Connecting the NCTM Process Standards and the CCSSM Practices

Since their release in 2010, the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) has had a profound impact on educational reform. The adoption of these standards represents an opportunity to support teachers in the common goal of helping students achieve a high-quality education.

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics will affect almost every K-12 student and the majority of the US’s teachers over the next decade. Although the CCSSM was created through a top-down approach, spearheaded by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School officers, the primary audience and the ultimate users of the standards are classroom teachers.

The focus of this book is on the Standards of Mathematical Practice outlined in the CCSSM. Although the CCSSM features these standards prominently, they are not described in detail and are not integrated into CCSSM's Standards for Mathematical Content. As a result, they are easy to overlook or ignore.

The ideas in the Standards for Mathematical Practice are not new but linked to previous practices and standards articulated by other groups, including the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). For example, problem solving and reasoning are at the core of all practices outlined in CCSSM, just as they have been at the core of NCTM's vision for mathematics education since the publication of An Agenda for Action in 1980. Subsequent NCTM curriculum recommendations, emphasized and elaborated the role and place of mathematical processes and practices.

The Standards of Mathematical Process outlined in CCSSM, and explored in greater detail in this book, reaffirm the significance of habits of mind, mathematical processes, and proficiency as crucial aspects of learning mathematics. Although the terms and emphasis may be new to teachers, the main ideas have existed a long time and remain unchanged. Intended for classroom teachers, this book makes explicit connections between these related ideas and the CCSSM Standards for Mathematical Practice. By connecting the CCSSM to previous standards and practices, the book serves as a valuable guide for teachers and administrators in implementing the CCSSM to make mathematics education the best and most effective for all students.