We've been through this before. In the 1960s, the curriculum known as the New Math was routed from classrooms by angry parents and teachers. Parents didn't recognize the mathematics that children were bringing home from school, and teachers found it almost impossible to instruct students on the strange new topics recommended by reformers. Despite the support of the most prominent reformers of its day, including the NCTM, the New Math fizzled when it hit real classrooms with real kids and teachers. The NCTM math embraces the longstanding doctrine of progressive education.
Students spend a lot of time playing math games in small groups.
From engineers to airline pilots, people use mathematics to model the world in which they actually work, not to construct their own, more accommodating versions of reality. The state and district policies that have followed the NCTM standards tend to present reform as religion. Parents shouldn't be mystified about what their kids are learning in school. No wonder teachers and parents have trouble with these reforms. The teaching that parents most likely hear about is conducted by their children's peers.