I have not seen Everyday Math, but I can tell you that the Dale Seymour Investigations series which many schools in CA use to use, is a Constructivist program.
I think Dale Seymour Investigations was formerly known as TERC Investigations , and lots of parents and math professors dislike it:
http://www.nychold.com/terc.html ...
Mathematically Correct Second Grade Review of TERC [then Dale Seymour] Investigations in Number, Data, and Space. Some observations and conclusions: "Poor focus, lots of child centered discovery activities and no meaningful mathematical content. [...] [T]he authors accept that some children, at the end of second grade, will still add and subtract by drawing pictures and counting, or by counting back and forth on a `100 chart.' [...] With the exception of some discussion of counting by 2's, 5's and 10's, multiplication is not obviously introduced. [...] This program is totally dedicated to discovery learning and away from mastery, depth, or any skill or understanding... There is nothing to recommend about this program."
Mathematically Correct Fifth Grade) Review of TERC Investigations. Excerpts: "This program received the lowest rating of Mathematical Depth of the fifth-grade programs in this review. [...] The quality of presentation for this program also received the lowest rating among the fifth-grade programs reviewed. The lack of a student text by the fifth grade contributes to this as it leaves students without such resources as a glossary or the opportunity to review prior instruction independently. [...] Although there is a fairly reasonable number of student worksheets, the actual work expected is severely limited in depth and scope and is unlikely to support mastery of content."
Mathematics Program Reviews Comparative Summary for Second Grade and likewise Comparative Summary for Fifth Grade, by Mathematically Correct. The previously cited MC program reviews of TERC Investigations are part of a comparative review of eight mathematics programs for both 2nd and 5th grade. For both grades two of the eight programs (Everyday Mathematics and TERC Investigations) are deemed to fall far short of the Mathematically Correct review criteria, and in both cases the Investigations in Number, Data, and Space curriculum is rated unambiguously the worst of all that were reviewed.
TERC Hands-On Math: The Truth is in the Details. An Analysis of Investigations in Number, Data, and Space by Bill Quirk. This is a detailed analysis of the mathematics in TERC's Fifth Grade teaching materials. Bill Quirk writes: "But math is a vertically-structured knowledge domain. Learning more advanced math isn't possible without first mastering traditional pencil-and-paper arithmetic. This truth is clearly demonstrated by the shallow details of the TERC fifth grade program. Their most advanced `Investigations' offer probability without multiplying fractions, statistics without the arithmetic mean, 3-D geometry without formulas for volume, and number theory without prime numbers."
