Despite the concerted efforts of many classroom teachers, administrators, teacher-leaders, curriculum developers, teacher educators, mathematicians, and policymakers, the portrayal of mathematics teaching and learning in Principles and Standards is not the reality in the vast majority of classrooms, schools, and districts. In other instances, the curriculum offered to students does not engage them. Sometimes students lack a commitment to learning. The quality of mathematics teaching is highly variable. There is no question that the effectiveness of mathematics education in the United States and Canada can be improved substantially.
Standards can play a central role in the process of improvement.
As with any educational innovation, however, the ideas of the Standards have been interpreted in many different ways and have been implemented with varying degrees of fidelity. Sometimes the changes made in the name of standards have been superficial or incomplete. Efforts to move in the directions of the original NCTM Standards are by no means fully developed or firmly in place. One way in which standards documents help meet these goals is by shaping conversations about mathematics education. As with the previous NCTM Standards, Principles and Standards offers common language, examples, and recommendations to engage many groups of people in productive dialogue.