Curriculum

Saxon Math

"The basic philosophy of his approach was incremental development and continuous review. Incremental development meant that larger concepts were broken down into smaller, more easily understood pieces that were introduced over time; continuous review refers to the practice of concepts in cumulative problem sets once they were introduced. As a student completed a new concept, a brief review of the previous chapters and concepts were also tested"

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Saxon_(educator)

John Saxon's Story, a genius of common sense in math education

by Nakonia Hayes (former principal at North Beach Elementary, Seattle, WA)

"I have always been a fan. Sometimes the establishment makes me question if I am doing things the "right" way, but after reading this biography, I am even more committed to doing things the Saxon way. I have been a public school teacher for 23 years and the new, new, new...math standards that are coming along in their current brand of repackaged, time-tested and failed, iteration is enough to make me seek another line of work. I think I can become a private instructor teaching Saxon math and make a million dollars. This is a must read for parents. Get mad and talk to your representatives. If parents continue to throw up their hands and relinquish educational control to the public schools, Heaven help us all. This man had it right a long time ago." - John Dover, Amazon review




"The thing that I loved so much about this book is that it tells an almost humorous story about a man who recognized a problem (poor performing math students), came up with a highly effective solution (a self-published math book featuring an incremental approach and continuous review of previously learned concepts), and then was maligned and attacked by the "educational establishment" for 15 years just because he didn't ask for their opinion or their permission.

The nice thing was that John Saxon didn't lay down and take the abuse. He insulted, cajoled and openly challenged his detractors at every opportunity. And they hated it.

Saxon was an engineer and a test-pilot. Engineers solve problems. He created an elegant solution to a problem, and since he didn't have a PhD in education, the "experts" felt threatened by him. A typically American story.

This book has an enormous amount of detail and everything is impeccably referenced. It's not only a biography, but a picture of how business often gets done in the textbook/education world...not a pretty picture but one worth understanding." -Jon, Amazon Review

"Imagine, a 380-page book about a guy who wrote text books for children. Has such a thing happened before in the history of the world?

Most likely not, and that's because John Saxon is a unique phenomenon, surely in American history, probably in world history. I would say he is our greatest educator. Oh sure, you'll want to say that John Dewey is. Well, Dewey might be our greatest social engineer. As an educator, he was merely a poseur.

John Saxon is the real thing. He loved math and education generally; he loved children; and he loved making sure that children learn math and everything else.

To this complex task, he brought an extraordinary array of talents and experiences. He earned three engineering degrees, flew fighter jets in the Korean and Vietnam wars, served as a test pilot for five years, looked like John Glenn and almost entered the astronaut program himself. He also taught a great deal, for example, at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Then, after 27 years in the military, he wasn't promoted from Lieutenant Colonel to Colonel, and had to retire. He did not like this at all. It was a bleak time; but it led him to teaching algebra in a community college. His students were as ignorant as you might expect students to be if they have been the victims of New Math or Reform Math. John Saxon was stunned, indignant, transformed, and ready to go to war.

He (as he put it, a man "whose profession was killing") would now show the Education Establishment how it's done if you actually care about children, math, and our country.

In summary, all of his books were demonstrably successful and superior. Children do better on all the relevant tests. Students using his books were much more likely to take chemistry, physics, calculus, and similar courses.

Reform Math can be viewed as a subversive technique for making sure we don't have math and science students. Saxon books were (and are) the remedy.

Basically, he insisted on patient, incremental learning, with lots of review, lots of practice, and lots of fun if you could manage it. He approached math the way a coach approaches football: "You create a structured system, and you work their tails off. They'll love it because they will be successful."

The bad methods that Saxon opposed are now being recycled into Common Core Curriculum. A bizarre and tragic development. Saxon showed how it should be done. Just use his books. Saxon always said he would compete with anybody, any time, in any competition they devised. He would pay all expenses. And his "books will win by an order of magnitude."

Nakonia Hayes has been a teacher, school principal, journalist, and now an author. She's balanced and scholarly in telling the life story of a person who was in combat for decades either with military enemies or with education enemies. She doesn't judge them. John Saxon did. He said the "National Education Association makes my skin crawl."

If you are involved in education and/or want to create successful curricula, this is a must-read book. It's the life story of a legendary figure in American history. The book relates many hundreds of anecdotes and quotations that will help you understand the phenomenon that was John Saxon." -

Bruce Deitrick Price, Amazon Review

https://www.amazon.com/Saxons-Story-genius-common-education/dp/0578051222