As with Everyday Mathematics, the adoption of Connected Mathematics Project (CMP) around the United States has been controversial. Listed below are some of the districts we found who adopted or considered adoption of CMP and struggled:
- Riverview, Pennsylvania – In 2011 the Riverview, PA school system adopted CMP3. “The Riverview School Board meeting on Monday had the largest attendance in years, according to school board members. Parents filled the high school library, and in a citizen comment session that lasted two hours, they discussed their concerns about the middle school Connected Mathematics 2 program…Among the parents’ concerns were the group work involved, the participation aspect of the class, the frequency of testing and the combination of students at different math levels in the same classroom. … When asked by parents about Pennsylvania System of School Assessment Scores, principal Jay Moser said the scores of last school year’s seventh graders dropped by 9 percent, according to primary figures from the state department of education.”
- Hudson, Ohio – After using CMP for 12 years, the Hudson School Board in Hudson, Ohio voted in 2012 to replace CMP with Glencoe Math in grades 6, 7 & 8.
- Medford, New Jersey – Medford, NJ selected CMP for its middle school math textbook. Frustrated parents responded. Typical is this letter from a concerned parent.
- Prince William Sound, Virginia – In 2009, the Prince William Sound County (PWC) schools considered adopting CMP in its middle schools after adopting TERC: Investigations in its elementary schools in the mid-2000s, over the strenuous objections of concerned parents. Parents banded together, fought their school board, and won.
- River Dell ,New Jersey (2009) – “After a vociferous outcry from parents against what they called a controversial math program, the River Dell Regional Board of Education opted not to adopt Connected Mathematics.”
- St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana – In October 2005, the Saint Tammany Parish Public School voted to adopt Connected Mathematics and TERC Investigations its middle schools. Concerned parents reacted swiftly and formed a group to protest the decision and the effects it was having on parish students. Within just a year, the district gave teachers the option to stop teaching CMP and TERC: Investigations if parents insisted.
“The initial source of the controversy was the new curriculum’s lack of a textbook. Since math is a subject that requires daily practice, many parents are used to sitting down with their children every night to review what they learned that day and to help them with homework.
Alarm bells started ringing for many parents when they realized their kids did not have books to study. …
Moore’s son missed the textbook-based math classes that he was used to, complaining that his math class isn’t challenging anymore and that he isn’t learning anything.
Similar complaints have rippled across the school system since the implementation of the School Board’s new discovery math curriculum, which is web based, eliminating the need for standard textbooks.
Students instead work out of booklets that they were not allowed to bring home at first.”
- Penfield, New York – In 1999, the Penfield School District in Penfield, NY adopted a series of three constructivist math textbooks, including CMP among them. The parents responded by forming the Parents Concerned with Penfield’s Math Programs. They petitioned their school board to offer an alternative, traditional math program. Among the complaints observed by Penfield parents:
“What are the issues? At the heart of these issues is a math program which expects students to learn math on their own, through investigative group work in a process referred to as constructivism. Through nationally funded studies many of which were authored by those that don’t teach mathematics, investigative group work was shown to be the “best” way to teach mathematics.
Although it has taken some years for Penfield parents to figure out what is really happening, we now understand. Our students are not learning math! Why? Because they are never taught the math in the first place, and have no reference material to learn it on their own. Because multiplication tables and basic number sense are not practiced by our children in elementary schools, they don’t have the number sense they need in middle school to understand basic algebra and geometry skills. By the time they reach high school, they are ill prepared for college preparatory classes like calculus, and then it is too late.”
- Plano, Texas – In 1996, The Plano Independent School District began piloting CMP in 4 of its 9 middle schools. Parent opposition grew slowly at first, but by 1998 had grown into an organization calling itself MathChoice when the district announced it planned to adopt CMP after the 1998-99 school year in all of its schools. What followed was years of what can only be described as one of the most epic battles in the Math Wars. Click the link to read the full history. When the district and school board first ignored and then stonewalled parents, the parent group filed a lawsuit with first the district and board, and then an administrative complaint with the Texas Education Agency. The initial grievance was described thusly:
“In general, the complaint was that the Connected Mathematics Project, CMP, ‘is a controversial mathematics program of dubious academic merit which should not be implemented on either a trial or permanent basis without parental consent or input, without an adequate trial period and a definitive evaluation on its effectiveness and without compliance with the curriculum requirements of the State of Texas.’ The grievance also complained of civil rights violations committed by the district against parents.”