William H. Schmidt is a University Distinguished Professor specializing in quantitative research methods. A leader in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), with numerous research publications, he also works directly with states and school districts on the implications of TIMSS.
Richard T. Houang is a senior researcher in the TIMSS team at MSU.
Many Visions, Many Aims: A Cross-national Investigation of Curricular
Intentions in School Mathematics
Schmidt, W. H., McKnight, C. C.,Valverde, G. A., Houang, R.
T., & Wiley, D. E. (1997)
Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
ISBN: 0792344367
Which goals and standards guide mathematics education across the world?
This first report of the Third International Mathematics and Science
Study (TIMSS) explores this question by examining the rich data collected
in the TIMSS Curriculum Analysis.
This is a study without precedent in scale or detail. It includes an exhaustive, page-by-page inventory of mathematics content and other pedagogical characteristics collected from hundreds of textbooks and curriculum guides from almost 50 countries. These data document many important features of these countries’ mathematics education curricula.
This book examines important features of curriculum policy across the TIMSS countries, especially the role of textbooks and curriculum guides. It also portrays similarities and differences in mathematics curricula in the succession of objectives across grades. Additionally, it details characteristics of the mathematics curriculum as embodied in textbooks and curriculum guides intended for select grades.
This book will be of interest to anyone concerned with mathematics education standards, curriculum policy, cross-national educational comparisons, and mathematics pedagogy. (Description from the book cover)