Mathcounts

What is MATHCOUNTS?

MATHCOUNTS is the Premier Math Competition conducted with regional, State and National Competitions for sixth, seventh and eight grade students. MATHCOUNTS influences the way math is taught in schools while promoting interest in math by making math excellence as challenging, exciting and prestigious as achievements in sports.

MATHCOUNTS LOCAL COMPETITION

MATHCOUNTS is a national math enrichment, coaching and competition program open to all 6th, 7th and 8th grade students. MATHCOUNTS brings together educators, youth, industry sponsors and volunteers. More than 17,000 volunteers from the business and education communities annually organize and conduct the program in communities nationwide. Local and state competitions are coordinated through the leadership of state and local chapters of the National Society of Professional Engineers.


For additional information on MATHCOUNTS, please visit www.mathcounts.org.


MATHCOUNTS Mission Statement
The MATHCOUNTS mission is to increase junior high school student participation and interest in mathematics and motivate these students toward technology careers.

How does MATHCOUNTS work?
Student training begins in the fall. Teachers and student “mathletes” use training materials prepared by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Students and teachers participate in a series of competitions. Schools select four students to compete as teams and individually in written and oral exams. Students compete in city meets in February and winners progress to state contests in March. The top four scorers in each state competition and the top coach team up to represent their state at the national competition usually held in Washington, DC.

How did MATHCOUNTS start?
In response to the US Department of Education release of “A Nation at Risk” the National Society of Professional Engineers and CNA launched MATHCOUNTS, an innovative program to combat math illiteracy. The national program was developed from pilot projects in Birmingham, Alabama and Chicago, Illinois.

Since 1983, MATHCOUNTS has reached more than four million students. MATHCOUNTS has become one of the country’s largest and most successful education partnerships. The MATHCOUNTS has received two White House citations as an outstanding private sector initiative.

WHO Sponsors MATHCOUNTS ?
MATHCOUNTS is conducted through the nonprofit MATHCOUNTS Foundation and the National Sponsors are as follows:

  • CNA Insurance
  • Texas Instruments
  • 3M Foundation
  • Dow Chemical
  • NASA
  • Phillips Petroleum
  • General Motors
  • National Society of Professional Engineers
  • National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
  • Raytheon, Inc.