The Frontal Lobe and New Math
Vincent B. Troiano connects frontal-lobe development and student readiness to his critique of New Math, arguing that elementary programs emphasized terminology before children were ready for it.
Read the essay →The Limits of the Self-Contained Classroom
Vincent B. Troiano reflects on why self-contained special education classes fell short and what he observed when students returned to regular classrooms.
Read the essay →Phonics – how is it possible not to use it.
Phonics instruction for the first three years of elementary school is a proven method of teaching children how to read successfully.
Read the essay →New Leadership in Education
How outside influence from higher education, new math, administrative hiring, middle schools, and changing reading programs began reshaping elementary education in the 1950s and 1960s.
Read the essay →Arithmetic, Algebra Readiness, and the Legacy of New Math
When the President's Math Commission Report of 2008 cited "a lack of ease of operations" regarding algebra readiness, it was quietly circumventing a simpler word: arithmetic.
Read the essay →Whatever Happened to Arithmetic?
An eight-year-old came home talking about zeros. That's a red flag for anyone who has followed new math and its hold on the elementary curriculum. Here's how arithmetic disappeared from American classrooms, and why it needs to come back.
Read the essay →More essays coming soon.