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particularly well-supported by hard research evidence, but they have man-
ECLECTIC APPROACHES TO ELEMENTARIZATION

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aged a blend of wisdom from many contributors that has gained high praise
for the products. Their eclectic approach to elementarization has effectively
stimulated and shaped recent debate and innovative activity in mathematics
education.
5. IMPACT OF CONTEXT FOR EDUCATION
Despite the broad endorsement of and enthusiasm for the NCTM Standards,
it is quite reasonable to withhold judgment on their long-term influence in
American mathematics education. It is now barely 4 years since release of
the curriculum and evaluation Standards. It is not uncommon to find
schools and teachers who have yet to hear about, much less consider, the
proposals in the Standards' reports. It is also common to hear schools and
teachers who claim that they "did the Standards last year," revealing re-
markable naivité about the implications of the proposals. The National
Science Foundation has funded at least 10 major curriculum development
projects seeking to provide prototypes for school mathematics programs that
embody the spirit of the Standards in various alternative ways. Those pro-
jects have really barely begun work on curriculum development, much less
the broad implementation that would be required to realize the Standards'
goals. Conclusion: It's really too early to tell whether the Standards will be
a different kind of stimulus for reform.
On the other hand, the Standards have emerged from the mathematics
education professional community into a national political atmosphere that
is unique in the history of American education. Never before have national
political figures spoken so boldly about establishing national educational
standards and implementing an extensive program of national assessment to
measure progress toward achieving those standards. In the debate over this
political movement, the NCTM Standards' work has been held up as a
model of guidelines that would be helpful, and there are now standards-set-
ting projects at work in other disciplines – most notably science.
The attention to NCTM recommendations by governmental agencies and