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SIGNS OF FUTURE ENGINEERS It all adds up: Early achievement in math may identify future scientists and engineers. President’s Panel urges more for Math For years, engineers and scientists have worried that American students didn't learn enough mathematics to pursue their disciplines once they got to college. After two years of assessment, the President's National Mathematics Advisory Panel agrees. It says that American student achievement in math is "at a mediocre level" compared with peer nations, and recommends a thorough revision of the American math curriculum. The panel's most important message is that students need to learn fewer math topics, but learn them well. It calls for a "streamlined" K-8 mathematics curriculum that emphasizes "a well-defined set of the most critical topics in the early grades." This contrasts with U.S. math curricula. Most states introduce first- and second-graders to five, 10, or even 20 different topics within the first two years of school. The goal is to provide a "comprehensive" math education, but students rarely have the time to master one set of skills before moving to the next subject. The hope is that students will build on what they learned when they return to the topic in future grades. The panel recommends that, instead of trying to teach everything, educators pare down the curriculum to "a well-defined set of the most important topics." It also warns: "Any approach that revisits topics year after year without bringing them to closure should be avoided." The panel's streamlined K-12 curriculum would focus on preparing students for algebra by grade 8. This will require proficiency with whole numbers, fractions, and certain aspects of geometry and measurement. The panel notes that schools must spend more time on fractions, which it describes as "the most important foundational skill not developed among American students." The panel also seeks to end conflicts over the best way to teach mathematics. It calls debates over methodologies "misguided." Instead, it says that "conceptual understanding, computational and procedural fluency, and problem solving skills are equally important and mutually reinforce each other." The panel also supports memorization of mathematical facts to free "working memory" for solving more complex problems. The panel believes an emphasis on effort will improve outcomes, and that children will work hard if they see that their work pays off. The panel supports better training for math teachers and the use of specialists to teach elementary mathematics. It also encourages teachers to assess student work between tests, and to provide numerous and clear models for solving problems to help students who struggle. The panel wants to give gifted students the chance to tackle more complex math. Finally, the panel calls on publishers to produce "shorter, more focused and mathematically accurate" textbooks, and national and state tests to emphasize the most critical knowledge and skills leading to algebra. Cobb 'Reform Math' edu-fad rates failing grade JoEllen Smith—Guest Columnist Marietta Daily Journal 12/03/2008
I always thought that there were some rare times in life when things were simply right or wrong. Period. Math for example is "the science of structure, order...it deals with logical reasoning." Order. Logic. Reason. That's comforting. But not so in "New-new math." Also called, "Whole Math" "Reform Math" and "Standards Based Math." All interchangeable terms for the same thing. Fearing the fact that if Johnny answered 2+2 as "5" it might hurt his self-esteem and turn him off to math forever, they changed the math. Now it all depends on how you try to get the answer. Oh, and we are going to sit around in small groups and discuss how we did it. Sound wacky? It's probably in California, right? Wrong. Try your local Georgia public school, right now. Harcourt Georgia is one of the textbooks used in our state schools. The other is Think Math, which was funded by the National Science Foundation, the "driving force behind Reform Math" as the Educational Development Center proudly proclaims. What is the EDC? It is a think tank that, among other things, promotes Reform Math at the expense of traditional math, which it continually trashes. By the way, did I happen to mention, the EDC wrote one of the Georgia texts? It also writes books advising school boards how to adopt Reform Math textbooks and get them into communities with the least amount of parent uproar. Hmm, I wonder if Georgia bought any? Even more troubling is the newest philosophy from Cobb, and the state of Georgia, that our teachers now begin moving to an emphasis on small, peer-group discussions for learning math. And an emphasis put on letting the students "figure answers out on their own" as opposed to heavy direct teacher instruction. This is all the rage in universities, where these experts reside, but quite dangerous on the elementary school level. Have you been wondering recently why your child has been coming home saying, "I don't know how to do this, the teacher never explained it." He's not lying! As a recent panel of Cobb County curriculum experts said, "The group allows students proof for the answers they believe, and to justify their answers." Justify? Prove what they personally believe? What is this, the Debate Club? Richard Millman of Georgia Tech, the state's newest, highly-paid curriculum expert, is one of those most strongly behind this new philosophy. When asked if the elementary grades might need to know the fundamentals first, before engaging in "group think," his answer was unequivocal "No. The younger students do not need to know the fundamentals." Well that sums up the Reform Math movement in a nutshell. No wonder the Cobb County panel finally admitted, "We have a whole scale of teachers not comfortable with this." Naturally, the math and science community are up in arms over this. In an "Open Letter" to the Secretary of Education, a group of more 200 leaders in the field said the views were "not widely held by the math community as a whole." And the textbooks "had serious mathematical shortcomings in them." USA Today, reporting on a Brookings Institute study which showed the failings of the self-esteem movement as it applies to math, quoted the publisher of a back-to-basics math textbook as saying "Whichever way you cut it, there's a certain amount of tedium to the math." It's odd, he said, that many parents frown upon academic drills but not athletic drills. I'm not a mathematician. I'm just a mom who cares deeply about education. I happen to be fortunate in that my children attend an elementary school populated by a wonderful principal and quality teachers who will ensure their students learn regardless of the latest "edu-fad" fed to them from above. I do want to make it clear that I am not speaking for them. I truly don't know how they feel, and it's irrelevant anyway, because they don't often have any power over changes of this magnitude. One thing I do know, however: When all the true experts in the field keep saying the same thing over and over, I'm smart enough to listen. JoEllen Smith is an east Cobb "soccer mom" and education activist. Professor Hung-Hsi Wu University of California Berkeley, CA, 94720-3840
Professor Wu has an important list of papers about mathematics education. They are listed more or less in the chronological order in which they were written. The general heading before each title ("General", "Curriculum", "Professional Development") gives a rough classification of its content.
The papers are in .pdf format. The website http://www.ams.org/publications/viewers.html#pdf has FREE programs that enable you to read .pdf files. You may also email him for hard copies wu@math.berkeley.edu This week, we are featuring the article: The Critical Foundations of Algebra (pdf) published in November 2008
Other articles featured: What Should Be Taught in the Elementary Mathematics Curriculum (pdf), published in June 2007
Cobb’s New Math Curriculum Causes Confusion Written by Jennifer Levitt 12/09/2008 Because integrated curriculums often make use of certain pedagogical approaches called reform mathematics, these terms have unfortunately been used interchangeably. This confuses the issues. Integrated mathematics refers to curriculum where math subjects are covered in a different sequence than in a traditional math program. Instead of presenting a series of classes in algebra, geometry, trigonometry and statistics, all these topics are mixed and covered each year in increasing levels of difficulty. A problem with integrated instruction is that it can cover many topics, very quickly, in no logical order. Reform mathematics is one name for mathematics instruction calling for a de-emphasis on manual arithmetic in favor of students discovering their own knowledge. Getting the correct answer is considered less important than the overall thought process. A concern with Reform math is its lack of focus on basic computation skills and possible misinformation caused by a lack of direct teacher instruction. Additionally, according to the American Institutes for Research, students may be expected to understand “unrealistically advanced mathematics content in the early grades.” What is most confusing is why the state of Georgia and the Cobb County School District haven’t learned from others’ mistakes. Both integrated and reform mathematics have been around for over 20 years. Some states that were using integrated math curriculums and reform math techniques, such as California, have data to support that their integrated math approach did not work as well as traditional math. According to Wikipedia, “Some states such as Washington and California have revised their mathematics standards to partially or largely repudiate the basic beliefs of reform mathematics, and re-emphasize mastery of the standard mathematics facts and methods used by mathematics professionals.” Cobb County should heed the warning of those states that already have adopted integrated and reformed math: when taken to extremes these systems have already been proven to fail. This does not mean integrated and reform math are totally ineffective. Jericho Public Schools in NY has been using an integrated math approach since the late 1980’s and is consistently ranked among the best public school districts by US News & World Report. Across the country, some of the most effective math teachers are using a balanced approach combining academic drills for basic computation skills and student discussions of problem solving to foster conceptual thinking. Through all this confusion, it is clear that state of Georgia and the Cobb County school system should welcome the input of parents and teachers who are raising concerns with this new curriculum. We need to work together quickly to find a balanced, age appropriate math curriculum that best educates our students.
http://www.air.org/news/documents/Singapore%20Report%20(Bookmark%20Version).pdf http://www.mathematicallycorrect.com/la.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_mathematics#cite_note-13 http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/high-schools/2007/11/29/gold-medal-schools.html
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