Teaching Important Mathematics to All Students

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NCTM’s Vision for School Mathematics imagines a classroom in which all students have the opportunity and means to learn important mathematics and to think mathematically, resources and technology are readily available, and teaching methods are flexible and innovative (NCTM 2000). These goals, as the authors of Principles and Standards for School Mathematics suggest, are ambitious but within reach, if we are willing to change our models for education. Step 1 in effecting change is a series of legislative acts that emphasize inclusiveness and equity in the classroom. Step 2 involves redefining learning goals within the context of inclusiveness—ensuring a challenging mathematics curriculum and high expectations for every student.

Legislation for Equity and Excellence

The need for change in how we conceptualize educational experiences is highlighted by several important legislative acts: the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA), and the No Child Left Behind Act.

Goals 2000: Educate America Act ties high standards for all students in mathematics to national goals:

• All students will leave grades 4, 8, and 12 having demonstrated competency in challenging subject matter, including ... mathematics...; and every school in America will ensure that all students learn to use their minds well...
• United States students will be first in the world in mathematics and science achievement. 

(Goals 2000)

The 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act calls for instructional designs that both address individual needs and ensure access to the general curriculum. The content, methodology, or delivery of instruction must be specially designed to be inclusive rather than exclusive:

Almost 30 years of research and experience has demonstrated that the education of children with disabilities can be made more effective by ...having high expectations for such children and ensuring their access to the general education curriculum in the regular classroom, to the maximum extent possible.

(IDEA Section 1400[c][5])

A Mathematics and Science Initiative is a critical part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The rationale for the initiative echoes Goals 2000:

[T]he public must realize that advances in technology and productivity, necessary for the United States to remain competitive in the global economy, depend on all students learning more mathematics and science than is currently required, and also on increasing the number of students who extend their mathematical knowledge beyond algebra so they may proceed to more advanced scientific and technical subjects.

(http://www.ed.gov.nclb, 1)

Key components of NCLB include the following:

• Partnerships between every sector of society and schools to improve achievement in mathematics and science
• Incentives to attract excellent and experienced mathematics and science teachers,
• Increased emphasis on research and measurement to find and demonstrate the most effective ways to teach mathematics and science.

(“Facts,” USDE 2004, 2)

Taken together, these statutes provide a legal mandate as well as a challenge. Traditionally, multitracking or grouping students according to abilities and needs has presented a rainbow of curricula—different methods, different content, different goals. Ensuring access to one general curriculum redefines the problem: Instead of multiple paths to multiple learning goals, we need multiple paths to the same goals; instead of a dichotomy between mainstream and alternative curricula, we need an integrated curriculum that makes learning essential mathematical concepts and important mathematics part of every child’s educational experiences.