Chapter 5: Consensus Building: A Key Component of Curriculum Adoption: A Key Component of Curriculum Adoption

In early 1994, the superintendent of Portland Public Schools (PPS), Oregon, agreed that a “summit” of teachers, administrators, parents, and community members be brought together to make recommendations for improving achievement in mathematics and science district wide. This summit of over 300 people set the course for the next five years with recommendations for increased requirements in mathematics and science and improvements in instruction. Committees of teachers and administrators met to design an implementation plan to achieve these goals. Prior to the summit, significant work had taken place that created the conditions that led to elementary, middle, and high school mathematics adoptions in 1998–1999.