Singapore Math

What is Singapore Math?

The term, "Singapore Math", came into use in the U.S.A. around the year 2000 when US academics, homeschoolers, schools and the media started referring to the books used by Singaporean kids as Singapore Math. The term Singapore Math is, however, not used in Singapore, where they just use the term maths.

The term "Singapore Math", as used in the U.S.A. and Canada generally refers to the Primary Mathematics series. The Primary Mathematics Series was first published in 1982 and was the only series used in Singapore primary schools up till 2001. Primary Mathematics was written by members of a project team put together by the Ministry of Education, Singapore. Starting from 2001, textbooks for primary level mathematics have been privatized with the hope that the changes will be faster and there will be more choices. The contents in the new series that were first published in 2001 remained the same as the 1999 reduced syllabus.

What's so great about Singapore Math?

The Trends In Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is designed to help countries all over the world improve student learning in mathematics and science. It collects educational achievement data at the fourth and eighth grades to provide information about trends in performance over time together with extensive background information to address concerns about the quantity, quality, and content of instruction.

TIMSS provides important information for policy development, to foster public accountability, to allow areas of progress or decline in achievement to be identified and monitored, and to address concerns for equity.

Approximately 50 countries from all over the world participate in TIMSS. A project of the IEA headquartered in Amsterdam, it is directed by the TIMSS International Study Center at Boston College in collaboration with a worldwide network of organizations and representatives from the participating countries.

Conducted on a four-year cycle, the first round of TIMSS was in 1995, the second in 1999 and the third in 2003. Preparations are underway for the next round of TIMSS, which will take place in 2007.