A recent article in the Columbus Dispatch reported that the Columbus (Ohio) School District is using a new K-2 math curriculum based on Singapore Math.

Reporter Jennifer Smith Richards outlined some of the reasons for Singapore’s math success:

Solving problems — and a deeper understanding of why the answer can be found with a certain method instead of only how — is a key principle of Singapore’s methods. The country’s national math curriculum is slower-paced than many American methods and insists on laying a strong foundation in understanding numbers and place value.

Smith Richards importantly notes that the District,

chose to move away from so-called reform math, which relies more heavily on learning abstract mathematic concepts at the outset, in part because students who didn’t have a strong foundation in number sense weren’t as successful.

Third grade teacher Meagan Erwin nails it: “If you understand how a number is made up, there’s no stopping you.”

In Columbus, Singapore Methods are being introduced in Grades K through 2 this year. Next year, the Singapore Math curriculum will be included in Grades 3 to 5.

Note how Ms. Erwin’s students found many ways to answer the problem on the board: “If Gigi has eight bags with 94 stickers each, how many does she have in all?” And reporter Smith Richards has done an excellent job focusing on the strengths of Singapore Math using a concrete example.