Justifying And Implementing A Standards Based Mathematics Curriculum

"Many new mathematics curricula have been developed in response to the 1989 release of Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. These Standards-based curricula focus on helping students develop a conceptual understanding of mathematics through meaningful problem-solving activities, and are fundamentally different from traditional curricula which emphasize learning and practicing algorithms for computational fluency. The purpose of this thesis is to determine whether or not school districts can feel confident in choosing a Standards-based curriculum instead of a traditional curriculum. This research show that Standards-based curricula can be just as effective as traditional curricula in helping students -- including disadvantaged students or students with special needs -- learn important mathematical concepts and processes with understanding, especially when the teachers who are using them in their classrooms follow proven implementation guidelines."--leaf 3.