Great article about Everyday Math.
Stanford math Professor R. James Milgram although less critical, said the district is "taking a huge risk" with EM. Among whole math programs, EM is the best, he said, but teaching the program correctly would demand someone who’s majored in math at a top university.
"It just doesn’t work for typical teachers," he said.
According to Milgram, the root of the problem is that universities, which produce the nations’ teachers, generally are disconnected from professional mathematicians and scientists.
"They don’t listen to us because we’re not the ones they’re educated by," he said.
But the U.S. government is listening, because the stakes in this math war are high. The nation’s economic future hangs in the balance: the U.S. is producing less of the world’s technology and innovative products when compared to other developed countries, Milgram said. He’s part of a newly formed national board that advises Congress on such matters and supervises the Institute of Education Sciences, which provides information to the Department of Education on the effectiveness of programs and practices that improve academic achievement.
"There’s concern in Washington that we’re just not matching up," said Milgram.
As for the department calling EM "promising," Milgram said that label was withdrawn a couple of years ago.
"District after district, the outcome is abysmal," he said of math programs such as EM.
Recently, Cobasko sent Milgram a video of EM being taught in a CVUSD classroom. "From looking at the video," Milgram said, "the teachers in your district are not qualified to teach EM."
Please read the whole thing!
Here are a series of posts on math:
I am a parent of two boys. I have sixth and third grade boys. My kids' school has adopted the Connected Math Concepts curriculum. The school board and teachers are suggesting that these sixth graders can conceptualize about mathematics without having the tools to perform basic math functions.
When I talk about not having basic math functions, I am talking about all of the basics: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and of course division. My son's name is Wayne and he has told me about children who cannot perform these basic functions and were instructed to use a calculator. When I confronted the teacher about this situation in the classroom, he said that the teachers before him had failed. So he intends to compound the failures of previous school teachers by not teaching the information that these kids are prepared to learn. Well I guess it is true when the administration tells me that all of their school teachers are equal by virtue of a master's degree. Equal to fail, Equally entitled, equally uninspiring, etc.....
After two school board presentations, private meetings with superintendent, teachers, and principal, and still no positive response from the institution, I got upset. I pulled my son out of the math class and I bought the sixth grade Saxon Math book. What a great math book. As of this week, Wayne has a private work station in the library and, during his normal math class, works with my instruction from one of the best math books available. I encourage any and all parents who wish the best for their kids to pull their children out of this math program and give them responsible math instruction.
There is much more to this story and I know that the troubles will continue, so I must conclude that this is an ongoing problem and with the limitless resources of the department of education I realize that this is an uphill discussion, but don't underestimate the abilities and resourceful nature of parents and families.
Posted by: Tony Antone | December 06, 2009 at 01:07 PM