Texas Officials Reject Widely Used Elementary Math Textbook

January 17, 2008

The Texas Board of Education has rejected one of most widely used elementary math textbooks in the United States because it fails to encourage students to memorize multiplication tables and solve problems without calculators. The text is the third-grade version of Everyday Mathematics. The state's districts won't be able to use state money to buy the text, which is published by Wright GroupMcGraw-Hill.

Developed by faculty members at the University of Chicago, Everyday Mathematics is used by an estimated 3 million students in 185,000 classrooms nationwide, according to the publisher. "We've been studied, we're rigorous, and we're proven," Amy Dillard, a University of Chicago official who worked on the Texas Everyday Mathematics text, told Education Week.

The third-grade version of Everyday Mathematics was the only one of 164 elementary texts under consideration that the board rejected. "I feel some very foundational elements that third graders need are not in the textbook," said Gail Lowe, a board member. "A text that doesn't include sufficient coverage of the multiplication tables, and [the] ability to do that through the twelves, should not be on the conforming list."

Board member Terri Leo concurred, noting that third-grade students were spending a great deal of time "inventing algorithms" instead of just using them.

Board member Geraldine Miller, however, called Texas' decision "as unprecedented as it is shameful."

Texas' action came after California's state school board had approved Everyday Mathematics for grades K-6, after rejecting the program in 2001. California officials accepted the revisions made to the books in the last six years.

The Wright GroupMcGraw-Hill has petitioned Texas education commissioner Robert Scott to overrule the board's decision. Decisions made in Texas and California impact publishers, who often must rewrite texts to meet the demands of the country's big markets.

Source: Education Week, Dec. 19, 2007.