Christina Samuels

Twenty years ago, New Zealand adopted an educational focus that prompted many teachers to deliberately refrain from teaching “rote” mathematics in favor of complex mental strategies that were supposed to encourage deeper conceptual understanding—a philosophy that is increasingly popular in the United States. Test scores have since plunged, and a country that was once among the top in the world at teaching math is now scrambling to reverse this trend. What lessons does this hold for America’s public schools?