Mathematically Correct is a website created by educators, parents, mathematicians, and scientists who were concerned about the direction of reform mathematics curricula

Curriculum

See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...

 based on NCTM standards. Created in 1997, it was a frequently cited website in the so-called Math wars

Math wars

Math wars is the debate over modern mathematics education, textbooks and curricula in the United States that was triggered by the publication in 1989 of the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and subsequent development and...

, and was actively updated until 2003.

Although Mathematically Correct had a national scope, much of its focus was on advocating against mathematics curricula prevalent in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 in the mid-1990s. When California reversed course and adopted more traditional mathematics texts (2001 - 2002), Mathematically Correct changed its focus to reviewing the new text books. Convinced that the choices were adequate, the website went largely dormant.

Mathematically Correct maintained a large section of critical articles and reviews for a number of math programs. Most of the program opposed by Mathematically Correct had been developed from research projects funded by the National Science Foundation. Most of these programs also claimed to have been based on the 1989 Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics was founded in 1920. It has grown to be the world's largest organization concerned with mathematics education, having close to 100,000 members across the USA and Canada, and internationally....

.

Mathematically Correct's main point of contention was that, in reform textbooks, traditional methods and concepts have been omitted or replaced by new terminology and procedures. As a result, in the case of the high-school program Core-Plus Mathematics Project

Core-Plus Mathematics Project

The Core-Plus Mathematics Project is one of the five NCTM-standards-based high school mathematics curriculum development projects funded by the National Science Foundation. The project has developed, tested, and published a four-year comprehensive high school mathematics textbook series...

, for example, some reports suggest that students may be unprepared for college level courses upon completion of the program. Other programs given poor ratings include programs aimed at elementary school students, such as Dale Seymour Publications (TERC) Investigations in Numbers, Data, and Space

Investigations in Numbers, Data, and Space

Investigations in Number, Data, and Space is a K-5 mathematics curriculum, developed at in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. The curriculum is often referred to as Investigations or simply TERC. Patterned after the NCTM standards for mathematics, it is among the most widely used of the new reform...

 and Everyday Learning Everyday Mathematics

Everyday Mathematics

Everyday Mathematics is a pre-K and elementary school mathematics curriculum developed by the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project....

.

Since Mathematically Correct had reviewed the programs, many have undergone revisions and are now with different publishers. Other programs, such as Mathland

Mathland

MathLand was one of many controversial mathematics curricula that were designed around the 1989 NCTM standards. It was developed and published by Creative Publications and was initially adopted by the U.S. state of California and schools run by the US Department of Defense by the mid 1990s...

 have been terminated.

Publications with poor reviews from Mathematically Correct

• Addison-Wesley Secondary Math: An Integrated Approach: Focus on Algebra
  Addison-Wesley Secondary Math: An Integrated Approach: Focus on Algebra
  Focus on Algebra was the widely cited 812-page-long algebra textbook which contained significant content outside the traditional field of mathematics...
  
  
• Core-Plus Mathematics Project
  Core-Plus Mathematics Project
  The Core-Plus Mathematics Project is one of the five NCTM-standards-based high school mathematics curriculum development projects funded by the National Science Foundation. The project has developed, tested, and published a four-year comprehensive high school mathematics textbook series...
  
  
• Investigations in Numbers, Data, and Space
  Investigations in Numbers, Data, and Space
  Investigations in Number, Data, and Space is a K-5 mathematics curriculum, developed at in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. The curriculum is often referred to as Investigations or simply TERC. Patterned after the NCTM standards for mathematics, it is among the most widely used of the new reform...
  
  
• Mathland
  Mathland
  MathLand was one of many controversial mathematics curricula that were designed around the 1989 NCTM standards. It was developed and published by Creative Publications and was initially adopted by the U.S. state of California and schools run by the US Department of Defense by the mid 1990s...
  
  
• NCTM's 1989 Standards produced by the professional association for teachers of mathematics. The Standards encouraged increased emphasis on problem solving and decreased attention to algorithms learned by rote. It was perceived by some critics to recommend elimination of standard algorithms.

Curricula not judged deficient by Mathematically Correct

• Singapore Math Textbooks used in Singapore
• Saxon math A program created by a retired Air Force officer who had been highly critical of mathematics teaching reforms from the late 1960s to 1990s.
• Modern Curriculum Press
  Modern Curriculum Press
  Modern Curriculum Press is one of the Pearson Learning Group publishers, specializing in direct skill instruction style curriculum materials.-Modern Curriculum Press Mathematics:...
  
  

State assessments judged deficient by Mathematically Correct

• CLAS defunct California test, based on NCTM standards and California mathematics standards replaces in 2002
• WASL
  Washington Assessment of Student Learning
  The Washington Assessment of Student Learning was a standardized educational assessment system given as the primary assessment in the state of Washington from spring 1997 to summer 2009. The WASL was also used as a high school graduation examination beginning in the spring of 2006 and ending in 2009...
  
   Washington State standards

See also

• NYC HOLD
  NYC HOLD
  New York City HOLD is an American national education advocacy organization, founded in January 2000 by a group of Manhattan parents and NYU mathematicians...
  
   active NY city group on mathematics reform
• Mathematically Sane a web site that supports the mathematics reform efforts and is in conflict with Mathematically Correct

External links

• MathematicallyCorrect.com which is "devoted to the concerns raised by parents and scientists about the invasion of our schools by the New-New Math and the need to restore basic skills
  Basic skills
  Basic skills can be compared to higher order thinking skills. Facts and methods are highly valued under the back-to-basics approach to education....
  
  to math education".
• MathematicallySane.com "Promoting the rational reform in mathematics education"