Focusing directly on the development of instructional practice and its effects is not easy. One major shortcoming in the educational infrastructure has been the lack of a common curriculum. A second has been an impoverished approach to supporting teaching practice. These two are related, for any effort to develop and improve teaching is weakened…

Professors at the University of Michigan report on the results of an extensive longitudinal study of the relationship between interventions and instructional improvement and offer suggestions to improve teaching and learning through the use of better designed interventions. (PKP)

Explains how curriculum materials have played an uneven role in educational practice and proposes how the boundaries between teachers and materials in the construction of the curriculum can be redrawn. Discusses how curriculum materials act as agents of instructional improvement; examines the relations between textbooks, teachers, and teaching;…

Proposed educational reforms of instruction and the curriculum are briefly examined, and ways that research and practice can be better coordinated are discussed. Experiences in grade three mathematics instruction are shared to illustrate how blurring the boundaries between teaching and research might enhance both endeavors. (SW)

Recent emphasis on raising standards has attracted Americans' attention to factors that improve student learning. An examination of the relationship between teacher knowledge and student performance is offered in this report. The text summarizes what research suggests about various kinds of teacher education, the professional development teachers…

In this report, the author traces the recent development of standards for mathematics teaching. Two central tensions are examined: (1) the tension between arriving at consensus and effecting change; and (2) the tension between providing direction and affording discretion in practice. With a focus on the challenges inherent in the ambitious vision…

A description is given of a 3-year research and development project designed to address the fundamental problems of preparing elementary teachers to teach mathematics for understanding. The use of a new technology is proposed. Hypermedia combines elements of multimedia environments for learning and teaching with a recent development in computer…

Reform proposals for mathematics teaching and learning have clear implications for significant change in curriculum and in traditional teacher roles. One contribution to the reform effort was the SummerMath for Teachers program, an inservice program committed to helping teachers develop constructivist orientations to teaching and learning by…