California Dreaming: Reforming Mathematics Education
Suzanne Wilson
Abstract
This book presents a history of efforts to reform mathematics education in California throughout the last two decades of the 20th century. That history is a contentious one, full of such fervour and heat that participants and observers often refer to the “math wars”. The book considers the many perspectives of those involved in math reform, weaving a tapestry of facts, philosophies, conversations, events, and personalities into the narrative. While the focus is on California, the implications of this book extend to struggles over education policy and practice throughout the United States. The ... More
This book presents a history of efforts to reform mathematics education in California throughout the last two decades of the 20th century. That history is a contentious one, full of such fervour and heat that participants and observers often refer to the “math wars”. The book considers the many perspectives of those involved in math reform, weaving a tapestry of facts, philosophies, conversations, events, and personalities into the narrative. While the focus is on California, the implications of this book extend to struggles over education policy and practice throughout the United States. The book's three-dimensional account of math education reform efforts reveals how the debates tend to be deeply ideological and how people come to feel misunderstood and misrepresented. It examines the myths used to explain the failure of reforms, the actual reasons for failure, and the importance of taking multiple perspectives into account when planning and implementing reform.
Keywords:
mathematics education,
California,
math wars,
education policy,
education practice,
reforms
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2002 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780300094329 |
| Published to Yale Scholarship Online: October 2013 |
DOI:10.12987/yale/9780300094329.001.0001 |
