Stimulating and managing classroom discourse so that both students and teacher are clear about what is being learned. Creating an environment to support teaching and learning mathematics. Analyzing student learning, the mathematical tasks, and the environment in order to make ongoing instructional decisions. These standards are intended to help teachers attain the vision of the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards by emphasizing the role that evaluation can play in teachers' professional development. Accordingly, these standards focus on how and what information should be gathered and analyzed to help teachers improve their teaching.
All teachers can improve their teaching of mathematics.
What teachers learn from the evaluation process is related to how the evaluation is conducted. Because teaching is complex, the evaluation of teaching is complex. The consistent theme is that the major purpose of evaluation is the improvement of teaching. The standards give guidance to teachers seeking self-improvement, to colleagues mentoring others, and to supervisors and others who are involved in the evaluation of teaching. They apply to introductory programs that prepare teachers of mathematics and various continuing education activities.