The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) proposes a three-year project, the goal of which is to prepare reports on the 8th grade NAEP mathematics assessment conducted in 2000, any NAEP items to be released in 2002 and several earlier NAEP assessments. The project concentrates on two issues: (1) Focus 1 which will be the preparation of the interpretive reports that include content and process analyses, comparison studies and trend analyses; and (2) Focus II which will be the creation of materials for teachers. Products for Professional Development and Teaching will be: (1) three sets of materials based on 4th grade, 8th grade and 12th grade student responses. The first set will be directed toward teachers of grades 3 through 5, the second toward middle school teachers and the third toward high school teachers. Materials will be organized around the five NAEP content strands (i.e., number sense; properties and operation; measurement; geometry and spatial sense; data analysis, statistics and probability; and algebra and functions) to correspond with the framework used for Focus I; and (2) facilitator's guides that will contain suggestions and strategies to be used by the workshop leaders. Materials for professional development will be piloted in the NCTM meeting and through the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE). Data will be collected in the form of surveys and interviews with participants, as well as copies of participants' work. In addition, case studies of teachers sampled from elementary, middle and high school levels will be conducted in order to obtain a sense of the impact of the materials on teachers' instruction. Evaluation will focus on the progress of Focus I and the impact of materials on teachers' classroom practices (Focus II). An advisory board will oversee the analyses, process and products.
