Does Kumon or Mathnasium really help

[Anonymous]

DD is in G&T and scored a 93 percent in MAP-M. I am wondering if Kumon or Mathnasium will help in better test scores. She will be going to middle school next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is in G&T and scored a 93 percent in MAP-M. I am wondering if Kumon or Mathnasium will help in better test scores. She will be going to middle school next year.

practice always helps with fluency, and fluency with math facts does help kids score higher on these assessments, like it or not. how you go about practicing is up to you. some people find value in paying to drive to a place so that someone can give their kids worksheets. other people practice for free at home. i strongly suggest you try the at-home methods before going the kumon/mathnasium route. kids who are sent to kumon to do worksheets do not score higher than kids whose parents give them worksheets at the kitchen table.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is in G&T and scored a 93 percent in MAP-M. I am wondering if Kumon or Mathnasium will help in better test scores. She will be going to middle school next year.

93% is great. Why do you need higher test scores for?

[Anonymous]

The programs are a bit different. Either one can help with math knowledge and with fluency. If using a center, I would look at the 2-3 math supplementing options closest to home first. Then pick whichever center is the best fit. At home also can work for some people; Kumon books can be bought at B&N and elsewhere.

Even if planning to do it at home, I still would have DC take Kumon's placement test, which used to be either free or minimal cost. It gives a reading on DC's math abilities which is independent from MAP and might be able to identify any specific weak areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is in G&T and scored a 93 percent in MAP-M. I am wondering if Kumon or Mathnasium will help in better test scores. She will be going to middle school next year.

practice always helps with fluency, and fluency with math facts does help kids score higher on these assessments, like it or not. how you go about practicing is up to you. some people find value in paying to drive to a place so that someone can give their kids worksheets. other people practice for free at home. i strongly suggest you try the at-home methods before going the kumon/mathnasium route. kids who are sent to kumon to do worksheets do not score higher than kids whose parents give them worksheets at the kitchen table.

MAP is an adaptive test, the kids that score the highest are answering very complex questions that require creativity and abstract thinking. Not sure how much Math fluency helps reach top percentiles.

[Anonymous]

No but The Russian School of Math and APoS would help going into middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is in G&T and scored a 93 percent in MAP-M. I am wondering if Kumon or Mathnasium will help in better test scores. She will be going to middle school next year.

practice always helps with fluency, and fluency with math facts does help kids score higher on these assessments, like it or not. how you go about practicing is up to you. some people find value in paying to drive to a place so that someone can give their kids worksheets. other people practice for free at home. i strongly suggest you try the at-home methods before going the kumon/mathnasium route. kids who are sent to kumon to do worksheets do not score higher than kids whose parents give them worksheets at the kitchen table.

MAP is an adaptive test, the kids that score the highest are answering very complex questions that require creativity and abstract thinking. Not sure how much Math fluency helps reach top percentiles.

Our adaptive assessments are still arithmetic-heavy at the harder end of the question pool. DC got a question like simplify the radical sqrt(24300), which is a snap if you are fluent enough to see that 24300 = 2^2 * 3^5 * 5^2. Arithmetic fluency = speed. What can I tell you? If you don't see the value in it, have fun in the low 90s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is in G&T and scored a 93 percent in MAP-M. I am wondering if Kumon or Mathnasium will help in better test scores. She will be going to middle school next year.

practice always helps with fluency, and fluency with math facts does help kids score higher on these assessments, like it or not. how you go about practicing is up to you. some people find value in paying to drive to a place so that someone can give their kids worksheets. other people practice for free at home. i strongly suggest you try the at-home methods before going the kumon/mathnasium route. kids who are sent to kumon to do worksheets do not score higher than kids whose parents give them worksheets at the kitchen table.

MAP is an adaptive test, the kids that score the highest are answering very complex questions that require creativity and abstract thinking. Not sure how much Math fluency helps reach top percentiles.

Our adaptive assessments are still arithmetic-heavy at the harder end of the question pool. DC got a question like simplify the radical sqrt(24300), which is a snap if you are fluent enough to see that 24300 = 2^2 * 3^5 * 5^2. Arithmetic fluency = speed. What can I tell you? If you don't see the value in it, have fun in the low 90s.

What is wrong with you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is in G&T and scored a 93 percent in MAP-M. I am wondering if Kumon or Mathnasium will help in better test scores. She will be going to middle school next year.

practice always helps with fluency, and fluency with math facts does help kids score higher on these assessments, like it or not. how you go about practicing is up to you. some people find value in paying to drive to a place so that someone can give their kids worksheets. other people practice for free at home. i strongly suggest you try the at-home methods before going the kumon/mathnasium route. kids who are sent to kumon to do worksheets do not score higher than kids whose parents give them worksheets at the kitchen table.

MAP is an adaptive test, the kids that score the highest are answering very complex questions that require creativity and abstract thinking. Not sure how much Math fluency helps reach top percentiles.

Our adaptive assessments are still arithmetic-heavy at the harder end of the question pool. DC got a question like simplify the radical sqrt(24300), which is a snap if you are fluent enough to see that 24300 = 2^2 * 3^5 * 5^2. Arithmetic fluency = speed. What can I tell you? If you don't see the value in it, have fun in the low 90s.

You just proved my point. A kid can parrot away all the factoids of the power tables and not be able to readily see that combination. You seem to confuse brain processing speed and working memory with rote memorization. Rote memorization is useful, but it does not take you to the top.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is in G&T and scored a 93 percent in MAP-M. I am wondering if Kumon or Mathnasium will help in better test scores. She will be going to middle school next year.

practice always helps with fluency, and fluency with math facts does help kids score higher on these assessments, like it or not. how you go about practicing is up to you. some people find value in paying to drive to a place so that someone can give their kids worksheets. other people practice for free at home. i strongly suggest you try the at-home methods before going the kumon/mathnasium route. kids who are sent to kumon to do worksheets do not score higher than kids whose parents give them worksheets at the kitchen table.

MAP is an adaptive test, the kids that score the highest are answering very complex questions that require creativity and abstract thinking. Not sure how much Math fluency helps reach top percentiles.

Our adaptive assessments are still arithmetic-heavy at the harder end of the question pool. DC got a question like simplify the radical sqrt(24300), which is a snap if you are fluent enough to see that 24300 = 2^2 * 3^5 * 5^2. Arithmetic fluency = speed. What can I tell you? If you don't see the value in it, have fun in the low 90s.

Is seeing that breakdown what is taught by Russian Math?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is in G&T and scored a 93 percent in MAP-M. I am wondering if Kumon or Mathnasium will help in better test scores. She will be going to middle school next year.

practice always helps with fluency, and fluency with math facts does help kids score higher on these assessments, like it or not. how you go about practicing is up to you. some people find value in paying to drive to a place so that someone can give their kids worksheets. other people practice for free at home. i strongly suggest you try the at-home methods before going the kumon/mathnasium route. kids who are sent to kumon to do worksheets do not score higher than kids whose parents give them worksheets at the kitchen table.

MAP is an adaptive test, the kids that score the highest are answering very complex questions that require creativity and abstract thinking. Not sure how much Math fluency helps reach top percentiles.

Our adaptive assessments are still arithmetic-heavy at the harder end of the question pool. DC got a question like simplify the radical sqrt(24300), which is a snap if you are fluent enough to see that 24300 = 2^2 * 3^5 * 5^2. Arithmetic fluency = speed. What can I tell you? If you don't see the value in it, have fun in the low 90s.

What is wrong with you?

That person was insane. Have fun in the low 90s. Lol. Clearly has no idea those map scores don’t matter after like third or fourth grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is in G&T and scored a 93 percent in MAP-M. I am wondering if Kumon or Mathnasium will help in better test scores. She will be going to middle school next year.

practice always helps with fluency, and fluency with math facts does help kids score higher on these assessments, like it or not. how you go about practicing is up to you. some people find value in paying to drive to a place so that someone can give their kids worksheets. other people practice for free at home. i strongly suggest you try the at-home methods before going the kumon/mathnasium route. kids who are sent to kumon to do worksheets do not score higher than kids whose parents give them worksheets at the kitchen table.

MAP is an adaptive test, the kids that score the highest are answering very complex questions that require creativity and abstract thinking. Not sure how much Math fluency helps reach top percentiles.

Our adaptive assessments are still arithmetic-heavy at the harder end of the question pool. DC got a question like simplify the radical sqrt(24300), which is a snap if you are fluent enough to see that 24300 = 2^2 * 3^5 * 5^2. Arithmetic fluency = speed. What can I tell you? If you don't see the value in it, have fun in the low 90s.

Is seeing that breakdown what is taught by Russian Math?

No clue. DS is in RSM, 6th grade honors, and I don’t know how he would approach that question. I would guess that is a very advanced question that a kid in ES is unlikely to get. We are in FCPS and DS has always scored in the 99th percentile for math. The poster who posted that problem is a bit of a jerk. I would guess that most adults wouldn’t know what to do with that problem now and had no clue what to do in ES. That feels more like a math competition type problem then a regular math problem. But I am not great with math.

I have no clue why a parent would be unhappy that their child was “only” in the 93rd percentile for math on the MAP or iReady. That is a high score. I know that FCPS has started using the iReady scores for AAP and that is going to start driving an obsessive desire to bump iready scores for kids just like there is a desire to bump NNAT and CoGAT scores. I would guess that MAP scores are used for similar programs or math acceleration in MCPS.

OP why are you worried about your kid in math?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is in G&T and scored a 93 percent in MAP-M. I am wondering if Kumon or Mathnasium will help in better test scores. She will be going to middle school next year.

practice always helps with fluency, and fluency with math facts does help kids score higher on these assessments, like it or not. how you go about practicing is up to you. some people find value in paying to drive to a place so that someone can give their kids worksheets. other people practice for free at home. i strongly suggest you try the at-home methods before going the kumon/mathnasium route. kids who are sent to kumon to do worksheets do not score higher than kids whose parents give them worksheets at the kitchen table.

MAP is an adaptive test, the kids that score the highest are answering very complex questions that require creativity and abstract thinking. Not sure how much Math fluency helps reach top percentiles.

Our adaptive assessments are still arithmetic-heavy at the harder end of the question pool. DC got a question like simplify the radical sqrt(24300), which is a snap if you are fluent enough to see that 24300 = 2^2 * 3^5 * 5^2. Arithmetic fluency = speed. What can I tell you? If you don't see the value in it, have fun in the low 90s.

Is seeing that breakdown what is taught by Russian Math?

No clue. DS is in RSM, 6th grade honors, and I don’t know how he would approach that question. I would guess that is a very advanced question that a kid in ES is unlikely to get. We are in FCPS and DS has always scored in the 99th percentile for math. The poster who posted that problem is a bit of a jerk. I would guess that most adults wouldn’t know what to do with that problem now and had no clue what to do in ES. That feels more like a math competition type problem then a regular math problem. But I am not great with math.

I have no clue why a parent would be unhappy that their child was “only” in the 93rd percentile for math on the MAP or iReady. That is a high score. I know that FCPS has started using the iReady scores for AAP and that is going to start driving an obsessive desire to bump iready scores for kids just like there is a desire to bump NNAT and CoGAT scores. I would guess that MAP scores are used for similar programs or math acceleration in MCPS.

OP why are you worried about your kid in math?

That type of question is covered towards end of Middle School. It’s not hard and all kids can solve it with enough time. A more talented kid will see quickly that the number breaks down to 243 x 100. 100 is a perfect square and 243 can never be because it ends in 3. They’ll narrow it down to the squares that come close to it, 15 and 16. They will solve this question in 30 seconds. Russian Math may teach this specific strategy I suppose but a gifted kid will come up with creative strategies and shortcuts like this all day long. Brain power and number sense matter in Math. Not sure why people want to push their kids to the 99th percentile if they don’t want to be Mathematicians or Physicists etc. 93% is great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is in G&T and scored a 93 percent in MAP-M. I am wondering if Kumon or Mathnasium will help in better test scores. She will be going to middle school next year.

practice always helps with fluency, and fluency with math facts does help kids score higher on these assessments, like it or not. how you go about practicing is up to you. some people find value in paying to drive to a place so that someone can give their kids worksheets. other people practice for free at home. i strongly suggest you try the at-home methods before going the kumon/mathnasium route. kids who are sent to kumon to do worksheets do not score higher than kids whose parents give them worksheets at the kitchen table.

MAP is an adaptive test, the kids that score the highest are answering very complex questions that require creativity and abstract thinking. Not sure how much Math fluency helps reach top percentiles.

Our adaptive assessments are still arithmetic-heavy at the harder end of the question pool. DC got a question like simplify the radical sqrt(24300), which is a snap if you are fluent enough to see that 24300 = 2^2 * 3^5 * 5^2. Arithmetic fluency = speed. What can I tell you? If you don't see the value in it, have fun in the low 90s.

That style of thinking isn’t taught at Kumon. They focus on rote memorization rather than being able to break things down like you did in your post. And breaking it down like that isn’t a sign of knowing math facts - it’s more critics thinking than that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
That type of question is covered towards end of Middle School. It’s not hard and all kids can solve it with enough time. A more talented kid will see quickly that the number breaks down to 243 x 100. 100 is a perfect square and 243 can never be because it ends in 3. They’ll narrow it down to the squares that come close to it, 15 and 16. They will solve this question in 30 seconds. Russian Math may teach this specific strategy I suppose but a gifted kid will come up with creative strategies and shortcuts like this all day long. Brain power and number sense matter in Math. Not sure why people want to push their kids to the 99th percentile if they don’t want to be Mathematicians or Physicists etc. 93% is great.

243000 = 243 x 100 = 81 x 3 x 100. 243->81x3 would not be too difficult.