According to a recent article in the New York Times, several school districts around the U.S. are beginning to use an approach to teaching math that was invented in Singapore. The reason? Students there have repeatedly ranked at or near the top of international math exams since the mind-1990's.
Called "Singapore math," the approach is said to give students the higher-order math skills they will need in a global economy. Singapore math devotes more time to fewer topics, so kids have a chance to master the material before moving on to more complex problems.