June 2010

Dear ARHS Parents and Guardians,

On June 11, 2010, the Amherst Bulletin ran an opinion piece that, in part, concerned ARHS’s Interactive Math Program[IMP].

A number of assertions about the IMP program in the article were inaccurate. For example, moving between IMP and the traditional courses is not at all difficult; in fact, it is something students do easily.

But our larger interest is to challenge the impression of doubt and suspicion about IMP that the piece was intended to leave. We’ve made the accompanying document available to the community to make IMP’s considerable strengths apparent.

Specifically, by establishing the strong linkage with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards, we’ve tried to demonstrate the strength of the IMP program’s research base. More importantly, we’ve summarized the evaluation efforts of the National Science Foundation and others that have given high marks to IMP as a model framework for how high school mathematics should be taught.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,

Mark Jackson
Principal