Math Investigations cost totals $2.4 mil.-so far

Between teacher training and material costs, Prince William County Public Schools have spent $2.4 million in three years' time on Math Investigations.

Investigations is an elementary curriculum that has been implemented county-wide for grades kindergarten through third. Its use has been criticized by many, who decry its holistic approach to math that relies just as much on artwork and demonstrating how a solution is found as it does on providing the correct answer. More than 1,200, as of Wednesday afternoon, have signed an online petition to abolish it from the schools.

The $2.4 million figure reflects specifically "stipends paid to teachers for summer training" on the elementary curriculum, as well as "substitute costs for training that occurred during the school day" for approximately 1,600 teachers and an unspecified number of administrators and supervisory officials, according to a written summary prepared by Pam Gauch, with the office of student learning and accountability.

The figure also includes the purchase of the kits and workbooks needed for implementation.

"The total expenses spent on mathematics professional development related to Investigations since spring of 2006 are $640,214," the written summary reads. "Total expense to provide schools with the necessary manipulatives for this program for kindergarten through grade three total $726,559. Kindergarten through second grade manipulative kits were purchased in spring of 2006 and third grade manipulatives were purchased in spring of 2007."

And elementary schools have spent another $1 million-and-change of textbook funds on "teacher resource packages and student activity books" related to Math Investigations. On that expense, though, the staff report makes clear one point: "Schools would have had these types of expenses regardless of what textbooks were adopted."

The cost assessment comes weeks after Superintendent Steven L. Walts suggested it was in part the financial investment the schools had already made that rendered nonsensical the idea of abolishing the program. Walts offered that opinion during a public board meeting without speaking of an actual number; staffers later said the school's math supervisor, Carol Knight, was compiling those cost figures to present to the board.

Freedom of Information Act requests filled by the Potomac News and the Manassas Journal Messenger seeking copies of receipts and purchase orders related to the Math Investigations program are still pending.

The receipts, once received, will clarify further the numbers compiled by the school staffers in relation to the costs of Math Investigations.

Board members were not scheduled to discuss the findings of the staff report at Wednesday's meeting. One member contacted for comment, however, said it's too early for sticker shock, given the numbers aren't provided in the form of comparison with other curriculum purchase costs.

"That's not an unheard amount of money," said Don Richardson, Gainesville District. "Anytime you adopt a curriculum, it's expensive … and it's hard to say, without getting any comparison data on other textbooks, it's really hard to comment."

From the perspective of parent, however, comes Alexis Miller, who has a kindergartner and second-grader involved in the Math Investigations program, characterizes it as a fuzzy and convoluted system of teaching, and finds the $2.4 million a waste of taxpayer dollars.

"When they continue to [expand Math Investigations] to fourth and fifth grades, you can expect those costs to go even higher," she said.