Math Instruction: An Overview - Essay Example

students should know and be able to do in particular subjects and grade levels," notes the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (1999). The important relationship between standards and curriculum was defined by Marzano and Kendall (1996) who stated that many educators consider the publication of A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983) as the "initiating event of the modern standards movement."( as cited in Pattinson, 2000 ).

Educators became very conscious of standards since the result of the studies on American education reflected the mediocrity of the present system. No wonder, Mr. Obama included in his agenda to reform education since he believed that American education is not that competitive anymore. However, it is not enough to just set standards, what is more crucial is to be able to draw a curriculum framework that is relevant to the learner’s needs. The curriculum is a requisite in developing sequential learning wherein learners must progress from a lower stage to a higher one.

The Curriculum Principle of Principles and Standards for School Mathematics states, “A curriculum is more than a collection of activities: it must be coherent, focused on important mathematics, and well articulated across the grades.” (p. 14). Although there is a National Standard for Mathematics which serves as guidelines for learning math effectively, it is till the curriculum that would define the implementation of the standards. Traditionally, teachers believed that learning happens through constant practice especially in mathematics which has proven its worth for some generations.

However, with the use of the standards based-curriculum, learners stand to gain more benefits through a more comprehensive evaluation since the content standards is just the beginning of learning. In standards-based teaching, content standards are just the first step in guiding the learners to define their goals. A more