Stakeholder #3

Mark, David, Florida State University, 2/28/2013 via Pixabay Public Domain Distribution License

The Math Wars are infamous for their lack of closure, but there are universities and professors that have come up with methods and tests to try and find a better way of educating K-12 students math. These universities and specialists are all part of different groups of research, but they share one thing in common; they are advocates for change. The advocates aren't exactly a special unified group, but rather a group of people who seek closure on the Math Wars. Furthermore, these advocates do not include people who only seek change in today's common core curriculum; they have taken methods to try and change the current situation. There is no physical or electronic way to describe this group, however, they are all affected by the Math Wars in the same way. All of these universities and specialists are part of the math education system in some way, for example:

Creative Publications - Creator of MathLand; Publisher of numerous standard textbooks
TERC (not an acronym) - Creator of Investigation in Numbers, Data, and Space; Association    dedicated to helping and supporting education in math and science nationwide
University of Chicago Mathematics Project - Creator of Everyday Mathematics; Group at UoC  dedicated to finding and implementing better way of teaching math to potential teachers

These are some of the groups that have tried different ways of reform. There isn't anything common between them expect for their desire for some sort of change.

Claims:
Everyday Math
"Everyday Mathematics makes sure that the students are focusing on what they need at every grade level, so that as they move through the grades the curriculum is coherent"

Validation: This quote is straight off the main website of Everyday Math. This is a basic "benefit" of using a program like Everyday Math in order to improve the comprehension of mathematics for students. This program is aimed at all grades from K-12, so the fact that the website is advertising itself as a way to make the curriculum as coherent is quite the claim. Of course, just from this quote we cannot confirm or deny its accuracy since there is no statistics, but we can say that Everyday Math has a great amount of confidence in itself. Overall, Everyday Math may be a helpful program, but it is uncertain if it can help the common core curriculum as a whole.

Core-Plus Mathematics
"The new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) edition of Core-Plus Mathematics builds on the strengths of previous editions that were cited as Exemplary by the U.S. Department of Education Expert Panel on Mathematics and Science and by the Business-Higher Education Forum as one of 32 education programs (across all subject areas) that works to ensure college and career readiness."

Validation: This claim states that a new edition of Core-Plus Mathematics, a program that is meant to help students understand common core curriculum better developed by Western Michigan University, is seen as "exemplary" by the U.S. Department of Education Expert Panel in terms of college readiness. This validity of this quote is actually credible, since the source of this claim is stated in the quote (it can also be found here).

Connected Math Program"CMP is a problem-centered curriculum promoting an inquiry-based teaching-learning classroom environment. Mathematical ideas are identified and embedded in a sequenced set of tasks and explored in depth to allow students to develop rich mathematical understandings and meaningful skills. The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) and the Standards for Mathematical Practice are embedded within each problem."

Validation: The Connected Math Program is a program developed by Michigan State University. Much like the other two quotes, this program also states that through "research" that their program can help delve into mathematical meanings and standards. This, however, isn't quite valid since no source is given on where this "research" comes from.

Comparison to other Stakeholders:

This group is very difficult to compare to other stakeholders since they all have different things at stake in regards to the Math Wars. Certain universities will have to change they way that their math department performs and teaches math students aspiring to become teachers. Associations supporting math teachers nationwide will have to change their methods in helping schools teach math in the most effective and sensible way. Groups that publish math content, such as Creative Publications, will have to create new textbooks to satisfy new common core standards. These groups of people don't have too much at stake here, but the outcome of the Math Wars can change their methods of work and current tried, tested, and implemented systems for meeting their objectives.