Teacher Petitions Prompt State to Alter Math Panel

In response to petitions signed by 3,000 teachers across California, the state Board of Education on Thursday added three members to a panel rewriting guidelines for math instruction to provide balance between so-called “reformers” and those who favor a more traditional approach.

In November, the board rejected 10 people nominated for that panel and replaced them with 14 more, many of whom have publicly criticized the “reform” movement that downplays memorization and basic skills in favor of engaging problems designed to promote deeper understanding.

Those appointments had prompted widespread criticism from teachers as well as state Supt. of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin, who asked the board to reconsider. The California Math Council, a group with 12,000 members, submitted petitions asking that the panel at least be expanded to include more elementary school teachers.

The board responded by appointing Janice Howard, a teacher in the Oak Grove Unified School District, Patricia Montgomery, a teacher from Oceanside, and Calvin Moore, the chairman of the math department at UC Berkeley.