Chronic Noncorrespondence between Elementary Math Curricula and Arithmetic Tests

The content match of two elementary mathematics curricula (Distar Arithmetic and Scott Foresman Mathematics) and two arithmetic tests (KeyMath and the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills) was examined for Grades I through 3. Correspondence was assessed for content (material and operation) as well as the types of learning that were required of the student (i.e., knowledge, computation, comprehension, application). Eighty-one of the 90 comparisons were significant at the .001 level. Thus, a consistent lack of content correspondence was found among curricula and tests at all levels.