Testing the Problem-Solving Skills of Students in an NCTM-oriented Curriculum

An interesting question concerns how well NCTM-oriented students do on standardized mathematics tests. Another important question that has received less attention is: Are standardized tests truly measuring the skills that NCTM-oriented students have? Would other tests reveal skills that differentiate NCTM-oriented students from traditional students? Moreover, what are these skills? This paper contributes to the answers to these questions, and finds that students in one NCTM-oriented curriculum displayed such qualities as engagement, eagerness, communication, flexibility, and curiosity to a much higher degree than traditional students did. The implication given is that not only should we use standardized tests, but we should revise them and/or supplement them to measure the qualities that are not currently being measured.