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Timed quizzes and tests have been an elementary school staple for decades, but does practicing speed and memorization teach students to truly understand math strategies and concepts? The short answer is no. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has published eight effective teaching practices for mathematics that provide a basis from which educators can measure instructional opportunities:

• Establish mathematics goals to focus on learning.

• Implement tasks that promote reasoning and problem solving.

• Use and connect mathematical representations.

• Facilitate meaningful mathematical discourse.

• Pose purposeful questions.

• Build procedural fluency from conceptual understanding.

• Support productive struggle in learning mathematics.

• Elicit and use evidence of student thinking.

Educators have been at a disadvantage for decades, operating under a belief system that was modeled for us in our own educational experiences: the idea that being fast at math means you are good at math. It is an idea that is ingrained in our society and culture, and is one that can have devastating effects on student learning and self-image. 

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