The ASL and the NCTM Standards

The NCTM Standards is a collection of three volumes containing ideas about curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment for K--12 Mathematics published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Toward a revision of the standards, the NCTM has asked for input from a number of professional organizations in the mathematical sciences (AMS, MAA, AWM, ASA, ASL, SIAM, ...). These groups have formed committees, known collectively as ARGs (Association Resource Groups) to provide written comments on questions forwarded from the NCTM. The 1997-98 ASL ARG consisted of John Baldwin, Jean Larson (chair), Carl Posy, and Wilfried Sieg, and in 1999, it expanded to include Cathy Kessel. It is a subcommitee of the ASL Committee on Education. The ASL ARG was formed too late to respond to the first set of questions, but has responded to rounds of questions on the nature of mathematics, desired outcomes of school mathematics for students, and on algorithms and mathematical reasoning. Recently it has made a general review of the draft Principles and Standards of School Mathematics (PSSM). Some web information on responses of other ARGs is available.

These statements were produced by the ASL ARG and should not be interpreted as official positions of the ASL.

 

General Review of the Draft PSSM

  1. Introduction and General Suggestions
  2. Mathematical Reasoning
  3. Issues and Implications
ASL Report on Round 4 Questions
  1. The Nature of Mathematics
  2. Themes in Geometry
  3. Discrete Mathematics
ASL Report on Round 3 Questions
  1. Toward the Beginning of the 21st Century
  2. Encouraging Students to Take Mathematics
  3. Mirroring What Mathematicians Do
  4. Contextual and Structural Learning Styles
  5. Precursors of Algebra
  6. References
ASL Report on Round 2 Questions
  1. Algorithmic Thinking
  2. The Nature of Algorithms
  3. Proof and Mathematical Reasoning
A version of this report was sent to the NCTM in June 1997. The web version was prepared in April, 1998 by J. A. Larson and revised by Richard Zach in 2008.