It is obvious to many parents that something is off in their children’s math classes: Instead of learning math facts and standard methods, their kids must use cumbersome procedures, find multiple ways to do simple tasks, and explain in writing what they have done. In general, they need more help than their parents did when they were in school.Read the rest of this illuminating article here.
For two decades now parents and children have been collateral damage in a struggle that has come to be known as the “math wars”. Opinion is sharply divided on how best to teach K-12 math. The tension is between conventional, or traditional, instruction versus what is known by various names including “reform math” (to proponents), or “fuzzy math” (to critics).
Reform math differs from the conventional approach in many ways. To help parents ascertain whether their children are being exposed to reform math-borne illnesses, we have set out a brief guide to key symptoms of a reform math approach.
This blog is a place to keep current with news regarding Common Core and SBAC without having to wade through the editorials inherent in Facebook groups. I try my best to do the wading for you; all links are actually relevant to parents in Connecticut. I also belong to a closed Facebook group of Connecticut teachers, and sometimes share things I read there. Once in a while I share my own experiences, and occasionally I do manage to connect some dots, or at least raise some pertinent questions.
March 19, 2014
The New Math
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