Since the U.S. government has not mandated
national standards (though it’s being proposed), the Dept. of
Education has determined that “All states and schools will
have challenging and clear standards of achievement and accountability
for all children, and effective strategies for reaching those
standards.” In other words, every state is responsible for
defining its own standards for education. So where do states look for guidance?
The NCTM, an organization of expert math educators,
began developing goals for math education in 1989, to guide states in
developing mathematics standards. NCTM doesn’t develop or endorse
any particular math instructional materials or textbooks; they set
targets for developing age-appropriate, challenging mathematics
curricula standards. Adopting the NCTM guidelines is voluntary, but
almost all states base their state standards on the NCTM principles.
High level goals for math learning
In the early grades—prekindergarten through
5th grade—a key goal is to develop computational fluency with
whole numbers. Fluency means having efficient, accurate methods for
computing. The NCTM recognizes that proficiency alone isn’t enough.
Today, students must also be able to choose what
numbers and operations are appropriate for a given problem, judge whether
the results make sense, and decide what to do next. Reasoning, problem
solving, making connections, communicating, and using representations
are all important. Having both computational skills and conceptual
understanding allows students to solve problems in their daily lives.
Some highlights from the Focal Points for the early elementary grades
The NCTM calls their guidelines “Focal
Points”, covering the important concepts, skills, and procedures
that children should be learning at each grade level, including number
and operations, algebra, geometry, and measurement.
Prekindergarten math:
- Children should be developing an understanding of whole numbers, including concepts of correspondence, counting, cardinality, and comparison
- Identifying shapes and describing spatial relationships
- Identifying measurable attributes and comparing objects by using these attributes
Kindergarten math:
- Students should be representing, comparing, and ordering whole numbers, and joining and separating sets (early adding and subtracting)
- Describing shapes and space
- Ordering objects by measurable attributes
First grade math:
- Developing understandings of addition and subtraction and strategies for basic addition facts and related subtraction facts
- Understanding of whole number relationships, including grouping in tens and ones
- Composing and decomposing geometric shapes
Second grade math:
- Developing an understanding of the base-ten number system and place-value concepts
- Developing quick recall of addition facts and related subtraction facts, and fluency with multidigit addition and subtraction
- Developing an understanding of linear measurement and facility in measuring lengths
Third grade math:
- Understanding of multiplication and division and strategies for basic multiplication facts and related division facts
- Understanding of fractions and fraction equivalence
- Describing and analyzing properties of two-dimensional shapes
The NCTM Focal Points taught in the DreamBox curriculum
You can
get more details
on the specific math concepts and skills students should be learning.
The DreamBox Learning curriculum builds mathematical competency, problem
solving, reasoning, and critical thinking skills. Aligned with the Focal
Points for each grade set by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
(NCTM), our balanced approach will enrich and deepen what is being learned
in school, no matter what curriculum is being taught.
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March 2010
