California Dreaming

A history of efforts to reform mathematics education in California throughout the last two decades of the 20th century. That history is a contentious one, full of such fervour and heat that participants and observers often refer to the "math wars". Suzanne Wilson considers the many perspectives of those involved in maths reform, weaving a tapestry of facts, philosophies, conversations, events and personalities into the narrative. While her focus is on California, the implications of her book extend to struggles over education policy and practice throughout the United States. Wilson's three-dimensional account of maths education reform efforts reveals how the debates tend to be deeply ideological and how people come to feel misunderstood and misrepresented. She examines the myths used to explain the failure of reforms, the actual reasons for failure, and the importance of taking multiple perspectives into account when planning and implementing reform.