Diane J. Briars is president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), an 80,000-member international mathematics education organization. Previously, Briars was a mathematics education consultant and has also been a senior developer and research associate on the Intensified Algebra Project, a joint venture of the Learning Science Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin. This project, which is funded by the National Science Foundation, focuses on developing instructional materials for underprepared ninth-grade Algebra 1 students. Diane Briars was mathematics director for Pittsburgh Public Schools. Under her leadership, Pittsburgh schools made significant progress in increasing student achievement through standards-based curricula, instruction, and assessment.