Pervasive inequality. A bold claim, but that's the inescapable
conclusion of more than 20 years of examining mathematics and
science standards, student achievement, textbooks, standardized
tests, and classroom content coverage. In mathematics, for
instance, students are exposed to widely varying content not only
across states and school districts but within schools. Such inequities
in content coverage deny students equal learning opportunities.
By the time they enter middle and high school, those students
fortunate enough to have been challenged with rigorous, focused,
and coherent content in the early grades are placed into courses
that continue to challenge them, while their peers who were not