From a concerned Michigan parent
by Dr. Betty Tsang

        Okemos, Michigan, is an affluent suburb adjacent to the Michigan State University (MSU). In 1996, the Connected Mathematics Project, (CMP), a middle school math program originated from MSU, was adopted by the Okemos school district. Within a month, I was impelled to home-school my seventh grade child in math every night. Later, I discovered many parents shared my concerns about the CMP program's emphasis on discovery methods, group learning, craft projects and excessive verbal- and writing- oriented assignments. This CMP philosophy bores some children, frustrates others and encourages some kids to let others do their work for them while in group settings.

        Aside from the new teaching philosophy, there are many problems with the implementation of the CMP program. The lack of examples to illustrate how problems are solved is one serious limitation. The practice of keeping children occupied with craft activities such as cutting, drawing, making posters and writing poems instead of learning high level math is another fundamental flaw. Moreover, the unstructured and disorganized CMP textbooks are incomprehensible to many parents who try to help their children with homework. (After a lot of complaints from the parents about the textbooks, some teachers recommended the teachers' manuals to the parents.) Apparently, many Plano parents have similar complaints about CMP. Well, a bad
math program in Michigan is a also bad math program in Texas.

        The CMP program is often advertised as a "one size fits all", open-ended program that meets the needs of children of all levels. In fact, the CMP curriculum content is set low to accommodate the weakest students. In sixth grade, fractions are taught by folding paper strips, a manipulative that is normally used in elementary schools. Fraction division which is mastered by most fifth grade students in Hong Kong and Singapore is not taught until eighth grade. Similarly, there is no algebra in the CMP eighth grade textbooks despite the fact that the US department of education recommends that every eighth grader should take Algebra I or its equivalent course.

        There is no consensus among "education experts" regarding the effectiveness of these math programs. Parents should be aware that to most education experts, our children are just guinea pigs in their studies, numbers in their graphs. There is no risk to these education experts when they study our children, only the benefits of receiving grant money. This is especially true for studies bankrolled by publishers. Thus it is up to us, the parents who know our children best and who have the most investment in them, to speak up for their education.

        A group of Okemos parents complained to our school board about CMP one year after they adopted it. In response, our school board introduced advanced math classes to keep our better students challenged. In addition, a completely new set of textbooks was purchased. This "band-aide" solution was expensive and should be avoided. In the new curriculum the higher level math classes contain proportionally less cmp-related material than the lower grade level courses.

        I hope the Plano parents can use our experiences. To avoid much of the pain and disappointment that we and our children have endured. Adoption of the CMP program during the crucial years before high school damages our children's math education. Not only does the CMP program not prepare our children adequately for college-bound math track in high schools, its low curriculum content of the program encourages elementary schools to adopt math programs which are also low in math content. If we fail to act, a downward spiral to lower standards in math education will be perpetuated
throughout K-12 education.

Dr. Betty Tsang of Okemos, Michigan is a researcher in Nuclear Physics and the mother of a sixth grader and a ninth grader.