The
School Mathematics Study Group (SMSG) was an academic
think tank focused on the subject of reform in
mathematics education. Directed by
Edward G. Begle and financed by the
National Science Foundation, the group was created in the wake of the
Sputnik crisis in 1958 and tasked with creating and implementing
mathematics curricula for
primary and
secondary education, which it did until its termination in 1977. The efforts of the SMSG yielded a reform in mathematics education known as
new math which was promulgated in a series of reports, which culminated in a series published by
Random House called the
New Mathematical Library. In the early years SMSG also rushed out a set of draft textbooks in typewritten paperback format for elementary, middle and high school students.
Perhaps the most authoritative collection of materials from the School Mathematics Study Group is now housed in the Archives of American Mathematics in the University of Texas at Austin's Center for American History.
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