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Seattle schools win math textbook appeal

High school students in Seattle will continue to use a controversial math textbook after an appeals court affirmed the school board's decision.
Seattle Office for Education
High school students in Seattle will continue to use a controversial math textbook after an appeals court affirmed the school board's decision.

Seattle Public Schools will get to keep using a controversial math textbook. An appeals court struck down a challenge to the "Discovering" math curriculum by a group of parents and local residents who call it “mathematically unsound.”

As KPLU reported, a King County Superior Court judge ruled last year that the school board’s decision to use the curriculum was “arbitrary” and “capricious.” The appeals court judges disagreed, saying the challengers’ didn’t convince them the school board failed to give its choice due and honest consideration. The judges wrote:

"There is no basis for concluding that the board was willful and unreasoning in coming to its decision."

The original lawsuit was filed by:

  • Cliff Mass, a University of Washington atmospheric science professor,
  • Martha McLaren, a retired high-school math teacher, and
  • Da-Zanne Porter, the mother of a student at Cleveland High School in Seattle.  

The group has not yet decided if it will take its case further. For now, Mass simply says "the children of Seattle will continue to use some of the worst high school math textbooks in the nation."

Charla joined us in January, 2010 and is excited to be back in Seattle after several years in Washington, DC, where she was a director and producer for NPR. Charla has reported from three continents and several outlets including Marketplace, San Francisco Chronicle and NPR. She has a master of journalism from University of California, Berkeley and a bachelor's degree in architecture from University of Washington.