I investigated the strategies teachers employ to address the concerns of parents regarding the NCTM Standards approach to the teaching of mathematics. My research focused on three questions. First, what do teachers say and do to educate parents in whole group situations such as curriculum nights? Second, what are the most common reservations expressed by parents? Third, what are the most effective means employed by teachers to address this parental version of math anxiety? I employed a review of relevant literature, interviews with teachers, and observations of parent mathemathics education classes. My findings include these: Teachers educate their parent population by engaging them in the same type of hands-on activities their children do. Parents are uncomfortable with the lack of math take-home papers generated by the Standards approach. They distrust the de-emphasis on computation and are suspicious of the ability of the Standards curriculum to prepare their children for achievement tests and entrance exams. As a result of parental pressure, teachers often increase the computational content of their curriculum.
My research focused on three questions. First, what do teachers say and do to educate parents in whole group situations such as curriculum nights? Second, what are the most common reservations expressed by parents?
