Comprehensive School Mathematics Program (CSMP) stands for both the name of a curriculum and the name of the project that was responsible for developing curriculum materials in the United States. Two major curricula were developed as part of the overall CSMP project: the Comprehensive School Mathematics Program (CSMP), a K–6 mathematics program for regular classroom instruction, and the Elements of Mathematics (EM) program, a grades 7–12 mathematics program for gifted students. EM treats traditional topics rigorously and in-depth, and was the only curriculum that strictly adhered to Goals for School Mathematics: The Report of the Cambridge Conference on School Mathematics (1963). As a result, it includes much of the content generally required for an undergraduate mathematics major. These two curricula are unrelated to one another, but certain members of the CSMP staff contributed to the development of both projects. Additionally, some staff of the Elements of Mathematics were also involved with the Secondary School Mathematics Curriculum Improvement Study program being. What follows is a description of the K–6 program that was designed for a general, heterogeneous audience. The CSMP project was established in 1966, under the direction of Burt Kaufman, who remained director until 1979, succeeded by Clare Heidema. It was originally affiliated with Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. After a year of planning, CSMP was incorporated into the Central Midwest Regional Educational Laboratory (later CEMREL, Inc.), one of the national educational laboratories funded at that time by the U.S. Office of Education. In 1984, the project moved to Mid-continental Research for Learning (McREL) Institute's Comprehensive School Reform program, who supported the program until 2003. Heidema remained director to its conclusion. In 1984, it was implemented in 150 school districts in 42 states and about 55,000 students. Overview The CSMP project employs four non-verbal languages for the purpose of posing problems and representing mathematical concepts: the Papy Minicomputer (mental computation), Arrows (relations), Strings (classification), and Calculators (patterns). It was designed to teach mathematics as a problem-solving activity rather than simply teaching arithmetic skills, and uses the Socratic method, guiding students to figure out concepts on their own rather than directly lecturing or demonstrating the material. The curriculum uses a spiral structure and philosophy, providing students chances to learn materials at different times and rates. By giving students repeated exposure to a variety of content – even if all students may not initially fully understand – students may experience, assimilate,