Math Wars - Reform Curricula

Reform Curricula

Examples of reform curricula introduced in response to the 1989 NCTM standards and the reasons for initial criticism:

• Mathland (no longer offered)
• Investigations in Numbers, Data, and Space is criticized for not containing explicit instruction of the standard algorithms
• Core-Plus Mathematics Project, initially accused of placing students in remedial college math courses, a report that was later challenged.
• Connected Mathematics, criticized for not explicitly teaching children standard algorithms, formulas or solved examples
• Everyday Math, criticized for putting emphasis on non-traditional arithmetic methods.

Critics of reform textbooks say that they present concepts in a haphazard way. Critics of the reform textbooks and curricula support traditional textbooks such as Singapore Math, which emphasizes direct instruction of basic mathematical concepts, and Saxon math, which emphasizes perpetual drill.

Reform educators have responded by pointing out that research tends to show that students achieve greater conceptual understanding from standards-based curricula than traditional curricula and that these gains do not come at the expense of basic skills. In fact students tend to achieve the same procedural skill level in both types of curricula as measured by traditional standardized tests. More research is needed, but the current state of research seems to show that reform textbooks work as well as or better than traditional textbooks in helping students achieve computational competence while promoting greater conceptual understanding than traditional approaches.