The State's Invisible Math Standards

Question: What would happen if California adopted the best, grade-by-grade mathematics achievement standards in the nation for its public schools?

Answer: The education establishment would do everything in its power to make them disappear.

In December 1997, the State Board of Education surprised the world by not accepting extremely bad, "fuzzy" math standards written by one of its advisory committees, the Academic Standards Commission. Instead, in a few short weeks and with the help of four Stanford University math professors, the state board developed and adopted a set of world-class mathematics standards of unprecedented quality for California's public schools.

The prestigious Fordham Foundation recently conducted an independent review of the mathematics standards for 46 states and the District of Columbia, as well as Japan. California's new board-approved mathematics standards received the highest score, outranking even those of Japan, an educational superpower.

In sharp contrast, high-ranking school administrators, bureaucrats and legions of experts with doctorates in education have denounced California's new math standards. State Supt. of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin has given speeches throughout the state criticizing the standards and calling on local educators not to implement them. Judy Codding, a member of the Academic Standards Commission and the powerful National Center on Education and the Economy has given similar explicit advice. Luther Williams, the National Science Foundation's assistant director for education and human resources, also joined the chorus of denunciation.

Why the opposition to world-class math standards? California's new standards require a deep understanding of mathematical principles, but also a heavy dose of the requisite basic skills. Unlike the rejected Academic Standards Commission version, the new math standards require students to master long division, they do not include the use of calculators in elementary school and they make no pronouncements about teaching methods so long as grade-level benchmarks are achieved. Teachers are not compelled to follow the failed methods promoted by the nation's colleges of education. This lack of coercion enraged the education bureaucrats to the point of making their threats.