SEATTLE - A lawsuit challenging the Seattle School District's math curriculum went to court Monday in King County Superior Court.
The plaintiffs say the "Discovery Math" series adopted last year does a poor job, especially with minority students who are seeing an achievement gap widen.
A leading opponent of the approach is University of Washington Atmospheric Sciences Professor Cliff Mass, who says the "discovery" method just doesn't work.
"They're not being taught, this is an approach, given examples, then given practice. They don't work that way. It's more group learning, playing with manipulatives, with little games, and a lot of students don't do well with this," said Mass.
"We have statistics that show that most students do not thrive with this kind of approach," said Martha McLaren, a retired Seattle high-school math teacher and one of the plaintiffs in the suit.
A consultant hired to review the Discovery series did not recommend it, calling it "mathematically compromised."
"It is astounding that they selected a book that was found unsound by mathematicians selected by the state board of education," said Mass.
McLaren, Mass and a third plaintiff in the case, Da-Zanne Porter, mother of a Cleveland High School student, are aiming to reverse the decision to adopt the texts, which they label confusing, wasteful of students' time, and lacking in clear explanations and practice problems.
A spokeswoman for the Seattle School District said it has no comment on pending litigation.
MORE INFORMATION
Cliff Mass arguments against the Discovery series
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