Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

Principles and Standards for School Mathematics acknowledge that there are significant challenges in realizing the vision for improving mathematics education. That's why NCTM has outlined six principles to provide guidance when making school mathematics decisions.

The six principles for school mathematics address:

• Equity. Excellence in mathematics education requires equity—high expectations and strong support for all students.
• Curriculum. A curriculum is more than a collection of activities: it must be coherent, focused on important mathematics, and well articulated across the grades.
• Teaching. Effective mathematics teaching requires understanding what students know and need to learn and then challenging and supporting them to learn it well.
• Learning. Students must learn mathematics with understanding, actively building new knowledge from experience and prior knowledge.
• Assessment. Assessment should support the learning of mathematics and furnish useful information to both teachers and students.
• Technology. Technology is essential in teaching and learning mathematics; it influences the mathematics that is taught and enhances students' learning.

NCTM realizes that today's mathematics classrooms look quite different from classrooms of twenty years ago. And that's why there is a strong push to continually update the professional knowledge, both of mathematical content and of pedagogy for teachers, as well as provide forward-thinking math tools for students.

Choosing math education instructional tools is very important

If you are looking for innovative ways to meet math principles and standards consider PLATO® Math Expeditions. These products were built by experts who follow a judicious research and development process—to bring you innovative, quality products that meet standards and help students succeed.

PLATO® Math Expeditions apply math concepts to real-world situations as learners become members of realistic interdisciplinary expeditions in which math concepts are connected to science, social studies, geography, and history. The courseware also improves basic math skills such as mental math, estimation, and problem-solving skills. Included are online manipulatives and math tools that provide hands-on learning and reproducible student activity worksheets to reinforce skills.

• For elementary and middle school learners
• Skills typically taught in grades K—8
• 347 hours of instruction
• 400 discrete learning objectives
• Optional audio available

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