- 20 May, 2002 -

Following an extensive national search, Mathnasium LLC announced yesterday that Larry Martinek would be joining the company as Chief Instructional Officer and partner. Mathnasium President, Peter Markovitz, said that the company had defined its search in simple terms. "We were looking for a leading educator who had clearly developed a better way to teach math." Markovitz said he had not anticipated that the leading candidate would be from Los Angeles "in our own back yard," as Markovitz puts it. Martinek was proposed as a candidate by David Rubin, philanthropist and school president of Yavneh Academy, a top Los Angeles religious school. Rubin had retained Martinek as a consultant to raise his students' math test scores, and had been amazed at the results. When Markovitz called Martinek, he outlined the Mathnasium plan to build a global chain of math learning centers. The renowned educator listened. He responded quietly, "I have been waiting my entire career for this call." Martinek set out 30 years ago to find a way to help children develop deep mathematical literacy, often called "Number Sense." His mission was not only to boost test scores, but also to instill a genuine love of math, and provide children with skills that could transform their lives. Martinek's journey took him from university where he earned his degree in Mathematics and his teaching credential, to inner-city public schools where he taught America's most challenged students. Later he became a teacher trainer and consultant in public schools as well as top private schools. He served as Faculty Coordinator of a federally funded school reform program called RISE (Reform of Intermediate and Secondary Education), helping to influence the way America's children were taught mathematics. Through all his experience, Martinek found a common theme a "serious disconnect between students' basic skills training the curriculum they are expected to master in the years to come." He decided to focus on elementary education, to provide children the foundation in mathematics that would allow them to succeed. Over 3 decades Martinek painstakingly developed and assembled a blend of methods and materials that were more powerful and effective that anything available in schools. These included thousands of pages of original exercises. Martinek hoped that his materials would one day transform the way that children everywhere learned math. "When I received the call from Mathnasium and understood the vision and experience of its founders," recalls Martinek, "I knew that this was the vehicle I had been looking for. With Mathnasium, the opportunity to reach children is boundless. That is the fulfillment of a dream." Martinek's passion to share his knowledge stems from a suggestion made by his only child Nic who died in 1999 in a car accident at the age of 19. Martinek and his wife Lynn's relationship with Nic was unusually close. The Martineks home-schooled Nic in the critical middle-school years. Larry Martinek calls Nic, who developed into a stellar math scholar, "my principal student and my principal teacher. We created the method together." Shortly before he died, Nic told his father that he should find a way to share their method with a broader audience. Martinek sees Mathnasium as a way to fulfill the vision that Nic shared with him that day. "I'm doing it", Martinek says simply, "because the kid told me to." About Mathnasium Learning Centers Mathnasium Learning Centers offer "math-only" after-school educational programs in an attractive and supportive setting for children to develop much-needed math skills and build confidence in their abilities. Developed over 30 years of hands-on experience with thousands of children, the Mathnasium educational method is designed for children of all ages and skill levels. Mathnasium offers an environment and method in which children really do develop the mathematics understanding they will need to succeed in the information age. Mathnasium is headquartered in 5120 W. Goldleaf Circle, Suite 130, Los Angeles, CA 90056. Mathnasium can be reached at (323) 389-1100, info@mathnasium.com, and www.mathnasium.com.

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