New NSF-Funded Research Center to Advance Study of Math Content

Since its founding more than a year ago, the Center for the Study of Mathematics Curriculum has launched a number of projects examining the expectations that states and schools set for students in that subject—and how they affect teacher training, textbook publishing, and other matters.

In its first published report, the center focuses on the factors that influence how states devise that curriculum, through a survey of state officials charged with the task.

Published this spring, “Development of State-Level Mathematics Curriculum Documents: Reports of a Survey” finds a strong desire among state curriculum specialists for national leadership in crafting math curricula. It also finds that those officials believe national direction would help increase the alignment of curricula from state to state and provide...