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Discussion 
Findings from this research identify 
multiple areas that both positively impact and 
restrict the teachers’ ability to deliver the 
Singapore Math curriculum with fidelity. 
Results from this study provide insights for 
those embarking on implementing a new 
curriculum, including the Common Core State 
Standards (CCSS), which is comparable to the 
Singapore Math curriculum (Achieve, 2010). 
Teachers expressed an appreciation of and desire 
for professional development workshops to 
deepen their understanding of and strategies to 
deliver the Singapore Math curriculum. The 
importance of teacher workshops in the first and 
second year of implementation to cultivate the 
efficacy and effectiveness of curriculum 
implementation is underscored, reflecting 

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GATEways to Teacher Education 
A journal of the Georgia Association of Teacher Educators 
VOLUME 14, ISSUE 1 
PAGE 38 
educators’ need to comprehend not only subtle 
elements of the curriculum but to revisit 
essential concepts, principles, and strategies that 
positively impact student learning.
Facilitating the implementation of a new 
curriculum can be fostered through teacher-
driven workshops delivered throughout the 
school year that target, for example, particular 
gaps or problems in teachers’ understanding or 
delivery of the curriculum (Bantwini & King-
McKenzie, 2011; Boone et al., 2004; Obara & 
Sloan, 2009). Such an approach may reduce 
elementary educators’ anxiety about teaching the 
new curriculum (Hadley & Dorward, 2011). In 
conjunction, peer observations could foster 
collaborative learning that encourages the 
adoption of an approach to thinking through 
teachers’ development of a shared vision, 
personal mastery, mental models, and team 
learning – influencing teachers’ perceptions of a 
curriculum over time (Senge, 2007). Further, 
school administrators and faculty could 
conceptualize the implementation of a new 
curriculum through the problem-solving 
coherence framework (Childress & Marietta, 
2008). Alternatively, faculty could construct a 
checklist – employed in other professions such 
as medicine to ensure rigor and fidelity when 
rolling out a new approach (Gawande, 2008) – 
to be utilized in classroom observations that may 
be modified from one quarter to the next and 
informed by issues raised in grade level 
meetings, peer observations, and targeted areas 
such as higher-order questioning strategies, 
vocabulary learning approaches for English 
language learners, strategies to differentiate the 
curriculum, integration of abstract mathematical 
problems, and opportunities for student-centered 
activities (Louis et al., 2010).  
The introduction of a new curriculum 
extends to the provision, support, and mentoring 
of neophyte educators and teachers transferring 
into a system to resolve instruction and 
assessment issues that may be encountered. To 
be an effective educator, elementary teachers 
need to possess a deeper understanding of and 
confidence in mathematics well beyond the 
grade level they teach. Implementation also 
extends to the endorsement and support of 
parents/guardians through periodic newsletters, 
e-mails, website postings, and parent/guardian-
teacher meetings. If professional development is 
not afforded, teachers may modify a new 
curriculum and resort to previous teaching 
strategies or implement a new curriculum less 
effectively than it could if they received initial 
training and ongoing support. 
The implementation of a new curriculum 
involves the coordination of multiple 
stakeholders and is sometimes fraught with 
internal and external pressures confronting 
teachers and school administrators. Reflective of 
curriculum changes that educators and 
administrators face, teacher education programs 
should continue to develop in teacher candidates 
the dispositions of openness, flexibility, and 
creativity in preparation for their future 
profession of change (Darling-Hammond, 2010). 
Preparing teacher candidates involves not only 
the knowledge of a subject-discipline, skills to 
manage a classroom of diverse learners, and 
ability to differentiate instruction, but the 
openness and flexibility to integrate a new 
curriculum, ability to adopt to a new schedule or 
pacing guide, and participation in peer 
observations.
It is reasonable to expect that as teachers 
become more acquainted with a new curriculum, 
teacher confidence and competency will increase 
and student test scores may also improve. Future 
studies evaluating the fidelity of implementation 
would want to assess the impact of teacher-
training workshops on teachers’ instruction, 
carry out in-depth case studies of teachers’ 
attitudes and pedagogical practices related to a 
new curriculum, and conduct longitudinal 
studies tracking students’ interest and academic 
results in mathematics from the primary years to 
the middle years of schooling.