Yes he had a phonics program also. The math program was very structured and repetitive-and very good for most children. It came in consumable work books and most districts didn’t want to pay every year for consumable workbooksfor each child. Also the fact that it was not created by a ‘real’ educator was a thorn in the side for approval in a union run school district.
Our school was too cheap, said it was too expensive. This was when kids were in elementary, now 10th grade & freshman in college. They probably are still too cheap. I’ve heard mention on various message boards with teachers asking each other IF they’ve started the Common Core, which I’m not familiar with.