Posted on 08/11/2008 5:16:41 AM PDT by too much time
Parents concerned with latest math curriculum
Georgia parents were outraged after thousands of students failed statewide math exams in May.
Now with the start of a new school year, parents fear for their children as the state expands the new math curriculum to high schools. Fayette County parent Wendy Ashabranner worries how her son will handle this new math when he starts at Fayette County High on Monday. He was among the 38 percent of the state's eighth-graders who failed the state's new, redesigned math exam, which was based on harder material.
While parents and teachers expected some students to struggle with the new math, they were shocked by the high failure rates.
"It's a trust factor, and I'm very leery of trusting the state,"
(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...
Georgia DOE was not content with being 47th - they want to be 50th.
What, pray tell, is “...a pure integrated math?”
According to the NEA, that is all the math any child needs to know.
I’m sure that when the dust is settled, the Georgia DOE, in conjunction with the NEA, will determine that the tests are “racist”.
/sarc
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I'm a reading teacher, not a math teacher, so I really don't have a great deal of input on whether or not this system of integrated math will eventually work and be successful. But I would love to hear from other teachers with expertise in the area of teaching math as to whether or not this system has promise.
I've heard great things about Saxon math - does anyone have an idea as to why if it is successful on the small group scale, it has not been universally adopted on the large scale?
While not in the least a proponent of Government schools and lacking any knowledge of what this particular “new math” is, I have to ask this question to the following statement.
(Now with the start of a new school year, parents fear for their children as the state expands the new math curriculum to high schools. Fayette County parent Wendy Ashabranner worries how her son will handle this new math when he starts at Fayette County High on Monday. He was among the 38 percent of the state’s eighth-graders who failed the state’s new, redesigned math exam, which was based on harder material. )
Mrs Ashabranner, Just what have you done during the summer recess to assist your child in improving his math skills for the start of the new school year. ?
If nothing then why blame the school or the math?
Saxon math is “no fun”. It has no pictures, no irrelevant stories and sidebars, and minimal word problems. It does not require much teaching. It emphasizes practicing skills over and over until they are memorized. I’m not going to say these are the only reasons why many schools don’t like it, but I bet they contribute.
I learned from Saxon from 4th grade up til precalculus, largely on my own (would ask my mother for help when necessary but the lessons are largely self-explanatory). I think Saxon is the best math curriculum I’ve seen.
Also why Singapore scores so high in math in international comparisons - they explore one topic until it’s thoroughly understood.
It is the latest buzz-word/term for a silly method of teaching math. Typically, it means the curricula "spirals" and will "touch on" topics, regularly, rather than have students fully grasp fractions, then move onto weeks of decimals. Instead, they will do a little algebra,here, a little geometry, there, until no one learns anything.
A "smoke and mirrors" curriculum change, if you will. This should fool Georgia parents a few more years, as parents are supposed to be excited that Georgia is "leading the way" in math education.
My kids and the kids I tutor have been in "reform math" curricula for several years and cannot proficiently perform long-division or multiplication.
The Georgia DOE has "fallen for" UGA's School of Education's latest "trend" in teaching math. It does not appear that any engineers or Georgia Tech professors were consulted on this one.
Keep in mind, teachers must take Bulletin Board making classes in college, rather than being consumed with several courses in calculus, physics, accounting, or chemistry.
Saxon has not been adopted on a large scale because it has no problem solving. (Problem solving is not just a word problem - it is what you do when you don’t know what to do.) Word problems in Saxon are the same as old math problems - in a lesson on addition, the word problems are addition.
I guarantee you he was "placed" into the next grade, after failing, as the majority of students in Georgia are promoted, even after failing the NCLB state exam.
Mrs Ashabranner, Just what have you done during the summer recess to assist your child in improving his math skills for the start of the new school year. ?
Very few people believe education begins at home. They fully rely on the schools. I purchased Saxon, Singapore, and Key Curriculum off the internet and "after school" at home. Many, many parents in Georgia public schools cannot afford to do that. (And many more don't care.)
I should add this is supplemented by a lot of homework on the basics that is reinforced by a strong home work ethic.
Integrated math is not new. There is an old program used in New York. It is the only state that I am aware of that used it.
Did the whole state try it or one district? Was it successful?
It was a state-wide curriculum. The books were written specifically for NY state. Few, if any, other states or districts followed. As to success - the books are about 20 years old.
I believe the only reason why they change the method of teaching math is so they can sell new textbooks.
That’s because Saxon concentrates on teaching the child how to solve the problem, not how to come up with new strategies that might solve the problem and might not. In math children will encounter in school, every problem they should be expected to solve has an algorithmic solution. Teach the algorithm - and Saxon teaches multiple ways of solving a single problem by the way - and the child can solve any special case of that problem.
Teaching “problem solving skills” is all well and good, but not when the kid can’t tell you if 1/2 or 1/3 is larger.
If it is successful, and it sounds as if it is, then I’m even more confused why the folks at Saxon don’t add a pretty picture, sidebar, or story or two, and then market it! A secure foundation can support a bit of fluff, especially if the results are kids with a thorough grounding in math. I can’t imagine adding some sidebars would destroy the heart of the program.
Saxon math was being introduced (K-2) the fall I did my student teaching, at a local, urban school. I never did find out if it was just that school or the whole district. My son's elementary school used Saxon for at least 4th grade, last year. I'll find out tonight if they're using for 5th as well.
Change comes slowly. It seems we have to go far into the muck for enough people to be concerned, then go a bit further while they debate and figure out what to do before they finally decide to turn it around.
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