The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of classroom practice and how it is supported by the culture of a classroom. The primary participant in this study was an eighth-grade mathematics teacher renowned for being a good teacher whose teaching conformed to the intentions of the reform-oriented National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards, with a particular emphasis on problem solving. The authors found that although Ms. Bryans appropriated some of the rhetoric and practices of problem-solving-based practice, her goals and assessment methods and most of her instructional methods were not consistent with common ideas of problem-solving mathematics.