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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Alpine School District officials are pitted against parents, and Utah math professors and math-education professors are at odds over how mathematics should be taught.
The split mirrors a national argument between those who say math education should emphasize learning arithmetic tables and calculation and those who emphasize concepts and use estimation and calculators -- what their opponents call "fuzzy" math.
Some dissatisfied parents have transferred their children from Alpine public schools to private, charter or home schools.
Some are talking about forming their own school district.
Brigham Young University mathematics professor David Wright circulated a petition among Utah's college mathematics faculties, calling for implementing California's math standards n Utah.
A majority of the professors in BYU's mathematics department signed Wright's petition, but not one professor from the school's mathematics education department did.
Ten of more than 50 math professors at the University of Utah signed; only one at Utah State University did. Several professors at Weber State University and Utah Valley State College signed, along with one from Snow College.
"(Wright's) opinion is not unanimous," said Jason Belnap of BYU's education department. The mathematics and mathematics education professors at BYU divided into separate departments several years ago, partly because of differences in philosophy about how math should be taught.
The National Council of Mathematics favors the approach that emphasizes math concepts, and mathematics standards in most states, including Utah's, are based to some degree on the council's standards.
Opponents say this is the reason students from the United States are falling behind on tests that make international comparisons of student achievement.
Oak Norton, a leader of some Alpine district parents, contends Utah's math standards lack sufficient rigor to develop mathematicians who can compete in a global economy.
He has a Web site that collects signatures for a petition to replace Alpine's current system with traditional teaching methods. More than 5 percent of the district's 54,000 students are represented by the 990 families who signed the petition.
Alpine district administrators have said they made mistakes in the way math curriculum was implemented, but say that problems have been addressed and that students are scoring well now on standardized tests.
Norton said interest is building in using the provisions of recently signed House Bill 77, which allows small cities to form their own school district.
James Cangelosi, a mathematics professor at USU, said he did not sign Wright's petition because he believes Utah's math standards are superior to California's. He also did not like the 2006 Legislature's investigation of math curriculum.
"The Legislature has no background or experience in this," Cangelosi said. "Should the Legislature determine what kind of treatments physicians give?"
What really matters, he said, is not so much the program being used as how teachers implement it.
"One of the problems with progressive programs is that they put a greater burden on teachers," he said. "You have to lead students instead of simply telling them. It's an art form many teachers haven't developed yet."
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
