The starting question of this section is: Why are there education standards in mathematics and how has Germany
dealt with this? Germany’s poor results on the PISA in 2003, especially at the lower end of the achievement scale,
caused the Ministry of Education in Germany to establish the Education Standards in Mathematics. Since 2003 (see
Blum, Drüke-Noe, Hartung, & Köller, 2006) the Mathematics Education Standards have been implemented for the
end of primary school (grade 4), for the end of “Hauptschule” (grade 9), and for the end of normal secondary school
(grade 10).