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