Can Kumon overcome Everyday Math
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Anonymous
BTW, it does not matter whether someone has a math background or not, the experts have spoken, EDM stinks. http://www.nychold.com/ |
Anonymous
Hmm. That's not what studies reviewed by educators at the US Dept of Ed say ... http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/interventionreport.aspx?sid=166 http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/interventionreport.aspx?sid=587 |
Anonymous
Taught medical, graduate and undergraduate students. Teach pre-K, primary and secondary (my kids). I do not have a graduate degree in Math. My educational background-extensive. I'll spare you the alphabet soup of professional and graduate degrees. I learned Math many decades ago. The subject at lower levels has not changed much in the last century and a half. The only thing that has changed today is the US marketing of primary and secondary school math education, the increasing size of textbooks covering the same material coming out every 2 years (as if the half-life of math knowledge recycles every 4 years), and the amount of money the industry is raking in while kids outside the US continue to out perform our kids in mathematics. I think someone is getting conned (think wall street con artists). I made damn sure it wasn't my kids. It is a hilarious sight indeed to watch diminutive elementary kids daily carting around these worthless tombs in luggage on wheels! It give Sal Khan much credit. He left the hedge fund world to give kids all over the world an opportunity to learn and understand primary and secondary school math (among many other disciplines) for free and without the frills (frill-free). No EDM. No worthless editions of 800-page gorilla Math textbooks that no 6 to 11 year-old actually even reads much less many of their erudite parents on this board. Do you actually think elementary school children from India, Asia and Africa would actually embrace EDM to study math? I doubt it. I was proactive in supporting my kids' math education, the way it worked for me decades ago, when I recognised how poorly the subject was taught and presented in elementary school. We did not use the school EDM text books, just returned it, dust and all, at the end of the school year. The authors had a way of expanding 80 pages of information into 800 pages! We did not use graphing calculators despite the recommendations for in class work, homework, quizes, tests and the like (the kids are computer and calculator savy for their enrichment and extracurricular fun and play time). You'd be surprised the buy you get from them sitting in a classroom with classmates 4 years their senior and arriving at solutions to problems faster and more accurately than the rest of the class hammering away on some TI-84. I am even told these kids find this aid useful for the PSAT and SAT? The disadvantages, in the short and long run, are plainly obvious. And, in general, my personal experience and the results over the last decade confirm this. |
Anonymous
Any conflict of interest? Follow the money. Just inquiring. |
Anonymous
But if we're going to stoop to that level of paranoia, then I'd also assume anything suggesting flaws with EDM is also a biased hatchet job. I think I'll choose to assume that trained researchers know more than assorted anonymous parents. |
Anonymous
| I am an assorted parent. Don't necessarily believe everything you read -- particularly the conclusion if you do not have a firm understanding of the study design and methodology, statistical analysis methods and study limitations. |
Anonymous
OK. Aye. ANY curriculum will have a positive effect. That is one of those no brainer questions. If Susie takes a gymnastics (any class) class, she will know MORE gymnastics in the end, thus a POSITIVE effect. If Susie takes a GOOD gymnastic class, she will know more gymnastics than if she takes a poor gymnastics class. Did you notice that the extent of evidence was small positive? We want good curricula that will teach more! 
WIKIPEDIA: Almost as soon as the first edition was released, it became part of a nationwide controversy over reform mathematics. In October 1999, US Department of Education issued a report labeling Everyday Mathematics as one of five "promising" new math programs.[3] The perceived endorsement of Everyday Mathematics and a number of other textbooks by an agency of the US government caused such outrage among practicing mathematicians and scientists that a group of them drafted an open letter to then Secretary of Education Richard Riley urging him to withdraw the report. The letter [4] appeared in the November 18, 1999 edition of the Post and was eventually signed by over two hundred prominent mathematicians and scientists including four Nobel Laureates [5] , has since become Secretary of Energy and three Fields Medalists, a National Medal of Science winner from the University of Chicago, and the some chairs of math departments.[6] Two states where the controversy has attracted national attention are California and Texas. California has one of the most rigorous textbook adoption processes and in January 2001 rejected Everyday Mathematics for failing to meet state content standards.[7] Everyday Math stayed off the California textbook lists until 2007 when the publisher released a California version of the 3rd edition that is supplemented with more traditional arithmetic ,[8] reigniting debate at the local level.[9] In late 2007, the Texas State Board of Education took the unusual step of rejecting the 3rd edition of Everyday Math [10] after earlier editions had been in use in more than 70 districts across the state. What Works Clearinghouse ( or WWC ) [13] reviewed the evidence in support of the Everyday Mathematics program. Of the 61 pieces of evidence submitted by the publisher, 57 did not meet the WWC minimum standards for scientific evidence, four met evidence standards with reservations, and one of those four showed a statistically significant positive effect. Based on the four studies considered, the WWC gave Everyday Math a rating of "Potentially Positive Effect" with the four studies showing a mean improvement in elementary math achievement (versus unspecified alternative programs) of 6 percentile rank points with a range of -7 to +14 percentile rank points, on a scale from -50 to +50.[14][15] [edit] |
Anonymous
| Blockbuster results indeed. Let's go rjght to the national market with our endorsers. Roll the press. Revised editions every 2 years, Baby. We got a window of a decade to rake in the dough before the masses catch on. Familiar and typical business model. |
Anonymous
Are you kidding me? You think the problem with math education in schools is that we are turning out kids who have spent all their time on rote memorization of basic math facts and algorithms, but don't really understand the principles behind the algorithms? IF ONLY! The at LEAST we'd be graduating kids who were capable of basic arithmetic (subtraction across zeros with decimals, percents, long division) even when the power goes out and their cash register stops working! I agree that students also need to know that their answer is reasonable. Not sure that Every Day Math really helps with that though. The spiral curriculum is in vogue but doesn't seem to work for a lot of children. Mastery learning seems a more solid approach to me. |
Anonymous
Eureka. Does this explain the increasing and overwhelming confidence and strength Indians and Asians have in mathematics? If Asian-Americans use EDM like European-Americans and other groups why do Asia-Americans outperform the rest of the country from Pre-K on upwards...just like their relations off shore? In my opinion: You cannot read if you do not know the alphabet cold. You cannot play music wthout knowing the notes and scales cold. You cannot solve hard problems if your math toolbox is empty or locked up in code on a TI-84 and you don't know basic arithematic operations cold. You cannot swim fast without learning the strokes, perfecting technique and practise. It's really that simple for elementary school kids. Very few of us, as kids or adults, are capable of reinventing the English language, music or mathematics from scratch. We need to master and understand the building blocks early. |
Anonymous
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PP here whose kids use EDM in FCPS. Thankfully, our kids aren't allowed much if any calculator use with EDM - I do completely disagree with that part of it. Their teachers do not follow it lock step but they do seemed trained in it. It would be nice if they could spend a bit more time on each section but I believe that has more to do with state standards covering way too much ground in the early years.
Here's what I believe is the main reason US kids are behind in math. Our elementary teachers are not math majors and do not just teach math exclusively as a subject. Most other nations pick teachers from the cream of the academic crop and have them specialize in math if that is what they are going to teach. I would love to see elementary school teachers have a degree in their subject field that they taught (eg. only Eng. ed majors teach English, science majors teach science etc.) supplemented with some educational theory. I guess having 4 teachers for the 4 core subjects would be unrealistic in smaller schools but it seems like subject expertise would be best for the kids. However, school has really never been about what's best for the kids, has it? |
Anonymous
I don't think the problem is with American schools. The problem is with American citizenry and the idolatry of sports and athletes with multi-million dollar contracts; and other non-intellectual pursuits (many elementary school teachers may not see a single million dollars over a cumulative lifetime!) How many of your sons and daughters with a degree in mathematics will teach American elementary school students in American schools for a career? Many here spend less than 1/20 th of the time and effort cultivating mathematics knowledge as they spend with their kids tossing around a lacrosse ball during their child's formative years. American anti-intellectualism and dumbing down while enriching ball players, thieves and cheats...misplaced values preferring continual bail out of Wall Street and professional athletes but not a penny of support for teachers who are mentoring the next and likely dumber American generation. The days of our having our cake and eating it in America seem numbered. The problem is with the American citizenry. |
Anonymous
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While it is apparent that not everyone is a fan of EDM, can anyone else comment on OP's original question --- is Kumon the solution to the gaps in EDM?
Thanks. |
Anonymous
| For some students, yes. Try it! |
Anonymous
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For 11:04, I agree with you as well - we could start a new thread on it. I'm PP who talked about having teachers trained in math teaching math at the elementary level. Have you read this?
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/10/2011109112727162598.html "America's growing anti-intellectualism" |