Latest Addition to the Math Debate

The 'National Mathematics Advisory Panel' is meeting in Cambridge today, a day after a major teachers' group recommended going back to the basics. The 'National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' yesterday released guidelines that are almost a complete reversal of its 1989 position that advocated problem solving and abstraction over drilling mathematical facts. Now, the council says multiplication tables are the way to go.

The Garfield Elementary School in Revere is already on that path. Four years ago, it implemented what is known as "Singapore Math," named after the country that often scores highest on international student achievement tests.

Diane Kelly is Director of Mathematics for the Revere public schools and she joins us to talk about the debate over new versus old.