Introduction
In Spring of the 2024-25 school year the La Cañada Unified School District (LCUSD) began the process to select a new elementary mathematics curriculum or continue using existing products – Everyday Mathematics from McGraw-Hill in grades K-5 and Math In Focus: Singapore Mathematics from Marshall Cavendish by Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) Education Company in grade 6.
Contained here are links to reports and summary pages describing elements of that selection process:
- 2025-26 Elementary Math Adoption: Here We Go Again… [May 13, 2025] – Page summarizing one of the first known actions of the 2025-26 elementary mathematics adoption effort – the proposed hiring of the UCLA Curtis Center as consultants to help guide the district in its instructional materials selection for a new elementary math curriculum.
- District Selects a Different Vendor to Guide its Elementary Math Adoption [Sep. 9, 2025] – Page summarizing the LCUSD Governing Board meeting on Aug. 26, 2025 where the board approved the hiring of Hanover Consulting as a consultant to help guide the district in is elementary math curriculum adoption. Includes an abbreviated plan for the adoption process that includes the development, administration, and analysis of a Math Adoption Survey to district stakeholder, as well as a Math Adoption Rubric that the district can use to help select the next elementary math textbook for its ~2,000 elementary students.
- First Elementary Math Adoption Parent Meeting – November 2025 [Nov 25, 2025] – Page summarizing the LCUSD meeting on Wed. Nov. 05, 2025, the first of three planned for the 2025-26 school year, where district staff presented the purpose, timeline, recap of activities to date, and planned future activities of the LCUSD elementary math adoption taking place over the 2025-26 through 2027-28 school years.
- The Survey Problem [Nov. 27, 2025] – An editorial analyzing the fundamental problem with the district’s proposed LCUSD Elementary Math Priorities Survey, at least as it was explained at the first elementary math adoption parent meeting on Nov. 05, 2025.
- The Elephant in the Room: ‘Pedagogical malpractice disguised as curriculum planning’ [Nov. 27, 2025] – A reminder to new LCUSD families about the foundational structural problem with the current state of elementary math in the district – the stark disjoint between a constructivist curriculum in K through 5 – Everyday Mathematics – and a traditional, rigorous curriculum in grades 6 through 8 – Math in Focus.
- Second Elementary Math Adoption Parent Informational Meeting – January 2026 [Feb. 09, 2026] – Page summarizing the LCUSD parent meeting held on Wed. Jan. 28, 2026, the second of three planned for the 2025-26 school year. District staff presented an update of activities of the LCUSD Elementary Math Curriculum Selection Committee, a preliminary summary of the recently completed LCUSD Elementary Math Priorities Survey administered to district K-8 parents, 7/8 students, and K-8 staff and administration, as well as the disclosure of the selection of six finalist curricula under consideration for further down-selection.
- A Closer Look at the Six Finalist Curricula: Claims versus Reality [Feb. 10, 2026] – A detailed analysis of the six finalist elementary math curricula that were announced as the ‘winnowed’ short list of finalists at the January 28th Second Elementary Math Adoption Parent Informational Meeting, comparing the claims made about them versus reality.
- Math Survey Results Shared: Mostly Aligned, Some Not So Much [Mar. 28, 2026] – An in-depth analysis of Hanover’s math instructional priorities survey report provided to LCUSD in late March 2026. The report combined mostly full survey results along with key findings and Hanover’s recommendations to LCUSD’s staff and elementary math curriculum adoption committee. While generally fair, the survey and analysis suffered from serious methodological problems that resulted in alleged parent-staff alignment on adoption priorities being overstated, particularly the primacy of whatever curriculum is ultimately selected balancing conceptual understanding and procedural fluency.
- A Flawed Rubric [Mar. 30, 2026] – A thorough analysis of Hanover’s High Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) rubric, that was delivered to LCUSD in late March 2026 and will reportedly be used for winnowing the four finalist curricula down from four to two programs, and presumably again next year during the piloting portion of the selection process to select a winner from among the two finalists. The rubric suffers from severe structural deficits that will likely advantage inquiry-oriented constructivist curricula.
- The Final Four: Detailed Reviews [Apr. 13, 2026] – In-depth reviews of the final four curricla in LCUSD’s elementary math adoption. LCMP spent over eight hours reviewing the sample materials on display for parents at the district office. The article is our detailed analysis based on these reviews. We’ve also provided a simple, printable 1-page summary PDF for parents to take with them when reviewing the curricula for themselves.