Comprehensive School Mathematics Program

Comprehensive School Mathematics Program (CSMP) stands for both the name of a curriculum and the name of the project that was responsible for developing curriculum materials.

Two major curricula were developed under CSMP project, Comprehensive School Mathematics Program(CSMP), a K-6 mathematics program for regular classroom instruction, and the Elements of Mathematics (EM) program, a grades 7-12 mathematics program for gifted students. EM treats traditional topics rigorously and in depth and was the only curriculum that strictly adhere to the Goals for School Mathematics: The Report of the Cambridge Conference on School Mathematics (1963). As a result, it includes much of the content generally required for an undergraduate mathematics major. These two curricula are unrelated to one another but certain members of the CSMP staff contributed to the development of both projects. The Elements of Mathematics is widely used at the IMACS institute listed below. What follows is a description of the K-6 program that was designed for a general heterogeneous audience.

The CSMP Project was established in 1966, under the direction of Burt Kaufman, who remained director until 1979 when Clare Heidema became director until 2003. It was originally affiliated with Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. After a year of planning, CSMP was incorporated into the Central Midwest Regional Educational Laboratory (later CEMREL, Inc.), one of the national educational laboratories funded at that time by the U.S. Office of Education. (see Final Evaluation Report by Martin Herbert referenced below for more detail) . In 1984, the project moved to Mid-continental Research for Learning (McREL) Institute's Comprehensive School Reform program, who supported the program until 2003. Clare Heidema remained director to its conclusion. In 1984, it was implemented in 150 school districts in 42 states and about 55,000 students.