Curriculmn

Saxon Math Warrior  - website dedicated to John Saxon by Nakonia Hayes

 

 "[John Saxon] A West Point graduate and Korean war hero, Saxon held three degrees in engineering. A gifted teacher, he designed math books to be user-friendly while still honoring the rich, historical foundations of that discipline. He had proved that his program worked before he started selling it, and he challenged others to do the same. They had long held political and financial power, however, and felt no obligation to meet his challenges. Instead, they continued to use unproven fads and programs on children without parent knowledge or permission. His continuing and verified successes, as reported in this biography, were ignored. It was only his death in 1996 that stopped the bloody war between John Saxon and the math education establishment, but he helped ignite the “math wars” that have been rekindled today over Common Core."

Nakonia (Niki) Hayes retired from public education in 2006 in Seattle, WA, after 28 years as a teacher, counselor, and principal. She was introduced to Saxon Mathematics on the Spokane Indian Reservation, pre-kindergarten-12^th grades in 1991-1994 as a math teacher, then principal. Having seen the significant rise in test scores there, she recommended the Saxon curriculum in 2001 at North Beach Elementary School in Seattle. Its population was 80 percent white, upper middle-class children and most of them came to school “ready to read” due to reading in the home. However, math scores were unacceptable. The staff voted to try Saxon. State test scores in math for the 4th graders (the elementary grade tested at the time) rose in three years from 74 to 91 percent by 2004. Because writing scores were also unacceptable, a phonics-based curriculum was chosen and a journalism program started, specifically to improve grammar skills. Writing scores increased from 58 to 89 percent by 2004. Hayes left the school that year due to health issues and taught math half time until her retirement.

http://saxonmathwarrior.com/