What TIMSS shows is that the highest-achieving countries focus on only three to four math topics in a given year throughout the elementary grades, favoring depth and mastery of the basics over breadth. By contrast, Maryland's third-grade math standards cover 22 topics. Maryland, like many other states, has adopted the prevailing philosophy to cover every math topic at every grade in hopes that at some point, they will all "stick." Further, many have topics that are unrelated to the critical tasks of numeracy, measurement and operations.
Maryland's standards also lack adequate mathematical rigor. While much of the world is teaching true algebra and geometry in the middle grades, Maryland children are often relearning arithmetic in sixth through eighth grades because they never had to master it the first, second or third time that it was taught. Taking algebra in seventh and eighth grades is the province of gifted students.
Coherence, the logical sequence of any curriculum, is doubly important in a hierarchical discipline such as mathematics. The National Mathematics Advisory Panel recently issued a national plea for a more logical progression of standards, particularly through foundational math. Maryland's current standards devote too much time to "fun" topics such as probability and statistics in early grades, while withholding until middle school those skills that are essential to future success in mathematics, such as fractions and decimals.
