In late 2000 and early 2001, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) put a great deal of time and effort into revising the K-8 mathematics curriculum. The purpose of this revision was to eliminate some of the redundancies in the curriculum (such as teaching the addition and subtraction of fractions as new material for three consecutive years) and to make sure the content was aligned with the state's standards, the Maryland Learner Outcomes (MLOs). The county spent a great deal of time on aligning their standards with the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. In fact, it was these standards that were used at the training sessions offered on the new curriculum, and a copy was provided to every school in the county. Teachers were told that the vision expressed in the standards was the same vision that MCPS wished to promote.

This paper explores the middle school portion of the MCPS curriculum and compares it to the NCTM standards to determine if the county's vision does in fact match the one expressed in the Principles. It also compares the grades 6-8 curriculum to the standards proposed by another group of reformers. In 2001, Achieve, Inc.'s Mathematics Advisory Panel released a draft of their standards for middle school mathematics in their Foundations for Success. According to Achieve, Inc., Maryland is one of the states that will begin to administer their end of eighth-grade mathematics assessment in the fall of 2002. If this is the case, will MCPS students be adequately prepared for this assessment. Does the new curriculum fully address the concepts that are in Foundations?