Names are withheld due to privacy issues.

TO:
FROM: Mathematics Department
RE: District Curriculum
Date: October 26, 1999
 

Because of mathematical deficiencies that the high school mathematics
staff is experiencing with incoming students, we want to express our
dissatisfaction with the current curriculum that is offered at both the
elementary and middle schools in our district.

Although there is considerable information available touting both the
successes and failures of the suggested reforms set forth by the
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), it is apparent that
"NCTM math" no longer commands the public consensus that it once
appeared to have.  In fact, there is a rising number of groups that are
expressing their opposition to their school boards over both the
"Everyday Math" and Connected Math Program (CMP).  Even Frank B. Allen,
past president of NCTM, has challenged NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation
Standards for School Mathematics.

Our limited research, which we are willing to share with interested
parties, has produced a preponderance of concerns from parents about
Everyday Math.  Not only does it frustrate and anger many students, but
it also appears to disenfranchise some of the teachers who feel
compelled to provide supplementation for math facts and computational
skills.  These same sentiments are echoed by some of our own elementary
school teachers and parents in the district.

Twenty two states have statewide textbook adoption policies, whereas
the remaining states allow school districts to locally make such decisions.
Out of the 22 textbook adoption states, only Texas and Florida have
adopted CMP.  California and North Carolina have rejected it outright.
Furthermore, parents in Plano, Texas have filed a suit in federal court
against their school district because of the manner and circumstances
in which they adopted CMP.

Drawing from our own personal mathematical experiences, as well as the
controversy that has evolved over the direction of mathematics
education, we can not support the new curriculums that have been
adopted by our school district at the elementary and middle school levels.
Until unbiased and objective research proves otherwise, we will continue to
support those strategies and approaches that have been successful for
us in teaching mathematics.

signed by 11 teachers