“Toronto public schools has epic problems with its curriculum and a large community of immigrants both Russian and Jewish. Its approach to learning is comparable to Seattle or Chicago – market segmentation.”

Honestly, I haven’t seen this. Toronto has been called the most multicultural city in the world, but I’d say the majority of recent immigrants aren’t Russian or Jewish (and most Russian immigrants are not Jewish), so I’m not sure where he/she is getting these demographics; perhaps one particular school? Also – no idea what’s meant by “market segmentation.” Perhaps this needs to be clarified.

Where we live (in Toronto), we have folks who have moved here from all parts of the world, and one thing JUMP does very well is reduce the verbal component of its lessons to a bare minimum, so even kids and parents with minimal English literacy will be able to work through the problems independently.

The metric and the Canadian currency may deter some U.S. schools (though in some cases, currency pictures are replaced by circles with denominations, which should ease difficulties), but overall this is a rock-solid program that seems to have gotten an undeserved “remedial” reputation.

It wouldn’t be so bad if it were known as a program that can help kids who have struggled with math… if only folks would also acknowledge that it’s equally good for kids who don’t struggle and even gifted math learners.

Any additional insights / thoughts?

Its easy to understand the frustration level in Toronto. Fortunately, the immigrants are generally well-educated and have the means to start their own private schools. TMMSS had to divide Canada into two groups, French-speaking and English-speaking.

The French speakers outperformed their English counterparts. Yes, the answer was curriculum, but the curriculum wasn’t French, it was English and it was being used to teach immigrant children in French-speaking Quebec. That was the most interesting part of the study. I will leave it to you to figure out what curriculum was used. But I will also share with you that counterfeit textbooks of this challenging curriculum continue turning up as far away as South America. It would be interesting to compare the two curricula (JUMP and …!?)