We are not alone!

Many parents, educators, and top mathematics professors across the country are concerned about the new constructivist math, or reformed math, used in schools and are advocating a more traditional approach.

Here is a partial list of websites with excellent resources:

TERC Hands-On Math: The Truth is in the Details
An Analysis of The First Edition of TERC’s Investigations
“… The NSF is now spending millions to promote implementation of the TERC program. School Boards find it difficult to say no. …”

Where’s The Math?
Parents & Educators for a World-Class Math Education For Washington State Students.
has great curriculum reviews, videos and many articles on the math wars.

Mathematically Correct
a wealth of information on how the so-called reform movement came to be , the NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) standards and how California moved away from Fuzzy Math and its State Board of Education adopted new standards that are ranked as number one by the Fordham Foundation.

illinoisloop.org
another wealth of information on Fuzzy Math
Three great articles found on there:

• “Here are two excellent short articles that provide a terrific introduction to understanding the issues of math instruction. They are written by Paul Clopton (one of the co-founders of Mathematically Correct), and are from the August 2001 issue of Parent Power, a publication of the Center for Education Reform:”
  Is This Math Fuzzy?
  Understanding Your Child’s Mathematics Education

• “Highly recommended!
  An A-Maze-ing Approach to Math by Barry Garelick, Education Next, Spring 2005. This is a definitive review on fuzzy math, written by Barry Garelick, an analyst with a federal agency in Washington. He digs solidly into fuzzy math’s roots in the depths of constructivism, and the educrat politics (and money!) behind its encroachment on our schools. If you’re involving in a math battle, get this article to help your cause.”

• “2+2=5: Fuzzy Math Invades Wisconsin Schools (PDF file) by Leah Vukmir. This article is highly recommended, both for those new to the issue and those who have been battling for years. It provides a thorough and passionate review of what the math controversy is all about. (Note: Although the title refers to Wisconsin, the material covered would be useful nationwide.) When written, the author was the organizer of an extremely effective group of parents and teachers woprking for academic reform. She went on to become a visiting fellow with the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, and she is now a State Representative.”

Math Education: An Inconvenient Truth

If you want to know what your children will learn or, rather, what they won’t learn with TERC math, watch this video.

Parents tell us they are very concerned about math at CET

LC, mother of a first grader, came in for the open house for parents to see the math program in action. She reported to us that she saw many kids “getting” the easy “roll and record” dice assignment , early on, then get bored doing it over and over. Many started drifting into free play. “It’s a drag to have to do math that you are not challenged by over and over again,” says LC. She subsequently joined our group.

GC, dad of a first grader and a third grader tells us with sadness that his kids once loved the math they were learning at home. Now, they are so bored by math in class that they mastered long ago, they think math is boring. However, they were once again excited when they looked at the math at the nearby Catholic school. This family will probably transfer out of CET next year, specifically because of the math.

KL, mom of a second grader who moved here this year is also upset with the math at CET. Her son was learning many more math facts in first grade in his upstate New York class. She is angry that her child can no longer add up how much the ice cream will cost at the Blue Pig, when he was very able to do this last year.

A mother of two first graders is pulling her kids out of CET next year because the math they can do with ease is many levels beyond what they are allowed to do in school at CET.

A Kindergarten mom says her daughter always complains that the math is too easy and she is bored that she can’t move on to learn new things in math. She joined our group.

Fuzzy math: A nationwide epidemic

Interesting article about “fuzzy math” or “new new math”, i.e. constructivist math such as TERC and Everyday Math.

by Michelle Malkin

At L.A. school, Singapore math has added value

Here’s a little math problem:

In 2005, just 45% of the fifth-graders at Ramona Elementary School in Hollywood scored at grade level on a standardized state test. In 2006, that figure rose to 76%. What was the difference?

If you answered 31 percentage points, you are correct. You could also express it as a 69% increase.

But there is another, more intriguing answer: The difference between the two years may have been Singapore math.
…
At the start of the 2005-06 school year, Ramona began using textbooks developed for use in Singapore, a Southeast Asian city-state whose pupils consistently rank No. 1 in international math comparisons. Ramona’s math scores soared.
Read the full Los Angeles Times article

Study Suggests Math Teachers Scrap Balls and Slices

… many educators in recent years have incorporated more and more examples from the real world to teach abstract concepts. The idea is that making math more relevant makes it easier to learn.

That idea may be wrong, if researchers at Ohio State University are correct.
…
The problem with the real-world examples, Dr. Kaminski said, was that they obscured the underlying math, and students were not able to transfer their knowledge to new problems.
…
The findings run counter to what Dr. Kaminski said was a “pervasive assumption” among math educators that concrete examples help more children better understand math.
…
Dr. Kaminski said even the effectiveness of using blocks and other “manipulatives,” which have become more pervasive in preschool and kindergarten, remained untested. It has not been shown that lessons in which children learn to count by using blocks translate to a better understanding of numbers than a more abstract approach would have achieved.
Read the full New York Times article

Our kids need better math!

This is what the National Mathematics Advisory Panel appointed by President Bush two years ago found.

Panel Urges Schools to Emphasize Core Math Skills
A presidential panel declared math education in the United States “broken” yesterday and called on schools to focus on ensuring that children master fundamental skills that provide the underpinnings for success in higher math and, ultimately, in high-tech jobs.
Read the full Washington Post article.

Report Urges Changes in Teaching Math
American students’ math achievement is “at a mediocre level” compared with that of their peers worldwide, according to a new report by a federal panel, which recommended that schools focus on key skills that prepare students to learn algebra.
Read the full New York Times article.

Fixate on Fractions, Says Math Panel
by Nancy Zuckerbrod, AP Education Writer
WASHINGTON — Schools could improve students’ sluggish math scores by hammering home the basics, such as addition and multiplication, and increasing the focus on fractions and some geometry, a presidential panel recommended Thursday.
Read the full article.

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings Highlights Findings of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel
Spellings Stresses Importance of Effort, Algebra and Early Math Education
Read the Press release

National Mathematics Advisory Panel:
Website and reports

THE CROTON PARENT/TAXPAYER’S COMMITTEE FOR BETTER MATH AT CET WILL BE GOING TO THE SCHOOL BOARD ON MAY 12, AT 8/8:30 pm AT THE HIGH SCHOOL.**** WE WILL BE TALKING TO THE BOARD AND SUPERINTEND. DR. CASTRO ABOUT OUR IDEAS FOR “JUST RIGHT” MATH TEACHING IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. ***** AFTER TALKING TO THE PRINCIPAL, WE HAVE CONCERNS THAT SHE WILL CONTINUE ON WITH THE SAME ‘TOO LOW’ MATH TEACHING THAT IS CURRENTLY BORING OUR KIDS OUT OF THEIR MATH INTEREST AND ENTHUSIASM ****. WE HAVE SPECIFIC IDEAS THAT WE WANT TO SEE IMPLEMENTED*************COME DOWN WITH US IF YOU CAN, IF NOT SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH US BEFOREHAND AND WE WILL PASS THEM ALONG.

why “just right” is vital math teaching

If your child attends CET you probably know a thing or two about “Just Right” reading and writing. The cornerstone of our very fine literacy program is based on the concept that the best and the brightest readers can learn in the same classroom with kids that are struggling with literacy, and kids that are making average progress. In this way, all the kids in our community are served and can learn side by side. The reading and writing is adjusted to the level your child is on, and s/he can make progress in a year’s classroom time no matter where the child was at when s/he first walked in the door.

For some reason, and we suspect it is political more than academic, the math instruction at CET is on one level only, so if your kid “gets” the math right away, or comes in with superior math skills s/he is still forced to go over and over material that has already been mastered. The child is prevented from moving on. The message: math is boring stuff and geared for people who need remedial help. This is not the way to build strong math learners!

We must take an active role changing this approach. We want the children assessed during the first weeks of September 2008. Then we want different levels of math learning taking place within the classroom, just how it is done with literacy. Come down with us on May 12 at 8 or 8:30 pm at Croton High school to insist to the board and Dr. Castro, that math be taught in this way. Exact time will be posted on this site during the first week of May.