A year and a half ago, President Bush proposed creating a new federal mathematics effort that would offer millions of dollars in grants to school districts to adopt proven strategies for improving classroom instruction in that subject. Administration officials had pictured the new program, called Math Now, as being modeled on Reading First, the $1 billion-a-year federal effort that provides money for research-based improvements in reading instruction in the early grades. However, Congress made some alterations to what Bush had proposed. Math Now--included as part of a broader piece of legislation to support math and science education and research known as the America COMPETES Act, which Bush signed into law last August 9--is authorized to receive less than half the amount the administration had wanted: $95 million a year, not $250 million. As part of the same law, Congress also created a separate grant program aimed at promoting research-based math improvements in high schools, which is also authorized to receive $95 million a year.