Irksome math program could face changes (EDM Anchorage)

COMEAU: Support for program shifted after critical report.

By ROSEMARY SHINOHARA
rshinohara@adn.com

Published: August 20th, 2011 12:00 AM
Last Modified: August 20th, 2011 12:40 AM

Superintendent Carol Comeau said Friday she is more open to the idea of replacing the controversial Everyday Mathematics program in elementary schools after a critical consultants' report and the discussions that followed.

The report, produced in June by a team from the Council of the Great City Schools, found fault with the district's implementation of Everyday Math.

The program emphasizes the concepts behind math and the different ways of figuring out a problem.

The report said the district had not conducted enough training so that teachers, principals and parents could understand the reasoning behind the program.

The School Board put $425,000 into this school year's budget to allow the district to begin addressing the problems.

On Monday, administrators will present to the board a draft plan for how they hope to improve math teaching this year and beyond. It is mostly centered on increased and better training for teachers.

The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at district headquarters at 5530 E. Northern Lights Blvd.

Everyday Math is controversial around the country, Comeau said.

Many parents say they don't get it, and in Anchorage most teachers surveyed last year gave it fair to poor ratings.

Comeau said she's not sure yet whether she'll recommend keeping it after this year.

The vocabulary of Everyday Math is hard for students who are still learning English to grasp, and many of those students struggle with it, she said.

Yet a high mobility rate among schools argues for keeping the same program in all schools so students aren't lost when they move within the city, she said.

There would be new annual costs to support teaching Everyday Math the way the Great City Schools report recommends but also costs to convert to a new program that might be easier to teach over the long run, she said.

"I am truly open to any direction," Comeau said. Her position has shifted as a result of the consultants' report and subsequent discussions, she said.

Some School Board members say they're waiting to get more information on what to do about the math program.

"There's a lot of concern about it but a huge expense in dumping it and starting over," said board member Don Smith.


"I really want to hear the hard information," said board member Pat Higgins.

"Ultimately we have to train kids for a new world, a much more complex world. Simple math will not do it," Higgins said.

There's no scheduled vote on math at Monday's board meeting, but people can testify about the draft plan, said board president Gretchen Guess.

She said if the board wants to debate the question of keeping the program, then she would recommend holding a public hearing on the question at a later date.

"I don't want to go back to just doing math," Guess said. "You also have to think about math."

The recommendations to improve the program this year include expanding the number of districtwide math coaches available to help teachers, giving lead math teachers at different schools extra money to take on additional duties training other teachers, and holding public meetings to hear from parents, Comeau said.

One goal will be to offer "just-in-time" training for teachers -- a lesson on how to teach an upcoming section of Everyday Math, she said.

A powerful way to make a difference, she said, is to do what school systems in Singapore and Japan do: get substitutes for teachers scheduled for training, have them observe a master teacher giving a math class, then talk about it with each other and make plans for their own classes.

The school district asked for Great City Schools to evaluate the district's math program because elementary math test results have stayed at about the national average. The district wants to rise about the average.

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