A couple weeks ago I had flashbacks to a meeting 20 years ago. I learned that the secretive RFP for a review of the new Utah 2026 math standards rewrite had been awarded to WestEd and they completed their review.

In 2004 I got involved in the math issue when I discovered Alpine School District (ASD) was no longer teaching the times tables or long division to children, or division by fractions, and by 2005 I understood it was because of our pathetic math standards. I went to speak at numerous district meetings and when I saw that was pointless, took my research to the legislature and wrote a letter to every senator and representative pointing out Utah’s D-rated standards (Fordham foundation) were allowing tens of thousands of students in ASD to grow up and graduate without knowing 5 x 8. Senator Howard Stephenson called for hearings and at one of the hearings (I think in 2006), WestEd presented their findings comp