If teachers are to create learning environments that empower students, teachers need time and resources to develop the professional teaching skills envisioned here. They must have ongoing professional development opportunities, flexibility, and instructional and assessment materials that are consistent with the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards. Teachers must have long-term support and adequate resources. This vision of teaching mathematics requires that teachers be supported, encouraged, and rewarded by administrators, parents, and the community. This kind of recognition and collective support will take time to develop, but it is a principle element in effective change in the classroom environment.
All students possess the innate power to think and reason mathematically.
The standards in this section address the specific decisions that teachers make in the classroom to foster mathematical thinking, reasoning, and problem solving. WHAT students learn is fundamentally connected with HOW they learn it. All students can learn to mathematically. Teaching is a complex practice and hence not reducible to recipes or prescriptions. Stimulating and managing classroom discourse so that both students and teacher are clear about what is being learned.