edited by Tom Loveless
2002
Tom Loveless edited this fine new Brookings collection of 14 chapters addressing the "reading and math wars." Based on a 1999 Harvard conference, it does an exemplary job both of adumbrating the views of major contenders in each of those "wars" and of suggesting how and why the conflicts arose and what might bring an end to them. They're not identical disputes, however, as Loveless points out in a helpful introduction. The math wars are mainly about content, the reading fights about pedagogy. He notes that, by and large during the 1990's, the "progressive" approach prevailed in math while the "traditionalists" were dominant in reading. And he makes this astute observation: "[T]he side in political ascendancy [in either field] is prone to declare that a balanced approach has been achieved. Thus critics of NCTM and the advocates of whole language were less likely to be enthralled with the balanced approaches touted by policymakers at the end of the decade." Anybody wondering "what the heck is going on in reading and math" will come away from this 360-page volume considerably enlightened if not necessarily heartened. The ISBN is 0815753098. You can learn more, and order a copy, by surfing to http://www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/press/books/curriculum_debate.htm.
