This letter is to Plano parents of elementary and middle school-aged children. Its purpose is to make you aware of a math program for 6th-8th grades that the head of secondary math, Jim Wohlgehagen, is trying to implement beginning the 1999-2000 school year.

This program is called "Connected Mathematics". In a nutshell, this program is "discovery" learning. The students "discover" the concepts in each unit through a variety of activities. The program sounds like a great idea in theory. The goal is to have students make sense of the mathematics they study and to be able to communicate their reasoning clearly. The teacher begins the unit by presenting the 'problem" to the students. The kids then work in pairs or small groups to solve the problem by gathering data, sharing ideas, looking for patterns, making conjectures, or developing other types of problem solving strategies. When most of the students have made sufficient progress toward solving the problem, the teacher helps the class to discuss ways they found to organize the data and look for patterns and related rules in the data.

Below are concerns which every parent should consider.

1. There are a lot of kids that simply will not want to "discover" the concept. They prefer traditional teaching methods. This kind of learning should begin in the elementary grades and progress to the middle school level.
2. The program states that in classes that last less than 45 minutes, there is not sufficient time to make progress on a problem. Most classes are right around 45 minutes.
3. The students are not taught any algorithms and they are allowed to arrive at an answer any way they wish with little or no work shown.
4. How are these kids going to adjust when they go into a traditional algebra curriculum in the 9th grade?
5. Calculators are used entirely throughout the program. The Connected Math Project states, "because the curriculum does not emphasize arithmetic computations done by hand, some CMP students may not do as well on parts of standardized tests assessing computational skills as students in classes that spend most of their time on practicing such skills." Children MUST learn to compute fractions, decimals and rational numbers by hand before using a calculator!!!
6. How do teachers adapt this program for their special education and learning disabled students?
7. How will teachers tutor their students?
8. How will students who are absent make-up the lesson?
9. Students need drill and practice in order to master most concepts. There is none of that in this program.
10. There are some concepts, such as percents and computation of fractions, that middle school students need to see in all 3 years of middle school. There are very few units in CMP that are covered in all 3 years.
11. Several of the units have other units as prerequisites. What about those students that move to PIano in the middle of the year?
12. 8th grade students need a good, solid pre-algebra course if they want to succeed in an algebra course in the 9th grade.