Article · January 013 citations reads 5,355 author

Student interviews 
Focus-group interviews revealed that 
Kindergarten to Grade 4 students were interested 
in mathematics and claimed they were not 
adverse to the challenges, questions, activities, 
or word problems expressed in their Singapore 
Math workbook or presented by their teacher. 
Interviewed students recognized the importance 
of mathematics, claiming that mathematics was 
not only used by their parents in their places of 
employment, but was important for future 
employment and valued for being able to answer 
questions without pen and paper when 
purchasing items in a store. When asked to 
identify whether the students preferred teacher-
led instruction or working together in student-
centered stations to answer math questions, 
students from Kindergarten to Grade 4 favored 
both learning stations and teacher-centered 
instruction.  
The teachers’, county administrators’, 
principals’, and students’ reflections of the 
Singapore Math curriculum contributed to a 
deeper understanding of how the curriculum was 
perceived coupled with tensions that imbue the 
delivery. Teachers’ ability to differentiate the 
mathematics curriculum for English language 
learners, adherence to the county’s pacing guide, 
and professed disconnect between the 
curriculum’s assessment instruments and unit of 
instruction presented lingering challenges to 
effectively deliver the curriculum. These 
limitations were overshadowed, however, by the 
teachers’ stated higher student expectations and 
the county’s ongoing training and support of the 
new curriculum. School and county 
administrators claimed to adopt a broader view 
of the new mathematics curriculum: the 
curriculum would not only positively impact 
student achievement scores, but foster in 
educators a deeper knowledge of mathematics 
that would positively impact the classroom 
instruction and cultivate students’ mathematical 
knowledge and problem-solving skills. 
Conceptualizing these themes through 
O’Donnell’s curriculum profile and adaptation 
constructs, the teachers’ and administrators’ 
positive perceptions of Singapore Math 
suggested a moderately strong implementation 
of the new approach to instruction and student 
learning.