Implementing Standards Based Mathematics Instruction

Presents prevalent cases of maths instruction drawn from research of classroom lessons. The "Mathematical Tasks Framework", developed by the authors, offers teachers the means to evaluate instructional decisions, choice of materials and learning outcomes.

Teachers and teacher educators interested in synthesizing their current practice with new mathematics standards will welcome this highly useful volume. Author Mary Kay Stein and her colleagues at the QUASAR Project at the University of Pittsburgh present prevalent cases of mathematics instruction drawn from their research of nearly 500 classroom lessons. The Mathematical Tasks Framework, developed by the authors and explained thoroughly in the book, offers teachers and teacher educators the means to evaluate instructional decisions, the choice of materials, and learning outcomes, and the case studies afford readers the opportunity to ground these ideas in actual classroom practice. Readers will gain insight about how to foster a challenging, cognitively rich, and exciting classroom climate that propels students toward a richer understanding of mathematics. “If every teacher and teacher educator took the opportunity to study and discuss these cases, students everywhere would know and value mathematics as the national standards have envisioned.” —Susan Loucks-Horsley, Director of Professional Development for the National Institute for Science Education “The power of case discussions can be fully realized using this book as a tool. Equally important, teachers will be highly motivated because they see their own practice mirrored in the cases.” —Carne Barnett, WestEd, San Francisco, CA

Virtually every national standards document, every state framework, and every local set of standards calls for fundamental changes in what and how teachers teach. The challenge for teachers is to implement the vision for mathematics and science classrooms called for in the standards. This issue describes that vision and suggests ways to use the standards mandated in your school to improve your practice--to help you teach in your standards-based classroom.

Get to know which practices related to curriculum, instruction, and assessment are essential to make learning the goal for every student! You’ll learn how to Create learning targets that are scalable and transferable within and across units Develop instructional scales for each learning target Design non-scored practice activities and assessments Introduce and model skills that will be assessed and design tasks that allow students to use these skills Differentiate instruction and activities based on data from various types of assessments Maintain a gradebook that tracks summative achievement of learning targets, and score assessments accordingly Communicate progress clearly and efficiently with students and families

Helping students develop an understanding of important mathematical ideas is a persistent challenge for teachers. In this book, one of a three-volume set, well-known mathematics educators Margaret Smith, Edward A. Silver, and Mary Kay Stein provide teachers of mathematics the support they need to improve their instruction. They focus on ways to engage upper elementary, middle school, and high school students in thinking, reasoning, and problem solving to build their mathematics understanding and proficiency. The content focus of Volume One is rational numbers and proportionality. Using materials that were developed under the NSF-funded COMET (Cases of Mathematics to Enhance Teaching) program, each volume in the set features cases from urban, middle school classrooms with ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse student populations. Each case illustrates an instructional episode in the classroom of a teacher who is implementing standards-based instruction, the teachers' perspective, including their thoughts and actions as they interact with students and with key aspects of mathematical content, cognitively challenging mathematics activities that are built around samples of authentic classroom practice., and facilitation chapters to help professional developers "teach" the cases, including specific guidelines for facilitating discussions and suggestions for connecting the ideas presented in the cases to a teacher's own practice. As a complete set, this resource provides a basis on which to build a comprehensive professional development program to improve mathematics instruction and student learning.

Standards in the American education system are traditionally handled on a state-by-state basis, which can differ significantly from one region of the country to the next. Recently, initiatives proposed at the federal level have attempted to bridge this gap. Common Core Mathematics Standards and Implementing Digital Technologies provides a critical discussion of educational standards in mathematics and how communication technologies can support the implementation of common practices across state lines. Leaders in the fields of mathematics education and educational technology will find an examination of the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics through concrete examples, current research, and best practices for teaching all students regardless of grade level or regional location. This book is part of the Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design series collection.

Anyone responsible for the curriculum review and selection process within a district will find this book essential reading.

Learn how to overcome the knowing-doing gap in standards-based learning systems, and move toward unpacking the standards and learning targets your students need.