The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) is organizing three Regional Conferences on Mathematics Achievement that focus on ways of helping state and local school systems make better use of federal resources to improve student achievement in mathematics. Each conference is held the day before the Department of Education's 1998 Regional Conference on Improving America's Schools (IAS), but has a distinct agenda and program leader. The conferences support the Action Strategy developed by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation as part of the President's initiative on improving mathematics education at the middle school level.