No Substitute for Basic Math

Educators in the United States have had an inferiority complex about math since 1957, when the Soviet Union’s successful launching of the space capsule Sputnik displayed that nation’s prowess at complex calculations.

One result was a search for ways to improve math teaching, including “integrated math,” a curriculum intended to make math fun rather than fearsome through touch-and-feel exercises like playing with beans and blocks.

Integrated math was implemented in public schools after the National Council of Math Teachers recommended it in 1989, hoping it would help students see the links between various branches of math. But as experts have documented, too many integrated math lessons flopped--more busy work than learning.

Fortunately, the national council has just issued a new set of standards that put integrated math in its rightful place, as a supplement to--rather than replacement for--basic math. For the first time, the council also sets specific goals for students by grade level. For example, it says all students should master basic algebra and geometry by the end of the eighth grade.

Ground zero of the math debate is California. The state, which is now buying traditional math textbooks to replace integrated math textbooks, is at odds with its largest school district, Los Angeles, where school board president Genethia Hayes leads integrated math proponents. The school board has called a special session May 2 to debate whether to overhaul the district’s integrated math curricula. In one sense, it’s reason to cheer--the board will be focused on a crucial matter of instruction, not internal politics.

Hayes argues that largely because of the integrated math the district has required since 1989, the number of African American and Latino students completing three years of high school math with a grade of C or better has risen by around 40%. But the only thing proven by such statistics is that students are completing integrated math courses.

It is also clear that integrated math students are not mastering the skills needed for college success. According to state data, students taking integrated math score lower across the board on standardized state tests than those in traditional courses. And Los Angeles school district data show that average student scores on the math portion of the SAT have declined since the implementation of integrated math. One more disturbing fact: 60% of L.A. eighth-graders don’t know the multiplication tables.

Teachers should, of course, be encouraged to use creative techniques to stimulate students’ interest in math. But as Barry Simon, a traditional math proponent and a Caltech professor, puts it, “Mathematics is just building upon and building upon, and if at any point the foundation is air, the whole building is going to collapse.”