DOMINIC W. MASSARO, editor
University of California, Santa Cruz

A Perspective on School Mathematics Reform

Standards-Based School Mathematics Curricula: What Are They? What Do Students Learn?
Edited by Sharon L. Senk and Denisse R. Thompson. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2003. xx + 515 pp. Cloth, $110.

In the Introduction, the editors note that the debate about current efforts to reform mathematics education in this country has been so strident and acrimonious it has been dubbed the math wars and has sometimes degenerated into a name-calling contest. For example, traditional mathematics instruction has been characterized as parrot math, and reform efforts based on the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 1989, 1991, 2000) standards have been called fuzzy math. The book is valuable to all who are interested in improving mathematics instruction. This includes educational researchers, federal and state policy makers, and school administrators (such as board members, superintendents, principals, and curriculum coordinators).