Thousands of web sites for educators and students. If we are determined to improve school mathematics and enable all students to become mathematically literate citizens of the 21st century, we cannot allow our 19th-century models of practice to persist. Yet business and industry tell us that 75 percent of entry-level positions require some proficiency in algebra and geometry. Studies indicate that more than 20 careers are closed to college freshman who have taken fewer than three years of high school mathematics. Mathematics is a gateway to a lifetime of opportunity for many of our students.
Technology can provide education a means to widen the gate.
The teaching Standards describe the shifts in instruction that must occur if all students are to become empowered to learn mathematics in ways that will last throughout their lifetimes. Schools need a full range and variety of technologies to expand problem solving and mathematical thinking and to foster deliberate mathematical connections and communication. This transition is already occurring in 30 percent of classrooms around tile country. Among these teachers is a growing cadre of professional leaders committed to integrating technology into instruction. On campus, these leaders are providing an impetus for schoolwide implementation of the Standards.