However, the teachers are trained to be the deliverers of knowledge and they employ such strategies as lecturing to get information across to their students. The new materials render strategies such as lecturing inappropriate, and yet teachers are uncertain as to what other strategies to use. They want to put the students in an active role, but they do not know how to do this. As a result, the teachers' visions for reform in mathematics is impeded by their lack of training in new, facilitator-oriented pedagogical techniques. Another challenge to the reform at Fruitvale is that while curriculum materials are being revised, assessment practices are not.
Some teachers continue to use unit and chapter examinations as their form of assessment.
Other teachers see assessment as an ongoing process and utilize a variety of methods to assess students' skills and knowledge. But all teachers feel that the most important assessment measure is that which is provided by the SAT, as the community wants students to be successful on this standardized test. As yet, there has been little success in bringing the community on board in the efforts toward mathematics reform. In addition, at both the school and district level, administrative support for mathematics reform has grown less cohesive over the past few years. While there is interest and perhaps even vision on the part of the school and district administration for reform in mathematics, there is a lack of agreement in how to bring the reform into being.