The Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) was grappling with several issues including: (1) A respectable rate of growth in student achievement for both fourth- and eighth-grade math in the state of Alabama, as measured by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), but below the national average; and (2) A growing concern about…

This study is a literature review to investigate the effects of implementing technology into a high school mathematics classroom. Mathematics has a hierarchical structure in learning and it is essential that students get a firm understanding of mathematics early in education. Some students that miss beginning concepts may continue to struggle with…

The authors present an analysis of portfolio entries submitted by candidates seeking certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in the area of Early Adolescence/Mathematics. Analyses of mathematical features revealed that the tasks used in instruction included a range of mathematics topics but were not consistently…

As almost every state revises its mathematics frameworks or develops new ones, current testing practices remain almost unchanged. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), in its "Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics," argues for greater emphasis on application, reasoning, and conceptual understanding, but the…

Less than one third of American eighth graders score in the two highest performance levels on the grade 8 mathematics test given by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Only a little over one third of Massachusetts eighth graders score at the two highest performance levels on the state's own grade 8 mathematics test. In 2002, the…