As Math Scores Lag, a New Push for the Basics

The New York Times ^ | 11/14/06 | Tamar Lewin

[VOA]

Thanks for the help!

Bump!

[upchuck]

In fact, he doesn't like using calculators. He says it's just faster to do it in his head.

I guess like most things educational, a lot depends on the school district.

Congrats to your son!

[ZeitgeistSurfer]

It would be quite funny and revealing to give today's high-school seniors a crack at the SAT math section from the early 1960s. My guess is that average score would be below 400.

[Dianna]

Funny how that pendulum always swings back to "Basics" when all those politically correct programs don't work.

Your statement is true as far as it goes. The problem seems to be in determining how much emphasis do we put on computing properly vs understanding the concepts so that students can set up and solve problems in real life.

Just as in whole language vs phonics, no one seems to ask, "Why can't we teach both?" I was a great rule follower. I could compute well, but I couldn't set up my own problems. I also didn't understand what fractions or decimals really were or how they worked. I think we need to teach the concepts and then the students must practice the computations over, and over, and over.

[achilles2000]

In math, lots of repetition is our friend. Moreover, Saxon, at least before it was bought by Harcourt (courtesy of the death tax), does not suffer from course title inflation. For example, virtually no math curriculum used in the government schools labeled as "Algebra I" is really algebra. In addition, state accountability tests that claim to be testing algebra are really testing 5th and 6th grade arithmetic.

Outside of engineering courses, calculators are a really bad idea.

[luckystarmom]

Here's some other math websites:

You can create math worksheets at these websites:

http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/math/

http://www.aplusmath.com/Worksheets/index.html

http://themathworksheetsite.com/

This website does flash cards and worksheets:

http://www.mathfactcafe.com/

Another good site for math help:

http://www.mathfactcafe.com/

We've always supplemented our kids school math with workbooks that we bought, and online websites.

I figure the text books give an idea of what they are supposed to learn, and then you can go from there.

My kids love doing math, so they actually enjoy doing extra problems.

[luckystarmom]

You are wrong. My son is in Algebra 1, and he is definitely doing Algebra.

He is learning slope intercept form: y = mx+b, he has learned how to calculate slope from 2 points, finding the x-intercept, y-intercept. He has learned all about exponents. He has learned about exponents. He has learned about order of operations. That is all in the first 2 months.

He is learning Algebra, and he is in the 7th grade in a public school.

I have a degree in Engineering, so I know what algebra is. He is not learning some watered down algebra.

[ImaGraftedBranch]

My homeschooled kids are a whiz at math. The chosen text (Saxon) has a lot to do with it. The oldest got a full-ride scholarship in Mathematics on a fast-track Masters program, and my 12 year old is farther ahead than his older brother was at his age.
Saxon's daily lessons routinely use problems previously learned as reinforcement so kids don't forget (and have to cram for a test having not worked on the test material for a month). Therefore, they never forget what was taught, and advancement comes rapidly.
I wish I had Saxon math as a child.

[luckystarmom]

I know a lot of people that love Saxon, but my kids (and I) don't. My daughters used to love math, and they are bored by it. Hopefully, that will change, but right now we don't like it.

I'm definitely going to have to supplement what they are learning.

[Dianna]

Modern math books are terrible!

I hate most of the textbooks out there. The pages are SO busy with extra information and pictures and graphs that it is difficult to figure out what is being taught.

Again, it is the pendulum swing. Someone decided we needed to make math more relevant and interesting so kids would relate to it better, and that they needed more exposure to graphs and charts. There doesn't seem to be any interest in small changes. They go directly to 180 degrees different.

[luckystarmom]

I will agree with that!!!!!!!!!!

[VOA]

thanks for the advice...

and bump!

[bygolly]

My wife, a 1st grade teacher for the last 18 years, is continuously criticized because she teaches time tested basics and not the politically correct method of the day. They, primarily her current principal, criticize her even though she gets results and has the respect and reputation in the community to prove it.

What's really strange is that while she is criticized, the principal will not tell her not to do it. She obviously recognizes her abilities and success but pressure on her, the principal to conform is unrelenting.

In anycase, my wife has had it. This will be her last year. She loves the kids, but the "no child left behind" bureaucracy and the lack of society's will to have discipline in the classroom is taking her away from the kids and causing her focus so much more time with the process than actually teaching.

One little story regarding discipline...

During a recent weekly faculty meeting, a discussion arose of an incident of a child throwing food in the cafeteria. The teachers were asked for suggestions on how to address this situation. My wife suggested that students who throw food should not be allowed to have lunch that day. One of the other teachers was shocked! "How can you take food away from a student." My wife replied, "Do you want this behavior to stop or not?"

By the way, my wife has probably the most well-behaved classroom in the entire school and many of the students end up calling her "mom". She knows what she is doing, she knows how 6 and 7 year olds think and how to make them respond positively. So many other teachers and administrators simply don't get it!

Needless to say, I am very proud of her!

[vamoose]

That's cause I "grad-ge-ated" the sixth grade, ma'am. Only took three years.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

That is why I send my children to a Christian school which emphasizes classical education and literature.

"Their own way." Lol!

[luckystarmom]

I just pulled my son's 3rd math test after less than 2 months in Algebra 1. Here are some of the questions from it:

Solve the equations:

-6n +14 +8n = 30
5n -2(n-2) = -11

Evaluate:

[-3(-2)^x]^-1 when x = 2

Simplify:

(8x^3)^2(2x^2)^3

Calculate the x intercept of
-6x +6y = -6

Find the slope through (8,6), (-4, 0)

These are the chapters covered in his textbook: Algebra 1 by McDougal Littell:

Properties of Real Numbers
Solving Linear Equations
Graphing Linear Equations and Functions
Writing Linear Equations
Solving and Graphing Linear Inequalities
Systesm of Linear Equations and Inequalities
Exponents and Exponential Functions
Quadratic Equations and functions
Polynomials and Factoring
Rational Equations and Functions
Radicals and Connections to Geometry

I think that is a pretty good foundation for Algebra 1, and it is not something that 5th and 6th graders normally do.

[cinives]

The answer is you simply don't allow calculators for any reason until their mental math and speed math skills are firmly in place.

How do they check their work ? By hand, of course. There is no reason on earth a student needs a calculator to check the result of 3 * 2.

Your argument about "getting used to them" ? To what purpose ? When a kid needs one (9th grade or so), it might take all of one class period to teach a calculator. Somewhat longer for a graphing calculator, but that's just because they're used for more specialized functions.

Geeze - kids learn to program computers, download ring tones, play complicted video games and create YouTube videos on their own. You can believe a low-tech device like a calculator won't take any longer.

Tell me, why do otherwise sensible adults think kids teach themselves nothing without adult help ?

[achilles2000]

"perhaps you're simply unaware (having not been taught?) that public schools did a pretty good job for a long time, and some of them still do."

Well, I suppose it depends on what you consider "a pretty good job". You are certainly right that government schools 50 years ago were better than they are today. But schools in 1900 were, on the whole, doing a better job than in 1930. In fact, the effectiveness of American education began declining with the spread of the public school system - very slowly at first, and then accelerating. This is only a surprise to people who believe the myth of "the immaculate conception of the government schools" (America was mired in ignorance and darkness, and the people beseeched the Lord to deliver them from their illiteracy, and the Lord said "Let there be Horace Mann", and the people saw that it was good and said "Amen." And Horace Mann begat John Dewey, and the people saw that that was good and rejoiced, and John Dewey begat Goals 2000 and NCLB, and the people again rejoiced and saw that they were being lead into the Promised Land.")

The fact is that the government schools were first established to forcibly "Protestantize" immigrant Catholic children, which is why the Catholic school system came into being in the 19th Century. Before long various elements of the left gained control of the system and turned it to their own purposes. The government school system has never been about education - it has always been a mechanism for achieving some form of cultural and political hegemony. This point is written plainly on the historical record.

That academic rot set in early in the government school system can be seen, for example, by comparing the first edition (1836) of McGuffey's Readers with subsequent editions. If one compares the later editions of McGuffey with the "progressive" Dick and Jane style readers further decline is evident. The academic decline began to accelerate rapidly during and after the 1920s because the "progressives" had seized control of schools of education and began consolidating their gains at the local level.

As for some government schools "still doing a pretty good job" today, it all depends on what you use for a benchmark.

[r9etb]

The fact is that the government schools were first established to forcibly "Protestantize" immigrant Catholic children

No, they weren't.

[cinives]

I would be proud of her too. We desperately need every teacher to be like her. I'm just sorry that those kids will be losing a great teacher. You can always tell the good ones. It's not the permissive, do-nothing teachers. It's the ones who instill pride in disciplie and hard work and accomplishments that the kids adore.

My grandmother was a 2nd grade schoolteacher years ago. Whenever I had a day off school I used to "student teach" in her classroom and thoroughly enjoyed it. Of course, that was when teachers actually had disciplinary tools and kids were expected to behave and learn real academics.

Your story is why I homeschool my kid. My kid spent almost 6 years in school before homeschooling, and I can tell you that only one teacher she had was worth anything. The rest were simply awful in one way or another, and so were quite a few of the classmates.

It was enough to turn her off classroom time for the last 5 years, and she's going to do college online because she refuses to sit in a classroom ever again. Maybe she'll change her mind in the future, but ...