Everyday Math Not for Everyday

Young Aunt Keira just showed me a video that shows several different elementary school math programs. Two of the often-accepted new math programs, Everyday Math and Terk, are displayed in their full atrocity. Calculators are pushed in Kindergarten to "teach" counting. The real problem, though, is in what they don't do. They don't teach the simplest, fastest, most reliable methods of solving a problem. The lessons are quite colorful. Some might say their playful. In a class where core math principles are understood, these programs might be useful as a Friday fun activity, or a think-outside-the-box Math Challenge of the Week. Some "gifted" children might like them, too.

Fortunately, Washington Virtual Academies subscribes to the K-12 curriculum. I'm putting a lot of tentative faith in Bror Saxberg (chief learning officer of K-12). Kaith tested borderline between Kindergarten and First Grade Math. I chose to have him start Kindergarten math this fall, with the assumption that he will be ready to move up by Thanksgiving. The only special interest I have is in my child, so if the curriculum fouls up, I'll be sure to post about it!

Marks of a good mathematics program, by David Klein

It is impossible to specify all of the characteristics of a sound mathematics program in only a few paragraphs, but a few highlights may be identified. The most important criterion is strong mathematical content that conforms to a set of explicit, high, grade-by-grade standards such as the California or Japanese mathematics standards. A strong mathematics program recognizes the hierarchical nature of mathematics and builds coherently from one grade to the next. It is not merely a sequence of interesting but unrelated student projects.

In the earlier grades, arithmetic should be the primary focus. The standard algorithms of arithmetic for integers, decimals, fractions, and percents are of central importance. The curriculum should promote facility in calculation, an understanding of what makes the algorithms work in terms of the base 10 structure of our number system, and an understanding of the associative, commutative, and distributive properties of numbers. These properties can be illustrated by area and volume models. Students need to develop an intuitive understanding for fractions. Manipulatives or pictures can help in the beginning stages, but it is essential that students eventually be able to compute easily using mathematical notation. Word problems should be abundant. A sound program should move students toward abstraction and the eventual use of symbols to represent unknown quantities.

In the upper grades, algebra courses should emphasize powerful symbolic techniques and not exploratory guessing and calculator-based graphical solutions.

There should be a minimum of diversions in textbooks. Children have enough trouble concentrating without distracting pictures and irrelevant stories and projects. A mathematics program should explicitly teach skills and concepts with appropriately designed practice sets. Such programs have the best chance of success with the largest number of students. The high-performing Japanese students spend 80 percent of class time in teacher-directed whole-class instruction. Japanese math books contain clear explanations, examples with practice problems, and summaries of key points. Singapore's elementary school math books also provide good models. Among U.S. books for elementary school, Sadlier-Oxford's Progress in Mathematics and the Saxon series through Math 87 (adopted for grade six in California), though not without defects, have many positive features.--by David Klein