Dear Parents: We are parents from Oradell and River Edge who are seriously concerned about the Mathematics curriculum being taught to our children in our respective school districts.
Have you noticed your child becoming frustrated with the math program this year? The math program being taught in our schools is Everyday Mathematics. Everyday Math, to our surprise, is a reform/fuzzy math program. Reform Math is an experiement in Math Education. Everyday Math has only been around for approximately 25 years.
We researched the Everyday Math program on the Internet and were startled to find mostly negative feedback from other parents across the country and mathematicians as well. (http://www.voteboe2007.org/what_professors_say.htm) Even states such as California and Texas, had found the program to be lacking in teaching basic skills needed for a strong foundation in math. In 2007, the Texas State Board of Education banned Everyday Math for 3rd Grade due to its lack of emphasis of multiplication.
Can you believe the developers of Everyday Math called division, fractions, and decimals a waste of time since calculators are available? The developers are claiming that our children don't need to learn these basic math skills. There are many a parent, mathematics and science Professor that would disagree with their claims.
In addition, while researching the math curriculum in our school districts it came to our attention that Connected Math Project 2 (CMP2), another reform/fuzzy math program is the program that the districts have chosen to be the basis for the new the new Mathematics curriculum for grades 6,7,8. As a result, we googled CMP and CMP2 and learned that the publisher Prentice Hall had admitted to a California parent that Connected Math 1 is not an appropriate core/stand alone math program for grades 6,7.8. Prentice Hall has given up in having CMP approved in California even as a supplemental Mathematics program. We also learned that CMP2 Core Content = CMP1 Core Content. From the school officials at Century Middle School, Colorado: “CMP2 is very similar to the CMP original. It is still a problem-centered approach to mathwith a heavy emphasis on reading and writing as well.” http://century.adams12.org/Math.htm
In addition, 65% of Middle School’s In Washington State use CMP1. In 2008, Washington State evaluated 13 middle school math programs. CMP2 came in 6th and was not recommended to be purchased as a Middle School Math Program.
http://www.k12.wa.us/CurriculumInstruct/pubdocs/PublishersNotices/OSPIMathematicsK-8IMRReport12-5-08Final.pdf & http://www.sbe.wa.gov/documents/1-15-09SBEHighSchoolMathematicsInitialrecs.pdf
We urge you to read the letters of one concerned parent regarding these two reform/fuzzy math programs (Parent Letters). If you share our concern we urge you to sign our petition that Reform Math programs are not acceptable as Core/Stand Alone Mathematics programs in our school system.
Our children deserve a world class mathematics education that will prepare them for the global economy. A math education that will enable them to study and become whatever they want to be. We need to follow the lead of states like California, Massachusetts, and Indiana who modeled their standards after some of the highest performing countries on international math tests: Singapore, Finland, Belgium, for example.
We strongly believe that these math programs are harmful to our children's mathematical development, Everyday Math and other "reform math" programs are doing more harm than good.
Thank you for your time.
Yours truly,
Concerned Parents of Oradell and River Edge