCS. A number ofmathematics projects focusing on improving instruction sprang up in the 1990s. Some were single district projects, such as those in Buncombe and Forsyth counties; others were regional projects bringing together teachers from multiple school systems, such as an EXXON teacher leader project in southwestern North Carolina and a National Science Foundation curriculum materials project involving teachers in northeastern North Carolina. Several were large statewide projects.

The Teaching Excellence and Mathematics Project (TEAM), which began in 1989, was a Department of Public Instruction response to the need for leadership in elementary mathematics. Originally funded by the National Science Foundation and supported with state funds after the project ended, the 50 TEAM participants conducted statewide professional development on standards-based instruction and on the new state tests. They initiated and led local mathematics projects for elementary teachers, spoke to parent and community leader organizations about the 1989 Standards and the SCS, and created support documents for the SCS. TEAM members were the primary authors ofboth the original Strategies for Instruction books and the current revisions.