Implementing and using mathematics standards in North Carolina

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

The 1989 revision of the SCS included seven strands: number, computation, geometry, patterns and relationships, measurement, statistics, andproblemsolving. Historically, a problem-solving focus and statistics objectives had not received significant emphasis in elementary and middle grades. More attention had been given to number and computation objectives, so having about one seventh of the end-of-grade test items related to statistics and another seventh focusing on solving more complex problems and applications was seen by some teachers as problematic. Most teachers in North Carolina - especially at the elementary and middle grades - had never had a statistics course, so they were not confident they could teach these objectives effectively. The Mathematics and Science Education Network (MSEN) brought together educators from seven branches of the university system to develop a cadre of statistics educators (K-6 teachers) who could provide professional development to other teachers.

The project, called Teach-Stat, was funded in 1991 by the National Science Foundation for a 5 -year period; it was in direct support of the statistics standard in the 1989 Standards. Teach-Stat was successful in helping these elementary teachers learn more about the content of statistics and effective ways of helping elementary school students learn this content (c.f., Friel & Bright, 1998). The project produced four documents: two books of activities (Joyner, Pfeiffer, Vesilind & Friel, 1996a, 1996b), a workshop leader's guide for statistics professional development of elementary school teachers (Friel & Joyner, 1997), and a workshop leader's guide for professional development of statistics educators (Gleason, Vesilind, Friel & Joyner, 1996).

In 1995, the National Science Foundation funded the Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) Dissemination Project for North Carolina. The primary goal was to help teachers in Grades K-3 across North Carolina learn about CGI and then share their knowledge with colleagues- Six teams of teachers and mathematics educators first learned to implement CGI and then planned and delivered CGI professional development to local colleagues. The project helped teachers internalize the principles of CGI, which led to significant changes in the ways they taught mathematics. As with Teach-Stat, this project was directly responsive to the SCS, but because one of its goals was to evaluate a model for professional development, it was also directly responsive to the Standards.

Efforts to Inform North Carolina Educators About Standards

Many different groups within North Carolina have been involved in helping educators understand the evolving standards for learning and teaching mathematics. Keeping up to date about all of the important reports and standards documents has become an ongoing focus of activity in North Carolina. Obviously, the Department of Public Instruction has been an important partner in this effort, but other groups have been partners, as well. Teacher preparation institutions have been active in improving mathematics education. In individual conversations, university faculty have shared perspectives on the importance of standards in teacher education programs.