Since the SBE reported that most of the 4 text series they examined were "mathematically unsound" what is next?
Politically I have not a clue as the SBE Math Advisory Panel is no longer in existance. Onward with Randy Dorn and OSPI is my guess.
Currently the SBE has only recommended HOLT for High School and OSPI has yet to be heard from.
Holt is a compromise. It has a mild reform flavor while being mostly traditional. ...
The best (as in traditionally sound but still with activities)
High School AGA books are
McDougal Littel Larson series
Prentice Hall
Glencoe....
These books teach real Algebra, Geometry and Algebra II
They were slightly dinged in the OSPI review because they are light on statistics.. .. (which shouldn't be in an Algebra Book) and because they didn't have the fuzzy flavors that many of the reviewers favor.
Two inexpensive books that would give students most of what they need for Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II are the 7th and 8th grade Singapore books.
Meanwhile in our quest for internationally competitive mathematics, Seattle will decide on Wednesday April 22, 2009 whether to adopt the mathematically unsound "Discovering Series" from Key Curriculum Press ....
Perhaps then Seattle can go looking for a $535,000 grant for how to teach teachers how to teach Algebra when that $1.2 million selection is a failure.
"Traditional textbooks are dinged for statistics...this is true and even more to the point reform textbooks are heavy on a peculiar type of statistics that was popularized in education during the 30's. The type of statistics in hs reform textbooks (like Core Plus) is not used in college classes any longer - it is very esoteric. Look it up. Who has ever heard of teach lines as statistical models using discrete points. What a stupid idea! When the whole point is to teach continuity so students can learn how to do linear analysis.
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