Unraveling Discourse Entwined in Mathematics Standards

ABSTRACT Standards dictate what is taught daily in mathematics classrooms, impacting students, educators, and families. Those in positions of power not only influence the policies that oversee the standards revision process, but also shape public perception on the necessity and outcome of the standards. In this paper, we present a discursive framework for studying how mathematics standards have been languaged into discourses. We use microethnographic principles and critical discourse analysis to present multiple perspectives of standards through collected speeches, government websites, and policy documents. Our discursive analysis revealed that political and social contexts are intricately woven into the language surrounding these standards. There remains a dearth of literature on how these discourses are collectively understood by educational stakeholders including families, students, and educators.