Eric.ed.gov – The State’s Prime Numbers

This standards review is the first in a series of annual reviews of the Colorado Model Content Standards. Its purpose is to identify student performance over time on measures of exiting mathematics standards, identify ways to affirm and strengthen standards and more clearly articulate the practices used by Colorado schools to promote student achievement to those standards. Discussion areas include: (1) national overview of K-12 mathematics; (2) math standards and achievement in Colorado; (3) input from educators; (4) research and financial resources; and (5) characteristics of “math-successful” elementary and secondary schools. Ten recommendations are presented for improving mathematics teaching and performance: (1) Be clear about the math topics students are expected to know at each grade level; (2) Be clear about what specific proficient student work looks like in math at each grade level; (3) Check school and teacher beliefs and dispositions about how many students can or should know math; (4) Ensure that coherent approaches to math instruction are based on current research on math cognition and learning; (5) Teach students efficient and accurate methods for computing and using computational algorithms and math facts, and provide the necessary practice to build automaticity (Essential Math Domain: Arithmetic); (6) Teach students the ways that numbers behave and help students build their understanding of math concepts and vocabulary (Essential Math Domain: Concepts); (7) Teach mathematical reasoning skills (Essential Math Domain: Reasoning); (8) Teach students to use knowledge of arithmetic, concepts and reasoning to solve math problems (Essential Math Domain: Problem Solving); (9) Diagnose what students understand about the lesson of the day; and (10) Recruit and develop teachers with knowledge of math concepts, learning and instruction. Three appendixes are included: (A) Cognitive Framework of Mathematical Proficiency; (b) Current Research; and (C) Colorado Teacher Preparation Standards. A resource list is included. (Contains 10 footnotes.)