History of the Mathnasium Method

In June 1973, Larry Martinek, creator of the Mathnasium Method, earned his Bachelor's degree in Mathematics.  The following year he earned his California Teaching Credential and began teaching in an inner city school in Los Angeles, California...

It was immediately clear that the overwhelming majority of students lacked the basic skills necessary to succeed with grade-level curriculum. It was also clear that textbooks did not provide the depth of remediation that most students required. In order to help his students fill the gap left by both the curriculum and the textbooks, Mr. Martinek began writing his own supplemental materials. Much of that material is in use at Mathnasium today.

In his fourth year of teaching, Mr. Martinek was elected Faculty Coordinator of a federally funded, state administered school reform program called RISE (Reform of Intermediate and Secondary Education). This experience provided Mr. Martinek with firsthand insights into the inner workings of the educational bureaucracy, highlighting the benefits and the drawbacks of mandates on local schools given from afar, as well as giving Mr. Martinek a perspective from which to evaluate trends in mathematics education.

The following year came the news of a lifetime – news that Mr. Martinek was to become a father. At this point in his life, after almost five years of successful teaching (successful in terms of great performance reviews, student and parent appreciation for changing attitudes toward math and boosting skills across the board), Mr. Martinek stopped and asked himself: "Why is there such a disparity in the performance of the students who come to me, and how can I help my child to avoid the difficulties that so many intelligent people have with math?" This question would weigh heavily on Mr. Martinek's mind for a long time.

Over the next several years, Mr. Martinek taught in a poor neighborhood school, a gifted Math-Science magnet school, a gang-diversion program, and an inner city high school. In all of these settings, Mr. Martinek made the same observation: "There is a serious disconnect between students’ basic skills training and the curriculum they are expected to master in the years to come." So, in his ongoing efforts to meet the needs of the students in his charge, Mr. Martinek continued to develop supplemental materials to help students bridge the gap.

Meanwhile, his son, Nic, was now five years old, and was showing signs of being mathematically precocious. Mr. Martinek's first book, Math Tips for Parents, provided insights gained from working and playing with Nic in these early years. The warm reception Math Tips received from parents and teachers encouraged Mr. Martinek to accelerate the production of materials for use in early mathematics education.

Mr. Martinek decided that rather than trying to continue to remediate students in middle school and high school, it would be better to train elementary teachers to do it right the first time. This way, students would not get so far behind in the first place. Adding an elementary credential to his qualifications, he continued creating material for elementary schools to use with all types of learners, namely numerically challenged, average students, and those who relish "challenging numerics."

As Nic grew older, he provided Mr. Martinek deeper and deeper insights into how the young mind deals with mathematics, and the process of learning mathematics. Mr. Martinek began giving workshops for teachers and parents. The materials from these workshops soon found their way into other classrooms. Thus began Mr. Martinek's career as a math consultant. Thousands of students in Culver City and Inglewood public schools, as well as students at many private and religious schools, have benefited from the methods and approaches that Mr. Martinek and Nic developed over a 15-year period.

Tragedy struck in May, 1999 when Nic died, at age 19, in a car accident. Not long before the accident, Nic told Mr. Martinek, "Dad, you have to teach other teachers how to teach math the way you do." This statement was a reflection on his observation that many of his friends left high school not well prepared in math -- not because they couldn't handle the math -- but because they were not taught math in a coherent way over the years. This mission, of teaching children math the way that makes sense to them, continues to be the dominant factor in Mr. Martinek's life. All of the experience and materials of the past 35 years of Mr. Martinek's work have found a home at Mathnasium.