Everyday Math

[Anonymous]

This thread is truly frightening for me, because it makes me feel helpless. It seems as if there's nothing to be done in the very near-term to protect our kids from bullshit math.

(I mean, I know I can get involved in PTA and advocacy groups, and we all know how fast change will come due to my letter-writing campaign).

Anyway, is there anyone reading this who has had a child in another state's schools? as in, Ohio or Illinois or Wisconsin? What's going on elsewhere?

[Anonymous]

for those of us with younger kids, can you please explain what everyday math is and why it's so bad? examples would be great!

[Anonymous]

OP: I have young preschool children. So I hope to try to come up with a solution before my children enter school.

To answer the previous posting, Everyday Math, EDM, is a curriculum that was created by the University of Chicago in the early 1980's. It is one of the most heavily researched curricula in use.
It is used by nearly 3 million US elementary school students. Believe it or not, that number is actually growing.
The curriculum is a spiral type where the same topics are reintroduced over the course of study but in increasing difficulty. So for example, the child is introduced to geometry topics in kindergarten then over and over again until 6th grade. There are about six other topics in addition to geometry. Hence, the child is introduced to many areas of math from the beginning. What's more, there is room for practical application, the children play games, they discuss the problems, and even parents are expected to get involved. The child is expected to learn more because, this is a somewhat experiential, real life, approach that brings students in through discussion.

The critics have said that the curriculum under emphasizes the basics and spends way too much time on complex areas that are poorly understood by children. The concern is that basic multiplication and division mastered by rote memorization are not being emphasized. Also, young minds might not function the way we think and may not be able to adequately grasp too many ideas. EDM has been accused of wasting valuable time in the elementary years, and failing to prepare children for the more complex math that comes later. Moving through trigonometry in 10th grade is quite difficult without mastery of multiplication.
It has often been argued that to properly implement this curriculum, the teachers would themselves need to receive extra training. Also, since the curriculum depends so heavily on parental involvement, the parents needed to be schooled in EDM; they are not.


We are all aware that US students have historically done poorly in math standardized tests. There is evidence that US students study just as hard as those in other countries that have consistently done well. So it would seem that either our children are dumb (no) or our method is inefficient.

There have been school districts in the US that have switched curricula (from EDM), and seen dramatic improvements in test scores. (See: Implementation of Singapore Math in a Regional School District in Massachusetts 2000-2006). These kinds of examples would point to EDM itself as the culprit of the previous poorer scores. Some states have switched (Texas for one, and possibly California).

That is a long winded explanation of the problem.

Like I said, I started to take an interest in this issue when I got onto some of the home school forums (fora). I noticed that home school parents switch quickly from one curriculum to the next if it is not working for their child. These children have the luxury if having their curricula tailored to fit their needs. I suspect that is one of the reasons home school children do so well on standardized tests in the elementary years. The children also spend relatively ittle time on school work. The parents seemed to rave about various curricula, but two that I keep hearing about are Singapore Math, and Saxon Math. Both curricula are very much into mastery of the basics.

What I would like to see is local parents to start to ask the school boards and private schools why EDM is the number one choice? Or better yet, why not try something else? I realize that there is cost involved, but I can't ignore the inefficiency in the system. I will not expand on all the reasons I believe our current system is selling our children short, but I would like to try to fix this one. Would anyone like to get involved?

[Anonymous]

PP here: What to do:

Most school districts have an established process for periodically evaluating curricula. They also have mathematics instruction experts. You need to find out about that process, and who those people are. That is your first step.

Then you need to make sure you are on their radar, and make sure parents are part of any process. This is the place to push.

If you start a letter campaign, or assault your principal with complaints (your principal probably has no power here), you will get nowhere.

Teachers generally like EDM, so watch out.

Also, I don't know about Singapore Math and Saxon Math, so this is not a comment on that. I do know that many parents like things they shouldn't, and don't always know as much as we think we do (I include myself here). You will get nowhere proposing an alternative if you rely strictly on the word of a few parents on the web.

[Anonymous]

I would not generalize about teachers feelings about EDM. Even if they like it, as parents, the most important thing is our kids education, not teachers' preferences. Teachers need to look at outcome studies instead of their own classrooms. Change would be tough for them.
From a former teacher, now parent.

[Anonymous]

Take a peek at: nychold.com/em.html there are articles that get to the point. Look at Emphsis on Mastery of Computation Skills in 3rd Grade Textbooks Submitted for Texas SBOE Approval

[Anonymous]

Sad facts, but Kumon has a good tutoring program.

[Anonymous]

try achieve.org with help on making changes.

[Anonymous]

Another good site is mathematicallycorect.com go to site index then at the bottom there is just for parents section. This is out of California.

[Anonymous]

The publisher of the curriculum markets it aggressively.