The use of the term "world class standards" grows out of the rhetoric surrounding the National Education Goals of 1990. The perspective of the mathematical sciences education community on world class standards is offered through a description of their efforts on behalf of reform of mathematics education and a discussion of what such standards should be. In pursuit of reform of mathematics education, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics decided to produce a series of standards documents that curriculum specialists and teachers could use to create a demand for new texts and staff development. The resulting "Curriculum Standards" have become the operational definition of world class standards. No international norm exists against which these standards can be measured, but examination of the mathematics frameworks of eight other countries supports their label as world class and their alignment with the mathematics goals of other nations. To assess them in reality it would be necessary to compare the variations in student outcomes, expectations for students, programs, and school cultures across the countries. Some ongoing efforts in these areas are described, but it is finally argued that agreement on criteria that could be called world class may not be possible. Six tables and one figure illustrate the discussion. (Contains 15 references.) (SLD)