Core-Plus Mathematics Project
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The Core-Plus Mathematics Project is a standards-based mathematics curriculum funded by the National Science Foundation. The textbook published by Glencoe/McGraw-Hill is titled Contemporary Mathematics in Context: A Unified Approach". The first three years of the curriculum are designed for all high school students, with a fourth year designed for college preparatory work. It is designed to tie mathematical concepts to real life context through active student participation in the classroom. The series replaces a traditional sequence of algebra, geometry, trigonometry and statistics with an integrated, strand-based approach.
Christian Hirsch, professor of mathematics and math education at Western Michigan University at Kalamazoo helped write the 1989 NCTM standards was the primary author. Core-Plus was one of 13 math projects that the National Science Foundation funded with $86 million up to 1997. Core-Plus was developed over four years of research and development, in over 35 participating high schools across the United States. By 2000, 2.5 million students used NSF-funded elementary math programs, 5,000 middle schools, and at least 500 high schools used Core-Plus.
One of the first schools to pilot Core-Plus was Andover High School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, which is ranked one of America's "100 best" high schools. To boost performance and interest in mathematics, Andover stopped Traditional mathematics in 1994 and began using Core-Plus Mathematics, based on the 1989 NCTM standards. Students read about Nike running shoes, manufacturing, and air-pollution problems. Students worked in small groups using powerful calculators and computers. They were asked to write paragraphs rather than just the correct numbers as answers.
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[edit] Awards
The U.S. Department of Education's Expert Panel on mathematics named Core-Plus as one of the few programs to receive the highest designation of "exemplary". A 2nd edition has been funded.
A number of research studies have been published suggesting that students using Core-Plus have a deeper understanding of algebra.
[edit] Controversy
Core-Plus has come under scrutiny from mathematicians, scientists, and students and their parents. Melissa Lynn graduated from Andover in 1997 with a 3.97 grade-point average. But the math placement test at the University of Michigan put her into "remedial math." [1]. 96 percent of other Andover graduates who took Core-Plus also were placed in remedial math in college, quite remarkable since one of the purposes for reforming mathematics instruction was to reduce the rate of remedial math placements. It was only 62 percent in Lahser High, which tried Core-Plus, but abandoned it.
Mathematician Manuel Berriozabal was on the Education Department panel that selected Core-Plus as exemplary, but he said none of the selected programs "had any kind of long-term track record of achievement." The panel mandated conformance to the NCTM standards according to meeting minutes.
Core-Plus was just one of the Education Department's Top 10 list of math programs. A full-page ad signed by more than 200 mathematicians, physicists, and four Nobel laureates appeared in the Washington Post protesting the list. David Klein, a mathematician at California State University at Northridge said "This expert panel's list includes some of the worst math programs you can find anywhere,"
Parent activism including rallies and petitions caused Andover to return to offering a traditional math option. By 2000, half of students at Andover rejected Core-Plus, electing to take traditional math. In 2006 Core-Plus however continued to be used across the nation with little controversy in most districts, despite criticism from websites such as Mathematically Correct.
