The Future of Math and the Common Core State Standards

  

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Now that 45 states have adopted the Common Core State Mathematics Standards (CCSMS), will states across the nation actually implement these standards?  A recent article published by the American Scholar, “Phoenix Rising: Bringing the Common Core State Mathematics Standards to Life,” posed this question and led me to speculate about what will happen in 2014 — the year in which participating states are expected to apply these standards. 

The author of the article, Hung-Hsi Wu, a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkley, sees high potential in the standards.  Wu believes the standards can inform the creation of effective mathematics textbooks and substantially improve teaching techniques in the math classrooms.  Educators across the country have similar hopes.  Though the 2011 NAEP results for mathematics showed an increase in scores since 2009, only 40% of fourth-graders and 35% of eighth-graders achieved proficiency. 

So what will it take to align to the CCSMS?  How will we know if the promise of the CCSMS is being fulfilled?  Wu calls for the creation of new mathematics textbooks that recognize the inherent difference between the CCSMS and previous standards, in addition to comprehensive professional development for K-12 mathematics teachers.  We all recognize how difficult it is to teach math, so I leave you with this insightful statement from Wu’s article: “Preparing to teach proper school mathematics is not about learning a craft, but, rather, a discipline that is cognitively complex and hierarchical.  Each topic, no matter how basic, is essential to some future topic.”

"What's Sophisticated about Elementary Mathematics?"

  

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In the recent American Educator article entitled “What’s Sophisticated about Elementary Mathematics?”, Hung-Hsi Wu makes the case for the need for mathematics teachers in elementary school (beginning no later than fourth grade) who have advanced content knowledge of the math they are teaching. Wu supports this recommendation by describing the complexity of the mathematics behind two elementary math topics, addition of whole numbers and division of fractions. He hopes to show that elementary mathematics is complex and more than just teaching mathematical procedures. His descriptions of the mathematics and the connections and reasoning that need to be taught support the recommendation of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel for the need for elementary teachers to be mathematically proficient.  He states, “There appears to be no hope of solving the problem of giving all children the mathematics education they need without breaking away from our traditional practice of having generalist elementary school teachers.”

What are your thoughts on the recommendations of Hung-Hsi Wu?  What are your thoughts about what is needed to prepare teachers for teaching elementary mathematics content and processes?