Co-founderDr. Tom Sallee
University professor, UC Davis
Mathematics professor who formalized CPM’s research base in 2013 and shaped the program’s academic rigor from the very beginning.
CPM
CPM’s Origin Story
Change from within · Est. 1989
CPM’s Origin Story
Thirty teachers walked into a room in Sacramento with a big idea: that every student deserved to actually understand mathematics. What they built together changed math education forever.
+30
Three founders, thirty teachersMeet the people →
30Founding teachers
1989Founded by teachers
20%+CA schools by the 2000s
35+Years in classrooms
Chapter 1 · Genesis & growth
Born grassroots. Built by teachers.
In 1989, thirty math teachers in and around Sacramento decided that algebra shouldn’t be a wall. It should be a door. What started as two Eisenhower grants became a movement.
1989
Thirty teachers, two grants
30 teachers and 2 Eisenhower grants. The first Algebra 1 materials were written in 5 weeks.
30
Founding teachers
A group of Sacramento-area math teachers came together with a shared conviction: that every student, not just college-bound students, deserved to genuinely understand mathematics.
1,000+
Teachers in just 3 years
Growth was entirely word of mouth. Teachers who saw the difference CPM made in their classrooms brought it back to their colleagues and districts.
After taking CPM’s Algebra 1 course, students no longer asked ‘What am I ever going to use this for?’, an indicator of meaningful mathematical experiences.
Teachers using early CPM materialsChapter 2 · How it was distributed
The infamous van.
In the early days, materials went out chapter by chapter as shrink-wrapped stacks of loose-leaf pages, from the back of a van that founder Judy Kysh drove to a central location. Teachers drove in to pick up their pages, spent the whole day in professional development together, then took the materials back to their schools for copying, usually one unit at a time.
Chapter by chapter, the first Algebra 1 pages ride in Judy Kysh’s van.
Chapter 3 · Three founders
The people who started it.
Two university professors and the teacher who drove the van. Together they bridged research and the classroom.
Co-founderCo-founderDr. Elaine Kasimatis
University professor
University professor and co-founder who worked alongside teachers to bridge the gap between academic research and classroom practice.
Co-founderJudy Kysh
Director, Northern California Math Project
The driving force behind CPM’s grassroots growth. She drove the van, led the workshops, and made sure the curriculum reached every teacher who needed it.
Chapter 4 · The research foundation
Grounded in how students actually learn.
CPM’s curriculum wasn’t designed from theory alone. It was shaped by decades of classroom observation, brain-based research, and a deep belief that students construct understanding. They don’t just receive it.
Learners construct, not acquire, understanding
Influenced by Marian Diamond’s brain-based research and Constance Kamii’s work on intellectual autonomy, the founding group understood that students build their own mathematical understanding regardless of how they are taught. CPM’s design helps teachers build on students’ logical thinking, not override it.
KamiiDiamondSorgen
Start with the big picture, not the procedure
Students learn mathematics best when they begin with a big picture that holds a mystery to uncover. Inspired by a pivotal Algebra textbook by Johnson, Lendsey, Sleznick & Bates, CPM chapters were originally named for their real-world problems, not the math in them. Students remembered the math by the problem they encountered it in.
Johnson et al.Judy Kysh
Narrative and mathematical storylines spark curiosity
CPM materials are designed so the mathematics storyline and narrative storyline reinforce each other. Students encounter situations with an enigma, something they don’t yet know how to resolve, and experience genuine “aha” moments as they construct mathematical connections and discover elegant solutions.
Dietiker 201320162019
Clements’ framework
CPM aligns with Phases 1–4 and continues building.
Although constructivism provides a useful basis for thinking about mathematics learning in classrooms, it does not tell us how to teach mathematics… [Learning trajectories research] contributes to a dialogue on what teaching might be like if it is built on a constructivist perspective on knowledge development.
Martin Simon, 1995Research to design
From research to curriculum design
These three takeaways, combined with years of classroom experience, crystallized into what CPM is now known for: the Three Pillars of Collaborative Learning, Problem-Based Learning, and Mixed Spaced Practice.
Chapter 5 · CPM’s first textbooks
Written in five weeks. Refined over five years.
The first Algebra 1 materials weren’t handed down from a publisher. They were written at a table in the summer of 1989, piloted by the same teachers that fall, revised, and tested again, until they worked.
Wk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5
The first three textbooks
Pull a book off the shelf
- Written in 5 weeks, summer 1989
- Piloted 1989–90, revised, then piloted again 1990–91
- Written in summer 1990
- Shaped by monthly teacher feedback meetings
- Two full rounds of field-testing
- Final first edition, summer 1994
The book that inspired it all
Judy Kysh credits an Algebra textbook by Johnson, Lendsey, Sleznick, and Bates as a key influence. Unlike most texts of the day, its problems could be solved by reasoning from prior problems, with no need to consult pre-worked examples first. Many of CPM’s original problems were directly inspired by this approach.
Teachers as authors
Written by the people who taught it
The teachers who wrote the materials also piloted them in their own classrooms. They met nearly every month to share observations and build a collective record of what worked and what didn’t, a feedback loop that shaped every revision.
Chapter 6 · Becoming a nonprofit
The van ran out of room. A nonprofit was born.
By 1993, CPM had outgrown its grassroots distribution system. Incorporating as a California nonprofit meant soft-bound Algebra and Geometry books could be printed and sold, so teachers could stop copying stacks of loose-leaf pages and focus on teaching. No more van. No more copying.
1989Loose-leaf pages, delivered by van
→
1993Soft-bound books, printed & sold
Why the name changed
College Preparatory Mathematics Educational Program
The original name
Named for its grassroots, by-teachers, for-teachers origins: Change from Within.
Incorporated 1993
Teachers found that all students, not only college-bound students, benefited from CPM. The program had become known simply as CPM, and the name needed to reflect that.
A nonprofit funded by what it makes
Many of CPM’s professional learning programs are made possible by funds from textbook sales. Every dollar goes back into supporting teachers and students.
- Textbook salesSchools adopt CPM curriculum
- Professional learningAcademy of Best Practice, Teacher Research Community
- Teachers & studentsEvery dollar goes back to the classroom
Chapter 7 · CPM’s official research base
Grounded from day one. Formalized in 2013.
CPM was research-informed from the start, but for years there was no single document that laid it all out. In 2013, co-founder Dr. Tom Sallee finally put it in writing, around three pillars.
Pillar 01
Collaborative Learning
Students learn mathematics more deeply when they work in structured groups, talk through problems together, and build shared understanding, instead of sitting in rows receiving information.
Pillar 02
Problem-Based Learning
CPM courses are built around real problems that require genuine mathematical thinking, not just recall. Students discover concepts by doing, before formal definitions appear.
Pillar 03
Mixed Spaced Practice
Rather than massing practice on one topic and moving on, CPM distributes practice across time and topics, which decades of cognitive science research show leads to deeper, longer-lasting retention.
2013
Dr. Tom Sallee formalizes the CPM Research Base
After much anticipation, Dr. Sallee conducted a formal literature review around the Three Pillars. The 2013 CPM Research Base Report doesn’t capture everything, but it documents the evidence that CPM’s foundational design principles support mathematics learning.
Chapter 8 · External independent reviews
The world noticed.
From the US Department of Education to EdReports to the Gates Foundation, independent reviewers have consistently validated what CPM teachers have known since 1989.
1999
US Department of Education
CPM was selected as one of the top twelve reform-based mathematics curricula in the country, evaluated on mathematical inquiry, content focus, grade appropriateness, use of technology, and research support.
Top 12 reform curricula nationally
2013–2014
California State Board of Education
The CA BOE reviewed CPM with a rigorous Common Core-aligned tool across six dimensions: mathematical alignment, program organization, assessment, universal access, instructional planning, and teacher support.
Adopted for grades 6 to 8 and Algebra
Ongoing
EdReports
Both CPM high school pathways, Traditional and Integrated, received EdReports’ highest rating of “meets expectations.” The Core Connections middle school series also received strong reviews across all criteria.
Meets expectations, highest rating
2020
Gates Foundation Grand Challenge
Based on CPM’s performance on independent reviews and its reputation for standards-based instruction, university scholars invited CPM to collaborate on the Gates Foundation Grand Challenge for Algebra 1.
Invited collaborator, Balancing the Equation
The materials attend to the full intent of the mathematical content standards and also attend fully to the modeling process when applied to the modeling standards. The materials also meet the expectations for rigor and the Mathematical Practices as they reflect the balances in the Standards and help students meet the Standards’ rigorous expectations.
EdReports, on CPM’s Traditional & Integrated high school seriesChapter 9 · CPM’s ongoing research
Still guided by the people who built it.
Today, CPM’s team is still led by some of the original teachers who researched, wrote, field-tested, and revised the very first materials. The work continues.
Teacher Research Community
CPM values and supports teachers as curriculum writers and teacher-researchers through the TRC, holding true to the grassroots spirit of 1989.
Regional PL Collaborative Leaders
RPLCs serve as professional learning leaders across regions: teachers empowering other teachers, the same model CPM was built on.
Implementation & Impact Studies
CPM’s research department is pursuing implementation and impact studies that account for its full programmatic theory, continuing the cycle of evidence-based refinement.
Research domains
CPM draws on cognitive science, psychology, mathematics education, and the learning sciences to inform curriculum and professional learning design, and to contribute to the field’s understanding of how best to support math teaching and learning in grades 6 to 12.
This is who we are
35+ years of teachers teaching better.
What started as 30 teachers in Sacramento is now a movement that reaches students across the country. The mission hasn’t changed: math should open doors, not close them.