Word: saxonizes
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...method of teaching algebra against the standard texts. He also persuaded the Oklahoma Federation of Teachers to oversee the experiment and certify the results. In all, 1,360 students participated The control group consisted of 841 who used the regular textbooks, while an experimental group of 519 used Saxon's text-Algebra I, an Incremental Development. In each school the same teacher taught one section using Saxon and one or more classes using the standard text. The 16 short tests taken during 1980-81 were drawn from questions submitted by the teachers themselves...
...results were astonishing. Students using Saxon's book showed an overall gain of 159% as compared with the control group. The tests also revealed that Saxon students in the lowest-ability group (classified on the basis of their scores on the California Achievement Tests, given in August 1980) outscored their control counterparts by a staggering 246%. Perhaps even more surprising is the fact that the "low-ability" Saxons outscored the "high-medium" controls on every test...
...Saxon soon enlisted others in his crusade. New York Publisher Bob Worth provided guidance and advice in bringing out the book under the name Grassdale Publishers. Saxon himself paid the $60,000 cost of publishing 10,000 volumes...
...also sent off a barrage of letters to the media. William Buckley, editor of the conservative National Review, responded and became a believer. With Buckley's help, Saxon got a small foundation grant and wrote two pugnacious and polemical articles in the magazine about textbooks and the teaching of algebra. They stirred considerable controversy, bringing Saxon a national audience and, eventually, hundreds of letters from teachers and parents curious about the book. Because of the articles and the Oklahoma test results, schools all over the country are now requesting Saxon's book. Fifty schools in Oklahoma have adopted...
Just what is it about Saxon's book that is different? The initial contrast is that the book is written in simple, straightforward, clear prose. In many standard algebra texts, students are immediately confronted by mystifying postulates, like "The reflexive property of equality states that any number is equal to itself...