The fundamental idea of building mathematics programs grounded in
mathematical habits of mind has been advocated for decades, but its
actualization has sometimes eluded teachers, textbook authors, curriculum
developers, standards writers, and test developers. Even though we
can see the value in helping students develop ways of using mathematical
thinking to make sense of their world and solve the many types of
problems they will encounter, sometimes it simply seems too time consuming,
expensive, or diffi cult to make real. In particular, we have not
seen widespread use of appropriate assessments to support the teaching
of mathematical thinking and habits of mind.
While the NCTM standards from both 1989 and 2000 included
specifi c standards on mathematical processes, most state standards in
the late 1990s and well into the twenty-fi rst century consisted primarily
of lists of mathematical content. If mathematical processes were
addressed at all, they may have appeared in relatively invisible introductory
paragraphs or accompanying narratives describing how important
it was to incorporate problem solving, reasoning, and so on. Since state
tests tended to focus on the standards themselves, rather than on the
invisible paragraphs and narratives, rarely, if ever, did these dimensions
of mathematical thinking appear on such tests