Saturday, August 20, 2011
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.
36 Comments
Read more: http://www.adn.com/2011/08/19/2022891/comeau-open-to-changing-controversial.html#ixzz1VZfdh6Zo
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Back to basics
As an attorney and employer for 27 years, I could not understand why job applicants did not know basic math or English. I recently learned that public schools stopped teaching certain arithmetic skills to mastery, including long division, fractions and the number line. Instead, children are taught reform math (also known as “fuzzy math” or “new math”) via a “discovery” method.
Advocates of reform math say that memorizing the times tables is “drill and kill” and that knowing standard procedures is obsolete. They say all children should have calculators and don’t need to know that 7 x 7 = 49.
Of course, if one enters the wrong numbers on the calculator, the answer is incorrect. Students can no longer estimate the correct answer. In math class, children are put into groups to discuss math problems and reach agreement. The smartest student provides the answer. In my day, this was called cheating; today it’s called collaboration.
The Spokane school board has long supported this approach. Sally Fullmer is running to serve on the Spokane school board. She knows that teaching the basics to mastery is essential, and I urge the public to vote for her in the upcoming school board election.
Cheryl Mitchell
Spokane
Advocates of reform math say that memorizing the times tables is “drill and kill” and that knowing standard procedures is obsolete. They say all children should have calculators and don’t need to know that 7 x 7 = 49.
Of course, if one enters the wrong numbers on the calculator, the answer is incorrect. Students can no longer estimate the correct answer. In math class, children are put into groups to discuss math problems and reach agreement. The smartest student provides the answer. In my day, this was called cheating; today it’s called collaboration.
The Spokane school board has long supported this approach. Sally Fullmer is running to serve on the Spokane school board. She knows that teaching the basics to mastery is essential, and I urge the public to vote for her in the upcoming school board election.
Cheryl Mitchell
Spokane
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Children face low bar on math, reading exams (Most fall short of US benchmarks, except in Mass)
By John Hechinger
Bloomberg News / August 11, 2011
WASHINGTON - Almost all states give children math and reading proficiency exams using standards that fall short of federal benchmarks, even after eight raised their requirements since 2007, a US Department of Education study found.
Indiana, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and five other states raised their standards on at least one test of reading or math in fourth or eighth grades between 2007 and 2009, according to a report released yesterday. South Carolina lowered the bar on all exams.
The study comes after US Education Secretary Arne Duncan expressed concern that states dumb down annual proficiency tests so they can qualify for federal money under the nation’s main public education law. The No Child Left Behind law requires that all students be proficient in math and reading by 2014, leaving each state free to define that measure. Duncan plans to let states ignore the deadline if they agree to raise academic standards and take other steps, he said Aug. 5.
“States need to aim higher for all students,’’ said Michael Cohen, president of Achieve Inc., a Washington-based nonprofit created by governors and business leaders to raise academic standards.
No Child Left Behind’s proficiency requirements create “significant obstacles’’ to instituting rigorous academic standards, Cohen, a former assistant secretary of education under President Bill Clinton, said in a telephone interview.
The report comes as Duncan has already prodded 43 states and the District of Columbia since last year to sign onto US academic standards proposed by the nation’s governors and school chiefs.
The study, which examined a period before that effort gained steam, compared data from 2008-09 state assessments with the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called “the nation’s report card.’’The Education Department report showed how a proficiency score on a state test would translate into a score on the federal exam, which is scored on a zero to 500-point scale.
Only Massachusetts, which generally had the toughest proficiency requirements, mandated a score that would be considered proficient on most of the US tests in the study.
A Massachusetts child in eighth-grade math would be considered proficient with a state score equivalent to 300 on the federal exam. A child in Tennessee, which had the lowest standards, would need only 229, according to the report.
That means a Tennessee child could be considered proficient without knowing how to read a graph, while a Massachusetts student meeting that benchmark would likely be able to solve a math problem using algebra and geometry.
Starting in 1993, Massachusetts revamped its assessments and curriculum to make them tougher, and, as a result, state students excel on national and international academic assessments, said Mitchell Chester, the state’s commissioner of elementary and secondary education.
“People don’t rise to low expectations,’’ Chester said in a telephone interview.
South Carolina had among the highest standards in 2007. The state made the test easier to pass in 2008 because of concern so many schools were being labeled as failing under No Child Left Behind, said Jay Ragley, a spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Education.
Bloomberg News / August 11, 2011
WASHINGTON - Almost all states give children math and reading proficiency exams using standards that fall short of federal benchmarks, even after eight raised their requirements since 2007, a US Department of Education study found.
Indiana, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and five other states raised their standards on at least one test of reading or math in fourth or eighth grades between 2007 and 2009, according to a report released yesterday. South Carolina lowered the bar on all exams.
The study comes after US Education Secretary Arne Duncan expressed concern that states dumb down annual proficiency tests so they can qualify for federal money under the nation’s main public education law. The No Child Left Behind law requires that all students be proficient in math and reading by 2014, leaving each state free to define that measure. Duncan plans to let states ignore the deadline if they agree to raise academic standards and take other steps, he said Aug. 5.
“States need to aim higher for all students,’’ said Michael Cohen, president of Achieve Inc., a Washington-based nonprofit created by governors and business leaders to raise academic standards.
No Child Left Behind’s proficiency requirements create “significant obstacles’’ to instituting rigorous academic standards, Cohen, a former assistant secretary of education under President Bill Clinton, said in a telephone interview.
The report comes as Duncan has already prodded 43 states and the District of Columbia since last year to sign onto US academic standards proposed by the nation’s governors and school chiefs.
The study, which examined a period before that effort gained steam, compared data from 2008-09 state assessments with the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called “the nation’s report card.’’The Education Department report showed how a proficiency score on a state test would translate into a score on the federal exam, which is scored on a zero to 500-point scale.
Only Massachusetts, which generally had the toughest proficiency requirements, mandated a score that would be considered proficient on most of the US tests in the study.
A Massachusetts child in eighth-grade math would be considered proficient with a state score equivalent to 300 on the federal exam. A child in Tennessee, which had the lowest standards, would need only 229, according to the report.
That means a Tennessee child could be considered proficient without knowing how to read a graph, while a Massachusetts student meeting that benchmark would likely be able to solve a math problem using algebra and geometry.
Starting in 1993, Massachusetts revamped its assessments and curriculum to make them tougher, and, as a result, state students excel on national and international academic assessments, said Mitchell Chester, the state’s commissioner of elementary and secondary education.
“People don’t rise to low expectations,’’ Chester said in a telephone interview.
South Carolina had among the highest standards in 2007. The state made the test easier to pass in 2008 because of concern so many schools were being labeled as failing under No Child Left Behind, said Jay Ragley, a spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Education.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Wasting time and money: Math program doesn't add up
Our standing in the world teaching our children the basics of mathematics and the sciences is not very good. The last time I noticed an article on this topic we were somewhere in or around 25th in successfully teaching them these two important topics.
The standings are somewhat misleading since the way each country measures its ability to teach these subjects is different, but one thing is certain — we are having a serious problem successfully teaching these important subjects.
There are three primary possibilities to explain this dismal fact. We can blame our teachers for not being qualified to teach these subjects, or we can blame our students for not being as capable as other students in developed countries, or we can look at how these topics are introduced and taught to our students.
I have been volunteering in our public schools, primarily in fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade mathematics classes for the past five years and without exception I can state that our teachers are very well qualified to teach mathematics. They are not the problem. Again, from personal experience I can state our students are the equal of anywhere else in the world. They are not the problem.
Having eliminated the teachers and the students as the cause of our poor standing there is just one conclusion left to explain why we are where we are and that is the material that is used to teach our students. The one we use in Bensalem in K-6 is the Everyday Mathematics program. It is widely acclaimed and used throughout the United States. It is therefore the one constant to explain our rating.
The publishers disagree with me. As written on their website: “Everyday Mathematics has been the subject of numerous studies, and the data is overwhelmingly positive, and it received the highest rating of any published curriculum reviewed by the Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse.”
The website boasts that the data is overwhelmingly positive while the actual results throughout the United States, as indicated by worldwide ratings, are anything but overwhelmingly positive. Bragging that the results are “positive” when we are 25th are mutually exclusive conclusions.
The program has fatal flaws because it does not stress the basics that are needed to progress to higher levels of mathematics. It uses something called “the spiral method” where mathematical topics are touched upon briefly over and over with the assumption that if students don’t understand a topic on their first exposure to it, it is not troubling because the topic will be seen again at a later date so they’ll have another opportunity to grasp it.
What the program calls a “spiral method” I call a chaotic method and the result of the chaotic method is that many students in the sixth grade are still unsure of simple multiplication and therefore struggle mightily with division. If their calculators were taken away from them, too many of them would be close to helpless.
Relying on calculators instead of knowledge is a monumental mistake and goes a long way in explaining why our worldwide standing is so low. Bluntly stated, there is no substitute for mastering the basics.
Everyday Mathematics is also terribly expensive to maintain. Instead of buying text books for each student that might last for four or five years, every year each student gets two math journals and one student reference book. In addition, the journals, on too many pages, do not give the student space to work out the problems.
There is space only for answers and that in itself is a fatal flaw. The teacher needs to see how a student arrived at an answer, not just the numbers in the answer.
This system commits us to an annual cost and waste of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ben Franklin wrote: “A penny saved is a penny earned,” and we need to stop wasting pennies. With our school taxes going up again this year, it is time to eliminate waste. At a budget meeting of the Bensalem school board I begged them to stop using this program. It is time to discontinue its use and get back to basics
The standings are somewhat misleading since the way each country measures its ability to teach these subjects is different, but one thing is certain — we are having a serious problem successfully teaching these important subjects.
There are three primary possibilities to explain this dismal fact. We can blame our teachers for not being qualified to teach these subjects, or we can blame our students for not being as capable as other students in developed countries, or we can look at how these topics are introduced and taught to our students.
I have been volunteering in our public schools, primarily in fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade mathematics classes for the past five years and without exception I can state that our teachers are very well qualified to teach mathematics. They are not the problem. Again, from personal experience I can state our students are the equal of anywhere else in the world. They are not the problem.
Having eliminated the teachers and the students as the cause of our poor standing there is just one conclusion left to explain why we are where we are and that is the material that is used to teach our students. The one we use in Bensalem in K-6 is the Everyday Mathematics program. It is widely acclaimed and used throughout the United States. It is therefore the one constant to explain our rating.
The publishers disagree with me. As written on their website: “Everyday Mathematics has been the subject of numerous studies, and the data is overwhelmingly positive, and it received the highest rating of any published curriculum reviewed by the Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse.”
The website boasts that the data is overwhelmingly positive while the actual results throughout the United States, as indicated by worldwide ratings, are anything but overwhelmingly positive. Bragging that the results are “positive” when we are 25th are mutually exclusive conclusions.
The program has fatal flaws because it does not stress the basics that are needed to progress to higher levels of mathematics. It uses something called “the spiral method” where mathematical topics are touched upon briefly over and over with the assumption that if students don’t understand a topic on their first exposure to it, it is not troubling because the topic will be seen again at a later date so they’ll have another opportunity to grasp it.
What the program calls a “spiral method” I call a chaotic method and the result of the chaotic method is that many students in the sixth grade are still unsure of simple multiplication and therefore struggle mightily with division. If their calculators were taken away from them, too many of them would be close to helpless.
Relying on calculators instead of knowledge is a monumental mistake and goes a long way in explaining why our worldwide standing is so low. Bluntly stated, there is no substitute for mastering the basics.
Everyday Mathematics is also terribly expensive to maintain. Instead of buying text books for each student that might last for four or five years, every year each student gets two math journals and one student reference book. In addition, the journals, on too many pages, do not give the student space to work out the problems.
There is space only for answers and that in itself is a fatal flaw. The teacher needs to see how a student arrived at an answer, not just the numbers in the answer.
This system commits us to an annual cost and waste of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ben Franklin wrote: “A penny saved is a penny earned,” and we need to stop wasting pennies. With our school taxes going up again this year, it is time to eliminate waste. At a budget meeting of the Bensalem school board I begged them to stop using this program. It is time to discontinue its use and get back to basics
Friday, July 22, 2011
two minute video: U.S. Government Should Stop Financing Arithmetic Avoidance by Jerome Dancis, spoken and written commentary, PCAST July 15, 2011
The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded such textbooks as Everyday Math, Terc Investigations, etc.
U.S. Government Should Stop Financing Arithmetic Avoidance
By Jerome Dancis, Associate Professor Emeritus, Math Dept., Univ. of MD Math Education Website: www.math.umd.edu\~jnd
I handed the young cashier five quarters; she wanted to enter the amount into the cash register, but could not calculate their total worth. Twenty years ago, we expected cashiers to know that five quarters is $1.25. This simple type of Arithmetic problem is barely taught today. College math professors are distressed by the declining level of understanding of arithmetic and Algebra by masses of college students . For example:
Decline in Percent of freshmen entering colleges in Maryland, who know Arithmetic and real high school Algebra I .
1998 2005 2006
Whites 67% 60% 58%
African-Americans 44% 33% 36%
Asian-Americans 79% 74% 76%
Hispanics 56% 42% 43%
Related Data from MD. From 1998 to 2005, the number of white graduates increased by 11% (from 14,473 to 16,127), but the number who knew Arithmetic and high school Algebra I decreased (from 9703 to 9619). Similarly, from 1998 to 2005, the number of African-American graduates who knew Arithmetic and high school Algebra I went down in spite of increased college enrollments of females by 21% and males by 31%.
At the high end: “[From 1985–2005] Fall term enrollments in Calculus II dropped from 115,000 to 104,000 [at U.S. colleges].” Second year, Calculus II is required for a college degree in engineering.
That understanding of arithmetic and arithmetic-based Algebra (symbolic Algebra) has dropped considerably among college freshmen is a natural consequence of the avoidance and minimization of arithmetic and symbolic Algebra by textbooks and many state math assessments during the past 20 years. Where did this start?
It started with Education professors against Arithmetic Calculations.
Only about one out of three education professors surveyed said that its “absolutely essential” to teach math facts ... So two out of three education professors have taught current teachers, math coaches and state and district math supervisors that it is not important for students to memorize math facts.
For the past 20 years, textbooks and state standards of about 45 states have been guided by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ (NCTM ) 1989 and 2000 Standards, which marginalizes arithmetic. The NCTM 1989 standards state: "This is not to suggest that valuable time should be devoted to exercises like (17/24) + (5/18) or 5 3/4 x 4 1/4".
“[There are] more than a dozen defective K-12 math programs funded by the National Science Foundation. ... from [its] Education and Human Resources (EHR) Division. ...
The ... radical deemphasis of algebra and arithmetic — the prerequisite to algebra — in NSF-funded and NSF-distributed math programs has stark consequences for science education, especially physics. When the isolation of a variable in a simple equation is laborious for students rather than automatic, the depth of instruction in high school physics courses is severely limited. At the university level, students struggling with elementary algebra find themselves adrift in their calculus classes, and success thereafter in physics courses is elusive.” (Also engineering courses) [School math books, nonsense, and the National Science Foundation, American Journal of Physics]
A resource book, for a widely used NSF funded program, explains: “In the Investigations curriculum, standard algorithms are not taught because they interfere with a child’s growing sense and fluency with the number system.”
Relatedly, “National science foundation systemic initiatives: how a small amount of federal money promotes ill-designed mathematics and science programs in k-12 and undermines local control of education”. Absurd!
A crucial observation of a 2011 article is “We found ... a deliberate avoidance of symbolic manipulation in algebra ... .” in High School Math Textbooks. Examples of symbolic manipulation in algebra are 2x + 3x = 5x and
Find R from the formula U = E – IR. (Answer: R = (E–U)/I). (But, only two of three Finnish students, who passed the Finnish Advanced college matriculation examination in mathematics, could solve this equation. )
It was suggested that high school graduates can graph a simple line [like y = 2x +3] without a graphing calculator. But, the head of math instruction for the state of Maryland disagreed. "The technology is there. It's not going to go away," she said. "There is a limited population who can do math symbolically, the way mathematicians do. If this is an exam for all students, we want to make it comfortable for however students learn." [“With 'Pretend' Testing, a Poor Imitation of Preparing Students”, Washington Post]
The Prince George’s County (Maryland) school system does NOT expect students to know math facts. “a [Prince George’s County, Maryland] math coordinator [said] that county students should have a ‘sense’ of what 9x8 is.” The implication being that students can use calculators to find that 9x8 = 72.
Recommendation 1. The NSF and Dept. of Education should support those colleges of education, that train future elementary and middle school teachers to be fully knowledgeable in elementary and middle school math and to know the importance of Arithmetic and algebra.
As Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said (May 11, 2009 at Brookings Institution): You all well know that it is hard to teach what you don't know. When we get to 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, we see a lot of students start to lose interests in math and science, and guess why, because their teachers don't know math and science so it is hard to really instill passion and a love for learning if you are struggling with the content yourself.
The inadequate preparation in Mathematics of future elementary school teachers by 67 of the 77 colleges surveyed was documented by the very good National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) 2008 report, “No Common Denominator: The Preparation of Elementary Teachers in Mathematics by America's Education Schools” [NOT].
Warning. The influential NCTM’s president continues the attacks on Algebra:
“Endless Algebra—the Deadly Pathway from High School Mathematics to College Mathematics”. This was essentially “seconded” by a talk presented at a TED $5000+ conference. The implementation of this attitude will prevent the achievement of PCAST goals for increasing STEM graduates.
Recommendation 2. It is crucial that NSF and Dept. of Education cease funding grants to colleges of education and professional development that promote avoidance of Arithmetic and Algebraic calculations. Rather NSF and Dept. of Education should fund grants to colleges of education that do promote learning and understanding of Arithmetic and Algebraic calculations.
U.S. Government Should Stop Financing Arithmetic Avoidance
By Jerome Dancis, Associate Professor Emeritus, Math Dept., Univ. of MD Math Education Website: www.math.umd.edu\~jnd
I handed the young cashier five quarters; she wanted to enter the amount into the cash register, but could not calculate their total worth. Twenty years ago, we expected cashiers to know that five quarters is $1.25. This simple type of Arithmetic problem is barely taught today. College math professors are distressed by the declining level of understanding of arithmetic and Algebra by masses of college students . For example:
Decline in Percent of freshmen entering colleges in Maryland, who know Arithmetic and real high school Algebra I .
1998 2005 2006
Whites 67% 60% 58%
African-Americans 44% 33% 36%
Asian-Americans 79% 74% 76%
Hispanics 56% 42% 43%
Related Data from MD. From 1998 to 2005, the number of white graduates increased by 11% (from 14,473 to 16,127), but the number who knew Arithmetic and high school Algebra I decreased (from 9703 to 9619). Similarly, from 1998 to 2005, the number of African-American graduates who knew Arithmetic and high school Algebra I went down in spite of increased college enrollments of females by 21% and males by 31%.
At the high end: “[From 1985–2005] Fall term enrollments in Calculus II dropped from 115,000 to 104,000 [at U.S. colleges].” Second year, Calculus II is required for a college degree in engineering.
That understanding of arithmetic and arithmetic-based Algebra (symbolic Algebra) has dropped considerably among college freshmen is a natural consequence of the avoidance and minimization of arithmetic and symbolic Algebra by textbooks and many state math assessments during the past 20 years. Where did this start?
It started with Education professors against Arithmetic Calculations.
Only about one out of three education professors surveyed said that its “absolutely essential” to teach math facts ... So two out of three education professors have taught current teachers, math coaches and state and district math supervisors that it is not important for students to memorize math facts.
For the past 20 years, textbooks and state standards of about 45 states have been guided by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ (NCTM ) 1989 and 2000 Standards, which marginalizes arithmetic. The NCTM 1989 standards state: "This is not to suggest that valuable time should be devoted to exercises like (17/24) + (5/18) or 5 3/4 x 4 1/4".
“[There are] more than a dozen defective K-12 math programs funded by the National Science Foundation. ... from [its] Education and Human Resources (EHR) Division. ...
The ... radical deemphasis of algebra and arithmetic — the prerequisite to algebra — in NSF-funded and NSF-distributed math programs has stark consequences for science education, especially physics. When the isolation of a variable in a simple equation is laborious for students rather than automatic, the depth of instruction in high school physics courses is severely limited. At the university level, students struggling with elementary algebra find themselves adrift in their calculus classes, and success thereafter in physics courses is elusive.” (Also engineering courses) [School math books, nonsense, and the National Science Foundation, American Journal of Physics]
A resource book, for a widely used NSF funded program, explains: “In the Investigations curriculum, standard algorithms are not taught because they interfere with a child’s growing sense and fluency with the number system.”
Relatedly, “National science foundation systemic initiatives: how a small amount of federal money promotes ill-designed mathematics and science programs in k-12 and undermines local control of education”. Absurd!
A crucial observation of a 2011 article is “We found ... a deliberate avoidance of symbolic manipulation in algebra ... .” in High School Math Textbooks. Examples of symbolic manipulation in algebra are 2x + 3x = 5x and
Find R from the formula U = E – IR. (Answer: R = (E–U)/I). (But, only two of three Finnish students, who passed the Finnish Advanced college matriculation examination in mathematics, could solve this equation. )
It was suggested that high school graduates can graph a simple line [like y = 2x +3] without a graphing calculator. But, the head of math instruction for the state of Maryland disagreed. "The technology is there. It's not going to go away," she said. "There is a limited population who can do math symbolically, the way mathematicians do. If this is an exam for all students, we want to make it comfortable for however students learn." [“With 'Pretend' Testing, a Poor Imitation of Preparing Students”, Washington Post]
The Prince George’s County (Maryland) school system does NOT expect students to know math facts. “a [Prince George’s County, Maryland] math coordinator [said] that county students should have a ‘sense’ of what 9x8 is.” The implication being that students can use calculators to find that 9x8 = 72.
Recommendation 1. The NSF and Dept. of Education should support those colleges of education, that train future elementary and middle school teachers to be fully knowledgeable in elementary and middle school math and to know the importance of Arithmetic and algebra.
As Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said (May 11, 2009 at Brookings Institution): You all well know that it is hard to teach what you don't know. When we get to 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, we see a lot of students start to lose interests in math and science, and guess why, because their teachers don't know math and science so it is hard to really instill passion and a love for learning if you are struggling with the content yourself.
The inadequate preparation in Mathematics of future elementary school teachers by 67 of the 77 colleges surveyed was documented by the very good National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) 2008 report, “No Common Denominator: The Preparation of Elementary Teachers in Mathematics by America's Education Schools” [NOT].
Warning. The influential NCTM’s president continues the attacks on Algebra:
“Endless Algebra—the Deadly Pathway from High School Mathematics to College Mathematics”. This was essentially “seconded” by a talk presented at a TED $5000+ conference. The implementation of this attitude will prevent the achievement of PCAST goals for increasing STEM graduates.
Recommendation 2. It is crucial that NSF and Dept. of Education cease funding grants to colleges of education and professional development that promote avoidance of Arithmetic and Algebraic calculations. Rather NSF and Dept. of Education should fund grants to colleges of education that do promote learning and understanding of Arithmetic and Algebraic calculations.
Monday, July 11, 2011
More about Everday Math in Alaska
Carol Comeau saying that Everyday Math helps students "understand the deeper meaning of math" ("Math program's flexibility aids students," July 2) misses an important point: If a student can't get the basics, the "deeper meaning" will never become obvious. Some kids will do OK with this program on their own. Some will do OK because their parents can help them. What about the rest of the kids?
What does Ms. Comeau mean by better parental outreach and what is the cost? Maybe Everyday Math should be left for charter schools where parental involvement is mandatory.
Comeau says the study is independent. The Anchorage School District is a member of the organization that did the study and Comeau sits on its board. The authors of the study repeatedly stress Comeau's good qualities and seem to know her well. How independent can this study be? She says our math scores are on par with the national average but how do we compare with other countries? If we are concerned with America's math skills, shouldn't we try for more?
-- Amy Johnson
Interesting comments posted to this one.
Read more: http://www.adn.com/2011/07/09/1960239/everyday-mathematics-system-isnt.html#ixzz1RqFieVRy
What does Ms. Comeau mean by better parental outreach and what is the cost? Maybe Everyday Math should be left for charter schools where parental involvement is mandatory.
Comeau says the study is independent. The Anchorage School District is a member of the organization that did the study and Comeau sits on its board. The authors of the study repeatedly stress Comeau's good qualities and seem to know her well. How independent can this study be? She says our math scores are on par with the national average but how do we compare with other countries? If we are concerned with America's math skills, shouldn't we try for more?
-- Amy Johnson
Interesting comments posted to this one.
Read more: http://www.adn.com/2011/07/09/1960239/everyday-mathematics-system-isnt.html#ixzz1RqFieVRy
Goodbye "Everyday Math," Hello "EnVision" in Hamilton schools
School Patrol More>>Rick Smith voted Superintendent of Hamilton Co. SchoolsBusy summer for Bradley student-athletesBradley Co. high school to offer Cambridge programGoodbye "Everyday Math," Hello "EnVision" in Hamilton schoolsLocal students win national technology awardsTeacher survey shows wide range of opinions on Hamilton Co. school qualitySchool Board: Superintendent to be selected after 15 days noticeInterim Supt. Rick Smith says changes are comingRaceway Spirit Pump program pumps money into local schoolsBlood Assurance awards Crystal Green scholarshipsCHATTANOOGA (WRCB)- Hamilton County elementary students and teachers will be learning mathematics a new way when classes resume in August, but one principal says the new program, "EnVision," may only be a stopgap measure.
The principal, who asked not to be identified, said that a textbook committee agreed to scrap the controversial "Everyday Math" program in favor of the new concept, but by 2014, the school district may have to shift gears again. At that time, the district will be required to meet new federal standards, "which will necessitate the need for higher-level thinking skills and taking several steps to solve a problem." The principal said that "EnVision" is a return to more traditional computational math problem solving skills, "but probably won't measure up to the standards of 2014."
The Hamilton County school district usually adopts new textbooks every six years. Everyday Math was adopted, amid much debate in 1999. District 1 Board member Rhonda Thurman, and her predecessor Bill Eldridge protested mightily when the program was adopted, and was later renewed. Thurman said, "Teachers struggled with it, parents struggled with it, and needless to say the kids did too."
The math adoption was approved by the School Board at its April 21 meeting, and was largely overshadowed by budgetary concerns and growing storm surrounding then-superintendent Jim Scales, who has since been replaced by Rick Smith. Smith is now serving on an interim basis, but is expected to be hired on a long-term basis next week. At the April meeting, Thurman said, "I can't believe we haven't changed programs before now. What has taken us so long?"
Test scores through the years showed mixed results for "Everyday Math." From time to time, there were signs of improvement, only to be followed by flat or declining math scores a year or two later. In recent years, low-performing schools showed modest increases, although Thurman was reluctant to give the program much credit. "Sometimes there's nowhere to go but up," she said.
Here is more information on the EnVision math program by Pearson, which will be used in Hamilton County math classes this fall.
Daily Problem-Based Interactive Math Learning followed by Visual Learning strategies deepen conceptual understanding by making meaningful connections for students and delivering strong, sequential visual/verbal connections through the Visual Learning Bridge in every lesson. Ongoing Diagnosis & Intervention and daily Data-Driven Differentiation ensure that enVisionMATH gives every student the opportunity to succeed.
The principal, who asked not to be identified, said that a textbook committee agreed to scrap the controversial "Everyday Math" program in favor of the new concept, but by 2014, the school district may have to shift gears again. At that time, the district will be required to meet new federal standards, "which will necessitate the need for higher-level thinking skills and taking several steps to solve a problem." The principal said that "EnVision" is a return to more traditional computational math problem solving skills, "but probably won't measure up to the standards of 2014."
The Hamilton County school district usually adopts new textbooks every six years. Everyday Math was adopted, amid much debate in 1999. District 1 Board member Rhonda Thurman, and her predecessor Bill Eldridge protested mightily when the program was adopted, and was later renewed. Thurman said, "Teachers struggled with it, parents struggled with it, and needless to say the kids did too."
The math adoption was approved by the School Board at its April 21 meeting, and was largely overshadowed by budgetary concerns and growing storm surrounding then-superintendent Jim Scales, who has since been replaced by Rick Smith. Smith is now serving on an interim basis, but is expected to be hired on a long-term basis next week. At the April meeting, Thurman said, "I can't believe we haven't changed programs before now. What has taken us so long?"
Test scores through the years showed mixed results for "Everyday Math." From time to time, there were signs of improvement, only to be followed by flat or declining math scores a year or two later. In recent years, low-performing schools showed modest increases, although Thurman was reluctant to give the program much credit. "Sometimes there's nowhere to go but up," she said.
Here is more information on the EnVision math program by Pearson, which will be used in Hamilton County math classes this fall.
Daily Problem-Based Interactive Math Learning followed by Visual Learning strategies deepen conceptual understanding by making meaningful connections for students and delivering strong, sequential visual/verbal connections through the Visual Learning Bridge in every lesson. Ongoing Diagnosis & Intervention and daily Data-Driven Differentiation ensure that enVisionMATH gives every student the opportunity to succeed.
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