Mathematics Mission Statement
The mission of the Round Rock ISD Mathematics Department is to provide the vision and leadership necessary to ensure a mathematics education of the highest quality for all students.
Goals of Mathematics in RRISD
Educational goals for students must reflect the importance of mathematical literacy. Toward this end, the K-12 RRISD mathematics standards articulate five 
general goals for all students:
- That they learn to value mathematics,
- That they become confident in their ability to do mathematics,
- That they become mathematical problem solvers,
- That they learn to communicate mathematically, and
- That they learn to reason mathematically.
These goals imply that students should be exposed to numerous and varied interrelated experiences that
encourage them to value the mathematical 
enterprise, to develop mathematical habits of mind, and to understand and appreciate the role of mathematics in human affairs; that they should be encouraged to explore, to guess, and even to make and correct errors so that they gain confidence in their ability to solve complex problems; that they should read, write, and discuss mathematics; and that they should conjecture, test, and build arguments about a conjecture's validly.
The opportunity for ALL students to experience these components of mathematical learning is at the heart of our vision of a quality mathematics program.
Vision of a RRISD Mathematics Classroom
As these goals and standards are incorporated in the mathematics classroom, there is a shift*: |
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Toward:
Classrooms as mathematical learning communities
Mathematical tasks that engage students’ interests and intellect
Logical and mathematical evidence as verification
Mathematical reasoning
Providing opportunities for students to deepen their understanding of the mathematics being
studied and its applications
Promoting the investigation and growth of
mathematical ideas through classroom discourse
Conjecturing, inventing, and problem solving
Using technology and other tools to pursue
mathematical investigations
Connecting mathematics, its ideas, and its
applications and helping students seek
connections to previous and developing
knowledge
Students working individually, in small groups, and as a whole class |
Away from:
Collections of individuals under the control of an adult
Repetitive drill and practice
The teacher as the sole authority for right answers
Merely memorizing procedures
Trying to “cover” too many topics in too little time at a superficial level
Passive absorption of information by students as the teacher lectures
Stressing mechanistic answer-finding
Using only paper-and-pencil to do mathematics
Presenting mathematics as a body of isolated concepts and procedures
Students working individually at desks lined up in neat rows |
| *Adapted from NCTM Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics, pp. 1-3 |
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Students will develop positive attitudes toward mathematics when they are taught mathematics in a supportive, enabling environment, when all students’ mathematical learning embodies the notion that engagement in mathematics is essential and that decision-making, risk-taking, cooperative work, perseverance, and self-assessment are frequently keys to success. |