Interactive Mathematics Program (IMP)

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The Interactive Mathematics Program (IMP) is a four-year, problem-based mathematics curriculum for high schools, designed to meet the needs of both college-bound and non-college-bound students. It was one of several curricula funded by the National Science Foundation designed around the controversial NCTM standards which elevated "mathematical power" and "equity" between races and genders over "memorizing methods to compute exact answers".

Key Curriculum Press in a section titled A Model for Mathematics Education Reform on their web pages states:

"The IMP curriculum is designed to make the learning of a core curriculum more accessible, especially to those groups, such as women and minorities, who traditionally have been under-represented in college mathematics classes."

"The IMP is designed to be used with heterogeneous classes. The developers of the program believe that virtually everyone can gain a deep understanding of the curriculum and can make valuable contributions as a member of a learning group."

"...students are organized into small groups (usually four students to a group), and much of the classroom learning is done in the context of these groups."

"...the role of the teacher changes from that of "imparter of knowledge" to that of observer and facilitator."

The text, which represents the entire first year of high school mathematics, centers around 5 sections:

1) Patterns -- a 24-day unit of introduction, operations with integers, angles, functions, and "in-out tables."

2) The Game of Pig -- a 29-day unit dealing with probability and expected value.

3) The Overland Trail -- a 30-day unit dealing with graphs, variables, rate, and lines of best fit.

4) The Pit and the Pendulum -- a 28-day unit dealing with graphing, equations (linear vs. nonlinear), and statistics.

5) Shadows -- a 26-day unit dealing with ratios and proportions, and basic geometry including similarity and triangles along with some basic trigonometry.

IMP has received intense criticism from organizations such as Mathematically Correct for being deficient compared to a traditional algebra / geometry / trigonometry high school mathmematics curriculum, and is being discarded by some school districts which have had unsatisfactory results with it.

[edit] Failure

In the city of Tacoma, Washington in 2006, school board member Debbie Winskill stated that despite a lengthy selection process and considerable training IMP "has been a dismal failure.” High School teacher Clifford Harris taught sophomores Saxon Math, and their Washington Assessment of Student Learning continually climbed. The program gives students plenty of chances to review material, so students retain their skills, which is not the case with IMP according to the teacher.^[1]

One reviewer states IMP negatively impacts SAT Mathematics performance. The first two LA Unified pilot schools were Roosevelt HS and Marshall HS, both started IMP in 1992. When they took the the SAT a few years later, it was a disaster. Roosevelt dropped an average of 25 points while having 39 fewer seniors electing to take the SAT and Marshall dropped 41 points with 64 fewer students taking the SAT from 1992 to 1996. Within a couple of years, IMP was dropped even at those two schools and, within LAUSD, it has been a dead issue ever since.^[2]

[edit] External Links

General Information about the Integrated Mathematics Program Students do just as well in college entrance exams with IMP.
List of pro-IMP sites]
[3] Mathematically Correct Review

"there are several anecdotes about problems with IMP including its inability to prepare students for higher level math and science classes and the remediation sometimes necessary for college-bound students."

[4] NYCHOLD reviews, mostly negative.

[edit] Notes

^ [1] "Back to basics on kids’ math" Alarmed by low scores, Tacoma school officials OK added Saxon textbook. by Debby Abe; The News Tribune (Tacoma WA) August 25th, 2006
^ [2]Standards-Based School Mathematics Curricula

Standards based mathematics controversy