Math-Teachers' Survey Finds a Schism Between Practice, Reformers' Vision

By Peter West

A national survey of mathematics teachers indicates that a huge gap exists between the vision of inquiry-based, mathematical communities envisioned in a set of widely acclaimed national standards for math teaching and the world of classroom practice, where instruction is driven by standardized tests.

The survey--the first in a series of regular soundings that will be taken to gauge the pace at which the standards are adopted in practice--was conducted for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, which developed the standards.

To obtain a representative sample of what impact the standards have had on the classroom practice of the nation's 111,000 math teachers, Horizon Research, of Chapel Hill, N.C., elicited responses from almost 1,000 elementary-, middle-, and high-school...