• Atascadero -- The School board of Atascadero Unified has formally adopted the new version of Silver-Burdett as Math textbooks for K-6. The parents who worked on this felt a great sense of relief as Mathland was so close to being adopted just a few months ago. We want to thank Mathmetically Correct for giving us all the up to date news and articles on your website and other valuable information. For the school districts who are still struggling with these fuzzy math, we just want to let you know that persistance does pay off when you bombard your school board with hard evidence and grim results from present and past students. Our job may still not be done. Although we have brought back traditional math as a choice, IMP is still around. However, the message is getting through to Jr. High parents so that the signing up for IMP in high school is way down this coming year. We are hoping IMP will "die its own death". In the meanwhile, Glencoe is still our JR. High math. We have heard that it is not adequately preparing Jr. high school students into the traditional high school math sequence. Again, we thank you for helping us to make things happened. Other parents can send email to Concerned Parents of Atascadero.
• Brea -- We have formed a parent group in Brea called BOLD (Brea Open Logical Debate) . The Brea School Distrct (BOUSD) has jumped head first into the New Math curriculum having adopted Integrated Math at the Junior High and High Schools and Addison-Wesley for elementary schools. BOUSD has spent a lot of time and energy trying to sell this program, including holding "New-Math Nights" at every school in the district late last year. However, there are many parents that are not convinced and are fighting to regain some balance with the content and how the curriculum is taught.
• Chico -- We've named our Chico group, "Access to Math", as we feel the district should allow parents the option of sending their children to schools that offer a traditional math curriculum, one that stresses the importance of mastering basic computational skills while also teaching math concepts. I guess the district is afraid of comparisons being made in test results. From what I see on the web and noting how many oppose fuzzy math, I feel that this year we can finally make some changes at the state level and begin to restore sanity to our state's schools. Good luck with your efforts.
• Clovis - I just got back from a meeting with the school Deputy Superintendent and other officials in our district. They are basically on my side. The teachers were supposed to be using the new math as a supplement to the current math text book not the other way around, which some were doing. They looked at my son's portfolio and saw how much writing and little math was being done. This concerned them greatly and thet are going to make sure it does not happen elsewhere in the district. They thanked me greatly and invited me to attend their monthly meetings that discuss the curriculums used/proposed in the district. It looks like things will turn out satisfactory. NOTE: CUSD parents feel free to E-mail me if you are experiencing problems with the math curriculum (or any other curriculum). rorabaug@cybergate.com
• Davis -- Our group, PACE (Parents Advocating for Children's Education), expects to be involved with curriculum issues across all school subjects, although currently math concerns are foremost on our minds. For the last three years, the Davis Junior and Senior High Schools have taught Algebra I using a new-new math approach, Creative Publications, amidst growing complaints by parents and math professionals that this approach is not meeting the needs of many of the students. Recently, the Davis Board of Education has directed the school administration to establish a committee for the purpose of creating an Alternative (ie. more traditional) Algebra I course, using a more traditional textbook. Parents will be able to choose which course their child will attend this coming fall. Unfortunately, just a few months ago the School Board voted to adopt Mathland as the program that will be used in K-6 in the fall and the materials have recently been purchased at great expense. Mathland - also a Creative Publications product- has created quite a controversy within the Davis commmunity as well. We expect more and more fallout as additional parents get exposed to the new program. Many parents, whose children are involved in the "pilot" usage of Mathland in some Davis classrooms, have already been seeking out our organization with their concerns and horror stories. We would especially like to hear from other groups who have had experience with these two programs. Our snail address is PACE, 417 Mace Blvd., Suite J-250, Davis, CA 95616, Fax (916) 757-3010, or contact PACE by e-mail
• El Segundo -- Great to see you and others getting organized. We are just getting started here. We're in the process of forcing the district into creating a Math Advisory council made up of Teachers & Parents. We are "swallowing" hard on CPM for the first year. We are a very small district and cannot afford alternatives. Keep up the good work. Hopefully we can continue to share our information.
• Escondido -- The Parents for Math Choice group was successful in the reinstitution of traditional math courses. Middle school choice was recently voted in. Escondido now has a choice of traditional math programs from 7th grade forward. (The high schools put traditional back as a choice last year and 65% of students have selected this option.) You can e-mail Parents for Math Choice. For more information see the Update on Math in Escondido
• Hemet
  • -- CP Math (CPM) was piloted 4 years ago in this district. What's interesting is that no assessments have been done to see if it is effective. We will be looking into reducing, at the very least, the number of offerings. For issues about school to work and school to career programs, please see our web site.
  • -- The Governing Board in Hemet Unified School District has approved a policy on grading that contains the following: "The Governing Board believes that grades serve a valuable instructional purpose by helping students and parents/guardians identify the student's areas of strengths and those areas needing improvement. Parents/guardians and students have the right to receive course grades that represent an accurate evaluation of the student's achievement. Group activities, projects and assignments are important in the classroom learning process, however, group testing may not be used in an individual student's grade.
• La Canada -- We have formed La Canada Math Advisory Group. Our short term goal is to study math curriculum and make suggestions to school board. We will be taking a survey of parents about the new math program and new textbooks - Houghton Mifflin. We are a new group and have much to accomplish. Our e-mail address is LCMath@aol.com and phone number is 818-252-2938. We welcome suggestions and new members. Here are preliminary results of survey sent to parents of fifth grades students at Palm Crest Elementary. Over 60% received outside tutoring, Over 50% of parents reported not liking the new textbooks whereas only about 16% said they liked the books. Only 16% of parents liked the use of cooperative learning. Over 80% of parents either did not like or had no opinon regarding heterogenous groups. Parent comments include: *New texbooks are creative and engaging but explorations of how to apply concepts are sometimes unclear. *Higher order thinking skills better but kids can't apply them if they can't do the basic functions easily, accurately and quickly. *Memorization and drill are as essential to math as they are to music, hitting a baseball and spelling. *I understand the philosophy of heterogeneous grouping but in reality I suspect this retards the advanced student, fails to focus needed help on the student who is still developing, and creates just as much risk of stigma as the old system - kids tease as much if they are grouped together as they do apart. *I understand and value the theory. But, none of my four kids has learned the basics; all have had to learn from flashcards and Kumon. *New textbook looks like a coloring book; need drill and practice and problem solving. *Math disaster in 3rd grade - whole math *Very difficult for parents to tutor their children without a parent guide. *Instructions are not very clear.
  Vocal parents of fifth graders challenged the school administration re the policy of heterogenous grouping of students and begining in the next quarter the top 30 students basically with a 95 CTBS test score in math or better will be in a separate class. This may help matters for some kids but the same math book and teaching methods i.e. cooperative learning, a poorly written math textbook and a new teacher probably won't change things that much. We will be having a site council meeting on November 20 to talk about the math curriculum.
• Lake Elsinore -- Thought she caught "Dummy Virus" -- Thank you & God for finding out instead it is the New New Math. We have gone back to the ABEKA program. But cannot say how long it will take to undo what they have done in 1 1/2 years to our child in the Riverside County School District. Thanks for cluing us in. Keep up the good work.
• Livermore -- We are from Livermore California and we currently have Mathland and CPM. Besides these two evils we are also fighting the destruction of a traditional math program at East Ave Middle School. Teachers and parents have protested to an unresponsive school board and superintendent.
• Los Angeles -- My administrator bought us Mathland without telling us. One day the boxes just showed up in the class. I had heard about some schools adopting it entirely and how well it was working. I took the TE home to read and thought I might try it starting with the fractions unit since that was where I was with my students. I had to drop using it within a week, because, knowing the math curriculum for fourth and fifth grades as I do, I felt that the Mathland program did not go into fractions at this grade level at the depth needed. We don't have math texts. I am using old ones from another school that I brought with me to my new school for "reference". I create worksheets and homework problems based on this old text. Mathland may be alive and well in LA Unified but I can't use it and feel that I am doing my job as an educator.

  See also A Comparison of the LAUSD Math Standards and the California Math Standards

• Manteca -- Manteca Unified School District went toward the CPM curriculum a few years ago. Many teachers are starkly against the program, and there have been many reports that the teachers are being muzzled from speaking bad about it. All High School math teachers in the district have been forced through CPM training and further, they have been phasing out the choice of traditional mathematics. But what makes matters worse is the fact that the Science department is complaining about the amount of low-skilled students in the area of mathematics. Test scores in math have also dropped. Fortunately the teachers that do speak out have alienated many students to be against the curriculum, even if they didn't have a anti-CPM teacher they realize how much more complex it has made their class and how boring and incomprehensible it has been.
• Napa -- "If you're a teacher who has really high expectations and you want your kids to learn and do things, these materials don't meet my expectation levels. They don't meet my parents' expectation levels. And I think the kids are bored after a while." [San Francisco Chronicle]
• Nevada City -- The Grass Valley School District (K-6), serving western Nevada County, California, adopted MathLand for all grades starting Fall'95. MathLand is incredibly lacking in appropriate arithmetic skills practice. Even my first grader is bored. To quote a GATE sixth grader neighbor of mine, "MathLand sucks!". They have yet to adopt any standardized test to track the performance of the program, and there is no organized parents group questioning the changes.
• Norwalk -- I have read with great interest your web site concerning mathematics in California. I whole heartedly agree with you. My 2 boys attend Norwak-La Mirada School Distict in Los Angeles County and I am very concerned that they are receiving less than an adequate mathematical education. They are in the 3rd and 1st grade and I can already see the lack of mathematical skills at that age.
• Novato -- Education Research Network is a group that is trying to provide a broad range of background information useful to parents concerned about educational issues. Right now they are particularly interested in reading and in legislative issues. You can email the Novato branch of Education Research Network
• Orange -- News from Orange Unified--the Board of Education adopted the new California math standards (and the language standards) by a 7-0 vote July 9th, 1998. There was some discussion about how much money this is going to cost the district but there was no real dissent. Our standards advisory committee is thrilled, but we realized this is only the first step. We are now putting together a comprehensive plan regarding what needs to happen next.
• Orange Update April 1999--the Orange Unified School District voted to permit math choice in response to numerous parental complaints about the integrated math program which began in 1995 in OUSD. Parents appeared at a number of board meetings to request a traditional mathematics track (Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II) to provide an option to the only available math curriculum--integrated math. The Board approved a dual track program with traditional math as the default program. They also required that informed consent be given in advance to those parents who would be enrolling their children in integrated math. Administrators stated that the dual track would be unworkable and that most parents would elect traditional math anyway. Integrated math is now being phased out and the traditional track is being phased in.
• Palm Desert -- Desert Sands Unified School District recently implemented "Mathlands" in all elementary grades, based on pilot programs of very short duration. I am still looking for the data which supports such an all-inclusive approach and shows an actual measurement of student success with this program. We have already tried "Math Their Way", "Renaissance Math" and CPM (in the middle and high schools) - test scores are way down. Got another bandwagon we can get on?
• Palmdale -- On the Westside of Palmdale we're going through the same thing as the rest of California, and also it seems the rest of the country. This district is hell-bent on piloting and adopting the new math programs, Mathland and etc. A couple of us went to great lengths to inform parents about what the district is trying to do -- front page news articles, 700 flyers stating all the facts, and copies of the negative info from this very web site sent to all the members of the school board -- but to no avail, nobody listened, nobody cared. Well a few of us are tired of fighting a battle that these parents out here don't seem to care about, so we've decided homeschooling is the best answer for us. I'm sorry for all the other kids with lethargic parents. The kids are going to be the ones who will suffer from this ridiculous math curriculum. As far as I see it, the only way to guarantee your child a good education is to homeschool or a go to a good private school.
• Palo Alto -- The reaction to the introduction of Fuzzy Math in Palo Alto is well documented by a group called HOLD, Honest Open Logical Debate on math reform. HOLD sprang up as a result of parents concern over issues that mirror those arising in San Diego today.
• Petaluma -- Thank you, thank you, thank you... for providing the information we need to let parents know what is going on during math time. Unfortunately, our district has adopted Mathland. What a mess! Many parents have no idea what garbage is being taught to their children. Keep up the good work. The minority groups like ours here in Petaluma need all the back up we can get in our attempts to inform the parents in our district. Please see the Web Site
• Redondo Beach -- Our elementary and middle schools were up for math text adoption this year. The teachers volunteered to pilot Quest 2000, Math Every Day, Gateway, Glencoe Interactive, Anytime Math, and Houghton Mifflin. Thanks to Mathematically Correct, HOLD, etc., and our neighboring district of Torrance, the adoption of math textbooks for K-6 was put off. It was by information provided by you and others that the adoption committee was convinced to hold off. Considering the recent developments at the State we now feel the odds have changed considerably towards finding a decent textbook. However, I'm finding out that the word "balance" has a different meaning for the different "players." We are now in our second school year of piloting and evaluating material. It's hard to believe but one of our schools is actually piloting Saxon! The downside is we now have two schools instead of one piloting Quest 2000.
• Ridgecrest -- I went to the HS open house. I was amazed when the teacher said there would be no textbook for the class and group study during class would be the majority of classwork. It turns out that Burroughs HS here has changed over to College Preparatory Mathematics: Change from Within (CPM1) - UC Davis' Fuzzy Math. When I started to help my daughter with her homework I really became concerned about this bookless algebra class. She showed me her guess-and-check approach to solving problems. I found she wasn't being taught any basic math theorems. We as parents were instructed not to teach 'foil'. Instead, they are taught to expanding quadratic equations by visualizing them as the sum of component rectangular areas. A cute idea I admit, but this area approach to the problem is an even bigger memory crutch than 'foil'. Group test scores are determined by rolling dice to see which group grade will be recorded for all group members. Homework is not corrected and graded, but merely tallied.
• Riverside
  • -- Great page!!This is so wonderful--all the resources we'll need to wow our non-thinking friends. Keep up the good work. I am looking forward to reading through all the info you have provided, but truly this is like an encyclopedia or a chronology of our downward plunge into new-new math. Thank you so much!! Send email to Citizens United for Education
  • -- CPM: Impeding the learning process ... reported in a high school newspaper
• Sacramento
  • -- Outstanding web site! Because my wife works in our public school district, we knew this "new new math" was a crock, but we didn't know just how bad until we found your site. Thanks for the excellent work.
  • -- Education Research Network is a group that is trying to provide a broad range of background information useful to parents concerned about educational issues. Right now they are particularly interested in reading and in legislative issues. You can email the Sacramento branch of Education Research Network
• San Diego
  • -- I heard that you are composing a letter to be sent to the SDCS board requesting that they hold off on their adoptions. I would like my name added to that letter. I am currently teaching "remedial" math to college students who can't pass the entry level math exam (and these classes are VERY FULL). I hope that SDCS will move more slowly into this very "fuzzy" new approach to teaching mathematics. My fear is that my classes will get even more crowded with students who have never mastered the algebraic skills necessary for college level math, science, and statistics.
  • -- I want to express my concern over the Addison Wesley Focus on Algebra text currently being used for Beginning Algebra at the 9th grade level. It seems to have been mostly ignored on this web page. I teach General Math Studies (it is the reteaching of high school algebra to college students who can't pass basic math competency tests). Having majored in mathematics and taught secondary mathematics for many years I feel qualified to make the following statements. My son is a "victim" of the new-new math. In the 8th grade he was subjected to the CPM course for advanced 8th grade math. At the time I had grave concerns about the "lack" of Algebra he was actually learning. I expressed my concern to the school and was mostly dismissed as an hysterical parent. He is now repeating beginning Algebra in high school. [Editorial note: Many parents feel this is a good alternative to insure that a solid grounding in algebra is achieved. They could be wrong.] At first I was hopeful that he would recieve some traditional Algebra, but not so. He is using the text mentioned above which, although it is more "traditional" than the CPM program, is very poorly written and lacking in many areas. Correct mathematical vocabulary is sacrificed for 'fuzzier' statements. Discovery is encouraged through problem solving but formulas and algorithms are rarely summarized or formalized. I tutor several students using this text who complain of lack of examples, so that when they are away from an instructor they have very little or nothing to fall back on for explanation. Finally the subject matter covered in the text seems to be incomplete. Emphasis on linear equations and related problem solving seems to occupy most of the text, while more difficult concepts, such as working with rational polynomial expressions, are de-emphasized.
• San Gabriel Valley --
• Advocates for Better Education addresses the educational concerns of San Gabriel Valley parents and teachers; provides them with a forum for information, discussion, and support; and calls for action to improve education in the public schools.
• San Juan Unified -- The charter school that my 6th grader attends in the San Juan Unified District (Sacramento Co., CA) adopted Mathlands for its rapid learner program (self-contained GATE class). Before this they were testing mathlands and so my daughter had a "mathlands" 4th grade. She and her fellow GATE classmates are now behind in math and many are being tutored in math and spelling. I am tutoring her in math,at home, and several have moved their kids to other schools. The teachers have moved so far away from direct instruction that many parents feel their "GATE" kids are not working ahead a year but are actually behind!! What a crime to take the brightest learners and equip them with the weakest tools!!
• San Pedro -- My child attends 7th street elementary school in San Pedro, part of LAUSD. So far this year, the class is doing math 3 days out of 5 each week. On the fourth day they do games, puzzles, or whatever is entertaining but not math. On the 5th day the children who are passing math get to watch a video while the failing kids have to sit in the classroom and make up a weeks worth of work. This three-fifths program does not work for me. The principal defends this by saying that the school scored high on last years tests. She is neglecting the fact that "high" is really quite low on a world standard. Meanwhile I am supplementing my child's math program with Saxon Math, which is the only program that seems to really be teaching to realistic standards.
• Santa Barbara
  • -- We are currently publishing our first newsletter examining educational issues in Santa Barbara county. Our first issue will focus on the new new math and it's disastrous implications for our children. In addition there will be a statistical analysis of our CTBS scores. Our group is called QeD Advocates for Excellence in the Public Schools.
  • -- The report on Trouble in MathLand comes as a result of a meeting in Santa Barbara.
• Simi Valley -- Good News! Simi Valley Unified School District will officially offer both (traditional) Algebra 1, Geometry & Algebra 2 pathways, as well as Integrated 1, 2, & 3 at all four of our High Schools and all three of our middle schools beginning in September 1997. CITIZENS FOR TRUTH IN EDUCATION, 690-A Los Angeles Avenue #232, Simi Valley, CA 93065, or e-mail Citizens for Truth in Education
• South Pasadena - According to reports received at Mathematically Correct, the school district was considering two reform math programs for elementary school in this district. After being supplied with information from Mathematically Correct and the BOLD group from Brea, they re-opened their adoption and were able to apply for a waiver to avoid the use of Framework math texts. Congrats from Mathematically Correct.
• Stockton -- Stockton Unified School District has adopted Mathland as of 1996-1997 school year for K-6. The text selection committee members say it was the best of the programs offered to districts by the State, but those in high places seem unusually fanatic about forcing in the new program. Teachers are being coerced to change whether or not they had previously demonstrated successful, rigorous teaching, drawing upon a variety of proven pedagogic techniques. Senior Administrators have sent memos to staff insisting upon the implementation of Mathland. Administrators have removed old math text books so teachers could not fall back on these and would be forced into Mathland exclusively. Many teachers - especially veterans who've seen many failed fads and those with college math majors/minors or math-related college majors - have been secretly critical of the program for its downplaying of teaching standard algorithms and lack of structure, and some are trying to keep up with the basics by sending home their own supplemental practice dittos. However, administrators are forcing the issue by inspecting classrooms and focusing on Mathland in bi-annual evaluations. Standardized testing will change next year to a new program, so results of implementing this program will be obscured.
• Torrance -- May is the first anniversary of the Concerned Parents of Torrance group's first meeting. In that time we have forced the Torrance Unified School District to offer traditional Algebra, Geometry, and Algebra II classes at all four of our high schools and all the middle schools that offer Algebra classes. We elected two new School Board Members who are parents with children in the school system. These new School Board Members will not rubber stamp any curriculum the administration puts before them. We have also gotten parent involvement in the selection process for a K-8 curriculum for math. Parents have networked across the district and the information on the math materials has gotten out to parents. We continue to have watchdog groups attend all School Board meetings, all Math Steering Committee meetings, and all Parent Ad Hoc math material adoption meetings. After one year we are still meeting once a month with any interested parents to update on what the district is doing. [Note: The introduction of reform math was met with considerable resistance from parents. They collected about 1,000 parent signatures and were thus able to get traditional math back at the high school level.]
• Vacaville -- We in Vacaville have been attacked by the "bug" as well. I teach mathematics ... forced to teach CPM Algebra I. The most significant thing I remember was a "newsletter" from the CPM who-ever. At the top was something to the effect: "Isn't giving group tests great? You have 28 students and have to only grade seven tests!! What will you do with your spare time?" I felt that summed up their whole approach.
• Visalia
  • -- Due to misgivings and misinformation, a recently held mathematics study session was merely an orchestrated "praise session" for CPM. This was not intended by either the interim Superintendent or the President of the Trustees. Therefore, they are in the process of rescheduling a new specil meeting which will be mediated in the methods used for "interest based negotiations" for union disputes. It should be interesting to say the least. It would help the cause if at least one parent other than myself showed up and spoke out.
  • -- We have one child, 1st grade, in the Visalia Unified School District, CA. Visalia District adopted the NEW MATH district K thru 12 at the start of the 95-96 school year. At our elementary school our teachers have been given the freedom to teach traditionally for 1/2 of the time, however we think this will change if parents do not stand up and present the facts about this program!
• Vista
  • -- My 14 old daughter is attending Vista High School in the Vista Unified School District. She was put into IMP math because she didn't take Algebra in Middle School. She won't be able to take Algebra because she is in IMP math. Comments included "this is stupid", "waste of my time", "makes no sense" etc.. These were the comments I can publish, others were more "colorful". We are trying to inform the public of this disastrous "math". It is so bad the students don't even "feel good" about it.
  • -- "Parents rebelled when they found out their textbooks were trying to make math easier to swallow by allowing group work. One fourth-grade textbook told teachers: 'Your job is ... not to judge the rightness and wrongness of each student's answer. Let those determinations come from the class ... Avoid showing any verbal or nonverbal signs of approval... '" [Investor's Business Daily]

• Alaska -- I am a teacher in Anchorage, Alaska. I am in a school which is 'piloting' MathLand. The teachers in my building have been concerned about the disjointedness of some aspects of the program as well as the lack of computational practice. There are some wonderful activities for teaching concepts, but that is not enough. After making some noises we were given supplemental dittos for computational practice, but this practice is still quite disjointed.
• Arizona -- Parents in Arizona are urged to contact Arizona Parents for Traditional Education. This group has lots of information for your area.
• Florida -- A Florida Parent Speaks about UCSMP
• Georgia -- In Fayette County, Georgia, a group of parents is currently forming to address the use of "Everyday Mathematics" in our schools. We are called Concerned Parents for a Better Fayette Education, and welcome e-mailed responses. There are many here who believe that our children would be better served by a return to the basics in mathematical instruction, i.e. math facts and computational skills--addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. There are many parents here who are dissatisfied with the confusion level and lack of mastery inherent in the "Everyday Mathematics" program. The group has received many responses from parents in the community which indicate an inordinate amount of children being pulled out of the public schools, in favor of home schooling and area private schools. As a group, our first order of business will be to conduct a county wide survey to get an accurate assessment of the county's views on this math program. If there is majority opinion, we will proceed to the Board of Education with our survey results, and use this consensus to call for a change in the mathematics program. We have a county curriculum coordinator here who uses our high IOWA scores as evidence that "Everyday Mathematics" is a successful way to instruct children. However, these scores fail to consider the number of hours spent at home with parents who are reteaching math, as well as an inordinate amount of children being tutored in math, with some estimates as high as 50% and greater by the high school level. Furthermore, many students in this county have transferred here from other school systems who were not using New New Math texts, and may be skewing overall scores and actually showing a high result based on a more tradtional math program. The bottom line is that many of the parents in this group are far more concerned with their child's ability to consistently solve mathematical problems with an accurate result, than they are with test scores. Twenty years from now, which will be more important? Concerned Parents will hold their first public meeting on May 20, 1998 at the county public library in Fayetteville, Georgia, at 7:00 p.m. What started as a letter to the editor in our local newspaper, may well turn out to be the beginning of a "grass roots" movement to return the basics to public education in our county.
• Hawaii -- We left California because of the abysmal educational curriculum -- especially math -- but are finding the infection has spread into Hawaii also. What can teachers do when the textbooks are pure mush? My very bright 4th grader came home with a note from his math teacher, so I took a look at the work. I could not make head nor tail of it! I didn't have a clue what they wanted! And I have a MS in Mechanical Engineering from UC and have taught college level math! The questions were vague and had more to do with espousing politically correct social opinions than any academic subject. At that point I began homeschooling. sigh...
• Illinois -- Our classroom teacher this year asked us to allow our son to work with the school psychologist because he "values correct and complete answers too much." When we questioned her more closely, she admitted that "feeling good about the answers given in class is sometimes more important than the right answer, even at the expense of the correct answer." Of course, we refused, but the fact remains that we are beginning to see teachers, who because of these "philosophies" of education, want to bar knowledge and academic achievement from our schools. It makes you wonder why the schools exist in the first place. I have been amazed at the number of parents in our district who share our experience. Thank you for your efforts and willingness to speak out. We can only hope that the message is heard. Our group is called C.A.R.E. (Citizens Advocating Responsible Education).
• Louisiana -- See a new website for views from Louisiana.
• Massachusetts
  • -- Our schools in Winchester have decided to use the University of Chicago Math curriculum. I have a child in the 6th grade who has taken the field test program since 1st. They have decided to totally buy into this program and their high level math class in seventh grade will now use the same curriculum as the mid level class did the previous year. The program clearly does not challenge top level math students.
  • -- Reading: Concerned Parents of Reading, Massachusetts was formed by a group of parents with concerns regarding the use of the University of Chicago School Math Program (UCSMP) in the Reading Elementary School (K-4). The program seems to lack balance. Computational Skills are downgraded, testing is deemed irrelevant and students seem to spend excessive time writing about but not practicing mathematics.

    Update. The "Chicago Math" program is now used in K-5 and is expanding into the 6th grade next year. After 6 months of fighting for a standardized exam,The Stanford "9" was given in Fall of 1997 to the 5th graders. In spite of falling percentile and stanine ranks from the previous five years of Stanford 8 results (1993-1997), the school administrators ignored the results and created their own reality concerning the test scores. The "expert" from Psychological Corporation imported to discuss the results confused the school committee and parents so that they believed the students were actually doing better! He mistakenly transformed Stanford 9 to Stanford 8 data which he later admitted was undoable and incorrect. Many parents are privately tutoring their children so the decline in test scores is not as bad as it would be if tutoring was not done.

• Michigan
  • -- Southern Michigan -- Our relatively small school in southern Michigan will offer ONLY "core math" in the high school next year. Our senior daughter has escaped the curriculum ... hers is the last class to take the traditional sequence, having had algebra in 8th grade and she has just begun calculus. However, I have great concern for our 7th grader and 1st grader. The 13-year-old was VERY slow learning to read (thanks to an exclusive whole language approach), but had great arithmetic skills...until "integrated math" was introduced in 5th grade...the book was ALL reading...so he now couldn't do either (and this is supposed to INCREASE math confidence??) He is now enrolled in parochial school, where, miracle of miracles, he has learned reading, writing AND arithmetic skills!! They are doing a pre-algebra book...and he feels wonderful about himself. (Kids KNOW when a curriculum is being "dumbed down.") Unfortunately, his school only goes through 8th grade.
  • -- Wayland Michigan -- The Wayland Union school system is phasing in the University of Chicago School Mathematics Program and, in my opinion, with disastrous effects. Every parent that I know is upset about the program. Their children are struggling and not really learning to apply anything. Rather than mastering the basics of mathematics and building on them, they are introducing concepts that the children are just not ready to deal with. This is resulting in a lack of enthusiasm for the program on the part of the children and a growing sense that they are giving up because of the high level information that they cannot understand properly without the prerequisite basics.
• Minnesota -- Our group is called H.O.P.E. (Help Our Public Education), which is a citizen alliance committed to the advancement of scholastic achievement, parental involvement, and public accountability in education. We thank you for your work, energy and dedication to the best instructional practices available for students and teachers, indeed for our society.
• Nevada -- Great. After this idiocy fails miserably in California, it will be adopted by the schools here in Nevada. Something to look forward to.
• New Mexico -- I am part of the New Mexico Parents Commission (NMPC), a coalition of parents and organizations concerned about the Education Standards being proposed in New Mexico. The proposed NM Standards advocate doing away with learning/memorizing multiplication tables and accepting as correct all answers that students can justify (such as 13 = 7). It's an up-hill battle. Parents have been completely left out of the process and are woefully uninformed. Glad I found you. People can contact us by email or write to NMPC, P.O. Box 53926, Albuquerque, NM, 87153-3926
• New York
  • Upstate -- I'm a high school math teacher in upstate New York. I have two kids, one in second grade and one will begin school in September. I am very concerned about fads and gimmicks in education, especially in English and Math. My school district began a program called "Math Their Way." Have you ever heard of it? It de-emphasizes basic skills and emphasizes group work and using manipulatives; it sounds a lot like what is going on in California.
  • CUNY -- Please keep up the excellent job that you are doing in disseminating information about this new-new math nonsense. This approach will merely lower standards even further (if that is possible). Parents need to be advised as to what is going on here -- and why.
• Ohio -- I'm a high school math teacher, and I find myself in complete agreement with your statements. I feel like a smothering cloud of doubt towards my own views on math teaching has been replaced with a breath of fresh air that clears my head, makes me think, hey, maybe I'm NOT wrong about the USCMP books and the misuse of calculators, etc. Thanks for providing a list of obviously expert supporters.
• Oregon
  • -- Where I teach in Oregon we have completly destroyed a fine math program. The arguments used for change are the same arguments used across this nation. Where are the desenting voices? I am glad to finally see that there are a few of us left who feel that the mathematics we have been teaching for years is good. Yes improvement is needed but where is the evidence to show the changes made have any validity? Sadly for my students we seem to have designed a program for which no one will be prepared mathematically to do anything except offer an opion. My God don't we already have too many doing that.
  • -- Cottage Grove -- The efforts you have made in bringing better math to your schools has given some of our teachers the courage to just say no to IMP math and Applied Math. We are getting our traditional math back next year with IMP becoming an opt in program. Many thanks to all of you. See the Update on IMP in Cottage Grove
  • -- Portland -- Thank you for taking the time to articulate the concerns of parents, educators, and professionals regarding the state of mathematics education in America and for laying out the framework for building it back up to and perhaps beyond it's former glory. It is interesting that the principles used mid-century in this country as you noted are still valid and that those principles were in full bloom during the education of the engineers, technicians, scientists, etc., who put us on the moon and made this country number one in the world technologically. We are still riding their coattails. Ron Lermo, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group
• U.S. Armed Forces -- [Several overseas parents in the Department of Defense forces have written in to complain about the math programs their children receive. Here is one example.] I am the parent of a first grader in a DoD school in Japan. I really appreciate what you have done on your web page. The Mathland controversy raged for a while but has pretty much died down here, mostly because there hasn't been anything we parents could do to change the status quo. Unfortunately parents have no power in this system. The best we can do is annoy the bureaucrats while our children's brains rot. But thanks again for all the work you've done on behalf of all our children.
• Texas -- Everyday Math was introduced in some schools (elementary and middle) last year and in all of the elementary and middle schools districtwide this year. I teach sixth grade math and we are very frustrated by the program! There are approximately 61,000 students in our district that are being cheated out of QUALITY math instruction. By the time the students come to sixth grade, most of them are at a disadvantage already because they have not mastered the basic skills. Now, we're thrusting them into this program and they are completely lost and frustrated. The "trainers" that are supposed to be helping us through implementation are little help because they are in Chicago and their students have been in the program. We are now expected to teach 3rd, 4th, 5th, AND 6th grade work to get them up to par for seventh! Not to mention get them ready for our state exam. What a joke!
• Vermont -- New-new math (called Visual or Conceptual Math) here in Vermont is alive and on the march across our schools. Driven by our (appointed) State Board of Education and driven by the NCTM standards (which are never communicated to parents), it is being established as the sole path in many school districts. In our local district (Essex Junction) many parents are becoming aware of the damage this is doing to their children and are trying to get abstract or traditional math education back in the system. When we do so, we are called "threatened", "unprogressive", "cultist", and told we need to be "educated".
• Washington
  • -- I have a daughter in the 1st. grade in Snoqualmie Elementary School, Snoqualmie Wash. The school just implemented a new math program called "Everyday Math", which introduces calculators in the 1st. grade. I went to the last PTA meeting and expressed my concern about this and was basically told to not worry, that there was good research that this program really teaches good math. I of course don't buy that for one minute. I have a meeting with the principal this week to talk with her about this and to tell her that I think this is highly irresponsible. If there are any parents in the Snoqualmie Valley (Washington State) who are concerned about this sort of nonsense, please contact me
  • -- We have experienced the phenomenon of new-new math in the form of "The Edmonds Math Project" in the Edmonds, WA area. No texts, no basic skills, no timetable for learning mathematics, no coordination from grade to grade...and this is in elementary school! Whenever I would ask about the situation, I was given explanations based on the latest brain research (sited in a way which was supposed to stifle discussion and for most parents succeeded in that goal). I wrote two letters in disgust to the Superintendant and finally moved out of the district to salvage our son's education. Good Luck in your work.
  • -- As a high school math teacher in the State of Washington, I am very concerned with the current dictates of what is coming out of Olympia, our state education headquarters. I have been teaching long enough to have seen the disaster of the set-based math instruction of the '60's, and feel that the New-New Math is another pendulum swing that will be equally disasterous.
  • -- Tacoma -- I am a fifth grade teacher and currently use Everday Mathematics. It is a nightmare for many reasons, but mostly because the students don't learn the correct, generalizable strategies necessary to succeed in math and when a strategy is presented there are minimal opportunities for practice and review. I appreciate your efforts to improve the quality of math instruction. Hopefully, our school districts will soon utilize valid and reliable research before adopting and implementing unproven and unsuccessful programs. Again, I thank you.
• Wisconsin
  • -- I, too, doubt that there are any studies that have been done on the effectiveness of Everyday Math! Our children are the guiney pigs, once again, in this system. This is only one issue in a long list. I have been horrified over the years. Trying to wake up the public is a hard task, but I can't give up.
  • -- A very active organization called PRESS is covering issues on reform math and other educational developments for the entire state. Contact them via e-mail at presswis@execpc.com or see the new PRESS Web site
• England - There have been similar silly attempts in this country to water down the content of rigorous maths and to substitute the sort of nonsense that I see being introduced in California. The Internet could be a powerful weapon in the fight back that will have to be made to restore standards. My best wishes to you in your campaign. [Editor's note: See Tackling the Mathematics Problem from the London Math Society]
• England and South Africa - I have taught Primary school in South Africa for 25 years. Last year I spent a month teaching in schools in London, England. This was my first experience with "progressive education". Quite frankly I was appaled at their low standards. There are many reasons for these low standards but an important one was that classes were composed of pupils who were grouped and worked in groups. I am used to whole class teaching with the odd bit of group work thrown in for variety. Let me tell you that whole class teaching is the only way to go because it works. It has been tested through the ages. In Britain there is a growing realisation that schools must return to whole class teaching. Unfortunately in South Africa with the new regime in power schools are being encouraged in "progressive education" in the form of Outcome Based Education. When will they ever learn!
• Canada
  • -- I am a parent in Toronto,Ontario. While we ,as yet,have not adopted the New-New Math, I feel it is only a matter of time. What we have is almost worse: we have NO program. Several years ago our school district went through a witch hunt and many schools were forced to burn- I kid you not- the older math texts that were potentially insulting to immigrants, the texts that had not enough pictures and the ones that had too many computational questions. Now no teacher in our past school has a complete set of texts because it would make the class too dependent on one way of learning! In our latest annual district report the educrats were so very proud of a grade 4 class that had taken a unit (generally about six weeks) and done a story problem based on a nursery rhyme- 31 students created half a dozen word problems in six weeks. Amazing. It makes one feel as if one is losing touch with reality, I am happy to say that after exploring your website that I am not alone.
  • -- I am a Grade 9 French Immersion student at Astral Drive Junior High School (near Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada). Various schools in the Halifax Regional School Board have adopted the French version of the IMP Math program (IMPACTS MATHEMATIQUES) for ninth-grade French Immersion students as a pilot project. Essentially, there wasn't enough money to buy replacement texts for the old program (Actimath) and/or the old texts are no longer being published, so it was decided to go with the pilot project, which is being provided free of charge. We are not pleased with this math program, to say the least... And it looks like it may be adopted across the board, French and Core, for grades 9 through 12, unless we can stop it first.

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