Success: Test Scores Not Dropping
- on 07.08.06
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I found the following quote by Emmons School District rather descriptive of how schools view their job. Success is not improving test scores, but rather maintaining them.
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“This is such a different approach that even now some parents have questions,†Emmons Superintendent Matt Tabar. “Our test scores have been just as high as they have ever been, so the kids are not losing anything with the new program. “And I think the fact that we are seeking re-adoption is a testament to its success.†|
This quote appeared in a Daily Herald article discussing the Antioch School district contemplating switching to Everyday Math.
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Antioch’s elementary School District 34 might adopt a new math curriculum that is being used by many of its neighbors. If the school board approves Everyday Mathematics on July 18, the program will begin in pre-kindergarten through first grade. Every year after, it will be added to another grade level through 2011, when all District 34 students will be using it. The new curriculum focuses on critical thinking and problem solving rather than just on the basics. |
For those of you living in Antioch, you will want to educate yourself about what Everyday Math is. I would suggest starting at the Illinois Loop. Once you do, you will want to express your opinions at the July 18th school board meeting.
Here are some QuickTime links from Ivy Hall District 96 showing sample lessons with Everyday Math. I’ll highlight 2 of the one I looked at.
First, was the Partial Sums. They are teaching the kids to add from left to right instead of right to left and to adding each place to avoid any carry overs. This practice will leave the kids with desperate deficiencies later when the numbers become more complex.
Second is the Lattice Multiplication. If you watch this and don’t believe this is the worst method of teaching multiplication ever devised, then you have never done any complex math later in life. This method is ridiculous. How is any kid taught this way going to ever not rely on a calculator by the time they get to middle school?
Below is an excerpt from a article written by a teacher entitled “How Not To Teach Math“:
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Since kindergarten, most of them had been taught math using this same dreadful curriculum, called Everyday Mathematics The curriculum’s failure was undeniable: not one of my students knew his or her times tables, and few had mastered even the most basic operations; knowledge of multiplication and division was abysmal. Perhaps you think I shouldn’t have rejected a course of learning without giving it a full year (my school had only recently hired me as a 23-year-old Teach for America corps member). But what would you do, if you discovered that none of your fourth graders could correctly tell you the answer to four times eight? The curriculum derives from a pedagogical philosophy that goes by several names—“Constructivist Math,†“New-New Math,†and, to its detractors, “Fuzzy Math.†I’ll stick with “Fuzzy Math,†since the critics are right. Nothing about Fuzzy Math makes much sense from a teaching standpoint. |
Get informed about this atrocious method of teaching math. Stop it before it is introduced to your kids leaving them at a disadvantage to kids who have been taught how to actually add, subtract, multiply and divide. Pass this information on to as many friends as possible.
UPDATE: I had someone remind me about a post I had done on Everyday Math last fall. It also shows an example of how it is taught.
While reading about Everday Math you may also want to learn more about Whole Language. Here are the links to that series:
[...] My Letter to the Editor about Everyday Math made it into the News-Sun today. It was basically a shortened version of what I had written on here a few days ago about how Antioch’s elementary School District 34 was contemplating switching their math curriculum to Everyday Math. [...]
[...] The story of a math teacher in NY had fourth grade students who could not give him the answer for 4 times 8. That doesn’t sound like learning quickly. What this does point to is that a good teacher can teach any curriculum, but a bad teacher cannot teach with a bad curriculum. It appears St. Patrick may have good teachers. We don’t really know without reviewing their test scores. We do know that Emmons School District has had no gain in test scores by the admission of their Superintendent. [...]
[...] One board member knows the problems with Everyday Math but still voted to approve it. Educrats are almost always to get board members to vote their way especially when no community members speak up. [...]