Project Overview

Despite widespread development of standards of learning in mathematics, the details of what children should be expected to learn each year continue to be a mystery to many parents and educators. Consequently, it is difficult for parents and educators to evaluate the merits of particular mathematics programs. On top of this, the sheer quantity of textbooks available leaves many parents, teachers, schools and districts wondering which books best address their needs. In an effort to address this need, we have instituted a series of mathematics program reviews.

This report contains reviews of some of the major programs now available for grades 2, 5 and 7, and serves as a companion to our previously released reviews of algebra textbooks. We believe that effective early mathematics programs should prepare students to study algebra in eighth grade. This puts us in concert with the President and the Secretary of Education who have argued for significantly greater achievement in mathematics. But the devil is in the details, and we will not succeed if we rush students into algebra without giving them the opportunity to master essential content first.

To achieve algebra readiness by the end of seventh grade, careful attention must be paid to curriculum and learning objectives from the earliest grades. To insure that all students have the opportunity to achieve at a high level, we need an effective, goals-oriented, progression through K-7 mathematics. This philosophy guides our reviews.

We elected to review math programs from grades 2, 5 and 7 as markers of progress through the range of elementary grades. Roughly parallel methods were used for review of programs in each of these grades. A sample of topics representing a range of mathematics was selected at each grade. Standards of learning were consulted and used to develop criteria for each topic. Within each review area, the depth of content, quality of presentation and quality of student work were used to assess the depth of student learning likely to occur with each program, and an overall rating was awarded.

It is our hope that this material - both our methods and our findings - will prove useful to parents and educators, and stimulate further careful evaluation of instructional materials as the country strives to upgrade mathematics achievement for all students.