Mathematics

Topics

• Connected Math
• Core-Plus Math
• Interactive Math
• Math in the Madison Schools - includes the letter to The Isthmus from math teachers at West

September 2005 - The fall issue of American Educator addresses the issue of teaching children mathematics. There are several thought provoking articles worth checking out. Points raised in these articles highlight the importance of teaching students the fundamentals before moving them to higher order concepts. An issue that was echoed in a recent Carnegie Foundation article by Lloyd Bond.

The NRC report on mathematics education entitled "On Evaluating Curricular Effectiveness:  Judging the Quality of K-12 Mathematics Evaluations."  The conclusions that seem to be drawn from this report indicate that there is insufficient data to conclude any of the math instruction programs they studied are effective. "On the basis of the committee’s analysis of these 147 studies, we concluded that the corpus of evaluation studies as a whole across the 19 programs studied does not permit one to determine the effectiveness of individual programs with a high degree of certainty, due to the restricted number of studies for any particular curriculum, limitations in the array of methods used, and the uneven quality of the studies."

September 2004 - The Brookings Institution finds that math items on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) math assessment lack challenging arithmetic, often requiring skills that are several years below grade level. The findings cast a disturbing light on recent highly-publicized math gains as measured by the NAEP assessment.

General Sources of Math Information

• Mathematically Correct - devoted to the concerns raised by parents and scientists over changes associated with "new math" and the need to restore basic skills to math education. See their extensive review of different math programs.
• The Math Meltdown - an award winning series from the Christian Science Monitor.
• The Math Forum - at Drexel University, the site includes discussion of key topics in math education including constructivism , the principle behind programs like CMP.
• NYC Hold - a current source of information on math curricula, you can find reviews of Everyday Mathematics, as well as TERC Investigations, Connected Mathematics Project (CMP) and others.
• Lawrence Gray is a professor of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota. His website has critiques of several "new" math programs, e.g., a sampling of errors in the Core + materials .
• Good intentions are not enough - an essay on math education by retired UW math professor Richard Askey
• An open letter to then Secretary of Eduation, Richard Riley - This letter signed by some 200 mathematicians and scientists, including four Nobel Prize recipients and two winners of a prestigious math prize, the Fields Medal deploring "new math."
• Mathematically Sane - a site that "promotes the rational reform of mathematics education."
• Research Mathematicians and Mathematics Education: A Critique - an article by Anthony Ralston that reviews the contributions of research mathematicians in K-12 mathematics over the past decade and gives his assessment of positives and negatives.

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Connected Math (CMP)- is the math curriculum that has been implemented in Madison's middle schools

• Content Review of CMP Mathematics - Wayne Bishop is a professor of mathematics and computer science at California State University. He reviewed the CMP curriculum to determine the extent to which it met California's math standards. His overall conclusion " With regard to mathematics content, this program does not sufficiently address the content standards and applicable evaluation criteria to be recommended for adoption."
• Assessment of Connected Math - a letter written by Michigan State University professor Thomas Parker.
• An Evaluation of CMP - by R. James Milgram of Stanford University.
• Some Comments on MathLand, Connected Mathematics, and the Japanese Mathematics Program - by R. James Milgram of Stanford University. Dr. Milgram is one of the four Stanford mathematicians who rewrote and revised the California Mathematics Standards for the California Board of Education.
• Connected Math Homepage - This is the publisher's site at Michigan State University with their research and reviews
• Review of CMP - a compendium of links from some folks, including Bas Braams and Elizabeth Carson at New York University.

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Core Plus Math - Both East and West High Schools currently uses this curriculum. According to the district, the intention is to offer this alongside the traditional math curriculum. However, they won't promise to retain the traditional math curriculum beyond 2006. It's worth noting, though, that the head Teaching and Learning claims that she had no idea that West was planning to implement this math program until we told them.

• An Evaluation of Core Plus Mathematics - by Steven Krantz, chairman of the math department at Washington University.
• Outcomes Analysis for Core Plus Students At Andover High School: One Year Later - R. James Milgram of Stanford University surveyed college students who had been in Core Plus Mathematics at Andover High School. The conclusion was that most were woefully unprepared for college level math.
• A sample list of errors in Core+ materials compiled by Lawrence Gray, professor of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota.
• Recent Trends in High School Mathematics - an opinion piece from Bert Fristedt, another math professor at the University of Minnesota.
• The Core Plus Mathematics Project - The CPMP website at Western Michigan University, review their side of the debate.
• A Study of Core-Plus Students Attending Michigan State University - Hill & Parker (2006) "As part of a study involving over 3000 Michigan students, it was found that students arriving at Michigan State University from four high schools which began using the Core-Plus Mathematics program placed into, and enrolled in, increasingly lower level courses as the implementation progressed. This conclusion is statistically very robust. The grades these students earned in the mathematics courses they took are also below average."

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Interactive Math (IMP) -

• Review of Interactive Mathematics Program - "IMP is a program designed to retain the attention of students who will either not attend college or will major in non math fields. It lacks the depth of study for students who will study math in college. It is not a college prep math curriculum."