Posts in category Alternatives & Understanding Common Core
Gap in Internet Access between Rich a...
Students depend strongly on the website to complete assignment through using e-books or social media. However, not every student has access.
~25% of Connecticut households do not have a broadband connection according to National Telecommunications and Information Administration latest report published in Nov 2011 based on 2010 data (slightly [...]
Common Core ‘Exemplars’
And as national social studies standards now come rolling in they will also learn about new American heroes, like Common Core’s biggest funder, billionaire Bill Gates. One elementary school textbook published by Pearson, the giant international publishing company that has helped develop Common Core tests, contains several pages of tribute to [...]
Two Moms vs. Common Core
Indiana has become the first state to retreat from the Common Core standards, as Governor Mike Pence has just signed a bill suspending their implementation.
A great deal has been written and spoken about Common Core, but it is worth rehearsing the outlines again. Common Core is a set of math and English standards developed largely w [...]
Misinterpretation of the Common Core ...
Perhaps the most curious Common Core criticism comes on the math side, with opponents arguing that the standards are squishy, progressive, and lacking in rigorous content. While Common Core math standards do articulate ten math “practices,” mathematical content dominates the K–12 expectations. Unlike many of the replaced state standards, Comm [...]
Common Core (SMP) Standard Math Pract...
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Letter from Huck: I Sneak in the Back Window and Teach How to Attend to Precision
Out in Left Field proudly presents the twelth in a series of letters by an aspiring math teacher formerly known as “John Dewey.” All personal and place names have been changed to protect privacy.
Dedicated readers of my [...]
Reason for Common Core Standards R...
It is more important than ever that we create a level playing field to give students from all states equal opportunity to thrive in our technology-driven world in which formulas and equations play a crucial role. With more and more jobs requiring more and more mathematical knowledge, we are obligated to provide our children with equal access [...]
“Math Instructional Methodology...
Math Instructional Model gone Gone!! We shouldn’t move the pendulum too far!! Could this district be using CPM’s method of instruction?
Fairfield, CT School officials: Drop ...
School officials: Drop controversial math text
Michael C. Juliano
Updated 8:22 am, Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Parents and school officials take in a presentation on the proposed revised math curricuulm for grades six through 10 during Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting. Photo: Michael C. Juliano/Staff Photo
Administrators r [...]
U.S. Coalition for World Class Math- ...
From: Barry Garelick
Date: May 8, 2013, 10:05:27 AM EDT To: ”U.S. Coalition for World Class Math” Subject: Re: [U.S. Coalition for World Class Math] Fairfield CT: School board drop the CPM…
Barry Garelick
10:05am May 8
Tricia Donovan was quite active in the parent protest; congratulati [...]
Algebraic Formula to Solve or Guess a...
Quantitative reasoning entails habits of creating a coherent representation of the problem at hand; considering the units involved; attending to the meaning of quantities, not just how to compute them; and knowing and flexibly using different properties of operations and objects.
These videos show two student working through the same math pro [...]
Traditional Education vs Direct Instr...
Deceptive semantics has created much confusion among many educators between Teacher-directed Instruction (traditional education) and Direct Instruction. Major difference between the two is the method in which the content is taught.
Teacher-directed Instruction is used in traditional education. Traditional education focuses on content-rich c [...]
Teaching to the TEST: Growing Concern...
click here for the video and article
Rochester, N.Y. – The state’s largest teachers union is launching an ad campaign an online petition protesting the Common Core tests. Students in grades 3 through 8 will take the math and English tests next month.
“It’s a setup for failure,” said John Pavone of the Rochester Teachers Association. Tea [...]
TRADITIONAL MATH MEANS NEVER HAVING T...
click here for article
Last year at a meeting of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel (a Presidential appointed panel charged with drafting recommendations on how best to prepare students for algebra), a woman named Sherry Fraser read a statement into the public record which began as follows:
“How many of you remember your high schoo [...]
Two Moms Against Common Core
Common Core Concerns in UTAH… NCLB waiver, SBAC assessments… national control of curriculum. How much will this cost?
Singapore Math produced Impressive Sc...
Expect more schools in state to copy method used in Asia:
Scores at some schools did decline, but most of the schools held their own, and some produced impressive results, according to data presented to the school board. One elementary school recorded a 12 percent gain in black third-graders reaching proficiency or distinguished on statewide [...]
Big Data, Public Schools, Privacy �...
Bill and Melinda Gates have a great deal of control over the funding of and profiting from the educational reform in America!
InBloom, a nonprofit start-up founded with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Carnegie Corporation, is taking center stage and spreading around some significant funds as an official sponsor of th [...]
OPT OUT of Sharing Child’s Conf...
New York State and NYC Department of Education, along with 8 other states (MA, LA, CO, IL, NC, GA, DE, KY), have agreed to share confidential student and teacher data with a Gates-funded corporation called inBloom Inc. There is an article about this unprecedented project here.
Below is more information and an opt-out letter you can email to [...]
Privacy for Profit
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) – A new national database that compiles personal student information for educational companies that contract with public schools is being blasted by privacy experts.
New York State officials, working with the city, have already uploaded students’ names, addresses, test scores, learning disabilities, attendance an [...]
National Database of Personal Informa...
March 20, 2013
National Database of School Children Launched
Last week the SXSWedu Technology Conference in Austin, Texas, featured a new project that has many educational technology companies very excited – and that has many parents angry and deeply concerned. The project is called inBloom – a massive national database of personal informatio [...]
Common Core Collection of Student Dat...
Deptment of Education collects data on students – 400 data points collected- discipline area, religious affiliation, scores on tests… Looking at students as a data point to evaluate academic programs.
Fairfield Administrators Recommend Ag...
Wakeman said each district has had success with its respective program — however he pointed out that in all three cases the program had to be supplemented in order for it to align properly with the district’s in-house curriculum.
Wakeman said although all four textbook programs have unique features and strengths, none are what might be [...]
Chinese 3rd Graders Falling Behind US...
CHESTNUT HILL, MA—According to an alarming new report published Wednesday by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, third-graders in China are beginning to lag behind U.S. high school students in math and science.
The study, based on exam scores from thousands of students in 63 participating countries, co [...]
Should Math Reduce Children to Tears?
My daughter — a bright, fun-loving 8-year-old who isn’t easily rattled — was reduced to tears in school yesterday. Apparently, while working on a math lesson involving fractions, she wasn’t “getting it” the way that she thought she should, and her frustration mounted and her eyes welled up and, later, when [...]
Narrowing the Achievement Gap: how cu...
Out In Left Field
OILF is a blog for left-brainers and parents of left-brainers. It discusses left-brain needs, promotes left-brain strengths, and monitors right-brain biases (esp. Reform Math, Constructivism, and cooperative learning) in education and elsewhere. February 26, 2013
Narrowing the achievement gap, as I noted earl [...]
Math Matters: A Response to “Is...
click here
Math has taken another hit. This time, it’s from Andrew Hacker, emeritus professor of political science at Queens College, City of New York, whose piece “Is Algebra Necessary?” appeared in the July 28, 2012, New York Times Opinion section. His premise is that since so many kids and adults find math hard, it just shouldn’t be requir [...]
Review: Singapore Math
click here
Posted on July 14, 2010
We’re curriculum dabblers. We’ve been through more language arts curriculum than I care to admit, although after five years of trying and rejecting numerous lines of materials, we’re happily settled with Michael Clay Thompson’s materials. Science has seen a similar path, although I’ve yet to find the MC [...]
Westport, BOE Singapore Math Presenta...
Westport, BOE Singapore Math Presentation – March 2012
Westport School System is pushing for all subject curriculums to development across K-12 – not just one level. They want to show how one subject builds across K-12. - See it as One. (time 44:30)
Georgia might withdraw from the Commo...
Press Conference: Senator William Ligon Introduces SB 167- that would have Georgia withdraw from the Common Core Curriculum – February 28, 2013
Are these standards really preparing students to be “career and college ready”?
Senator states it will cost $30 million dollars across the state to adopt the Common Core.
Listen to D [...]
You need to add, subtract, multiply a...
You need to add, subtract, multiply and divide to code. Computer programming is an empowering skill to learn. Programmers of tomorrow are the wizards of the future!
Schools don’t teach kids how to read or write code… WHY NOT?
It’s [computer programming] about breaking down problems rather than discovering algorithms.
Gates s [...]
What Should Children Learn in Element...
Automatic recall of single-digit number facts.
ie flashcard device.
Mastery of the Standard Computational Algorithms for Numbers in All Forms: By the end of elementary school, students should have mastered the standard methods for adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing whole numbers, fractions, and decimals. Fairfi [...]
How are students in the US doing in M...
Results show that several Asian countries continue to outperfoem the US in Math and Science.
Math and Science are subjects crucial to economic competitiveness and research! Could these oppressive scores define US children as inherently less intelligent than children in other countries? Will the dubious “college and career readiness̶ [...]
Misadventures in the Common Core
Third graders are concrete thinkers. They are just learning the basics of fractions. They stay stuck in concrete thinking unless their teacher and their district’s curriculum helps them develop ABSTRACT thinking. They need to understand the basics first… halves and eights.
My daughter — a bright, fun-loving 8-year-old who [...]
Common Core in Math are partially bas...
Singapore Math and the Common Core Standards
Singapore Math and the Common Core Standards in Mathematics
The introduction to the Common Core Standards in mathematics contains the following quote:
The composite standards [of Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore] have a number of features that can inform an international benchmarking process for the [...]
U.S. Students Still Lag Globally in M...
December 11, 2012 – NY Times
By MOTOKO RICH Clich here for link
Fourth- and eighth-grade students in the United States continue to lag behind students in several East Asian countries and some European nations in math and science, although American fourth graders are closer to the top performers in reading, according to test results r [...]
Send “Yes” for Singapore...
Letter: Add Your Voice to Fairfield Math Curriculum Debate
This is a call to action from a Fairfield parent to others to unify on the math curriculum front.By Enrico Email the author March 2, 2013 Click here for article in Patch
We hope you are aware of the changes going on with your child’s math curriculum at this point and are concerned [...]
Four Math Programs Piloted in Fairfie...
Parents urge you to spend a few minutes reading these comments provided by a Fairfield parent. You can make your own assessment. The program most lacking in public comment and analysis outside of sponsor-related marketing material is Origo Stepping Stones-a new program
1)Analysis/ Comparison of Singapore Math, Math in Focus and TERC (Origo St [...]
Singapore Math: Ending the Spiral of ...
Posted by swhited on Friday, December 30th, 2011 at 8:32 am
Singapore Math: Ending the Spiral of Non-Mastery
Singapore is a world leader in math education, but that wasn’t always the case. Starting in 1980, Singapore began to develop its own curriculum instead of importing textbooks from other countries with dramatic results. Singapore’s stud [...]
Singapore Math: America’s stude...
October 10th, 2012
03:02 PM ET
My view: America’s students can benefit from Singapore math
By Bill Jackson, Special to CNN
Editor’s note: Bill Jackson was a Paterson, New Jersey math teacher and a district-wide math teacher trainer in Scarsdale, New York. He also provides consulting and teacher training on Singapore or Japane [...]
Singapore Math: Creativity Initiativ...
“How do you transform an education that is good at exam success and learning mastery into something that is flexible and creative without losing rigor?” -Bill Jackson
Singapore’s Transformation in Education The Creativity & Critical Thinking Initiative See Core Principles Below
By Bill Jackson
A U.S. Math Teac [...]
Singapore Math: Professional Lives of...
A Math Teacher’s Travel Journal to Singapore The Singapore Math Forum
Day 1 - Part 2
The Professional Lives of Teachers
by Bill Jackson Monday, 31 August, 2010, Singapore
Teachers work very hard at the Singapore Girls’ Chinese School (SGCS), normally arriving by around 7:00 AM and going home at around 5:00 PM, sometimes a [...]
Singapre Math: Five Key Features
The Daily Riff EXCLUSIVE
Editor’s Note: Singapore is notable for their outstanding Math scores (here and here) internationally. Yet the lessons and Singaporean practices learned and shared by American Math teacher Bill Jackson during this past week’s trip to Singapore, not only surprises(!) but also may seem extremely counter- [...]
Singapore Math :The Most Visual Math-...
Better For Problem Solving? Why Are Visualizations & Drawing As Important As Numbers? Plus Bonus Video Below
Editor’s Note: Math-phobia is one of the more challenging issues for our students and for this country’s educational make-up and there is much to learn from other leading countries such as Singapore.
This i [...]
Singapore Math : Bringing Signapore M...
. . .this deep understanding of elementary math seems to be lacking in many U.S. teachers. I know because I was one of them before I began this journey and I am still learning . . .” –Bill Jackson
ED. Note: Math-phobia is one of the more challenging iss [...]
Singapore Math: Can Solving Problems ...
The Daily Riff is featuring a four-part series Singapore Math Demystified! by Bill Jackson, Math Helping Teacher, Scarsdale, NY Public Schools, one of the highest performing districts in the country, due to popular interest in this topic from parents and schools. If you missed Part 1, Why I Became Interested in Singapore Math, check it out [...]
Singapore Math – Why Our Kids D...
Singapore Math:
Can It Help Solve Our Country’s Math-phobia?
Editor’s Note: Due to the interest expressed over our previous posts about Singapore Math and the non-Singaporean-specific classic, “Why Our Kids Don’t Get Math” here, The Daily Riff is featuring an exclusive original four-part series by Bill Jack [...]
“Schools are doing some goofy t...
The directives of the Common Core Standards, English and Mathematics, are being misinterpreted by administrators… How can the community in these districts educate the administration about the intentions and directives of the Common Core?
Timothy Shanahan, who chairs the Dept of Curriculum and Instruction at the College of Education a [...]
Common Core… Control Totality &...
The Washington Post
The Answer Sheet
Former education commissioner blasts Common Core process — update
Posted by Valerie Strauss on February 13, 2013 at 10:45 am
Updated: Organization that helped pioneer Common Core challenges Scott’s recollection; Scott stands by comments; early Common Core Memorandum of Understanding for states.)
A [...]
Colorado rolls out Common Core
Critics linger, but Colorado girds for roll-out of Common Core
By Kevin Simpson The Denver Post The Denver Post
Posted:
TimesCall.com
As a ninth-grade earth-science teacher, Cheryl Mosier initially figured the upcoming implementation of national standards for math and literacy would have little impact on her classes at Columbine [...]
DEATH of MATH
= Death of Math
There is a very good reason that there are so many charter schools in Alpine School District that use Saxon math. Thousands of parents fled the district starting around 2001 when the district wouldn’t listen to them that Investigations math was a disaster.
The district’s mantra was “all the studies show this is the best way [...]
Will Common Core put an end to Math W...
EN: Will the Common Core put an end to what has sometimes been termed the “math wars”? In your view, do the math standards resemble those recommended by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), and what do you make of that similarity (or lack thereof)?
WSW: The end of the math wars! You must be joking.
There will always be peop [...]
Rotten to the Core: Reader Feedback f...
Click here for link .
I have more installments of my Rotten to the Core series on the federalized national curriculum “standards” coming next week. (See parts one and twohere and here.) In the meantime, I’m sharing several of the e-mails pouring in from teachers, parents, and activists across the country who are fighting this juggernaut acr [...]
Common Core Corrupts
NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE www.nationalreview.com
America’s downfall doesn’t begin with the “low-information voter.” It starts with the no-knowledge student.
For decades, collectivist agitators in our schools have chipped away at academic excellence in the name of fairness, diversity, and social justice. “Progressive” reformers [...]
Why isn’t Fairfield looking at ...
Common Core Readiness
Holt McDougal Algebra, Geometry, and Algebra 2 were built for the Common Core Math Standards. With program components and features designed to help prepare students for NEW high-stakes assessments, Holt McDougal Algebra, Geometry, and Algebra 2 Common Core Editions are focused on preparing students for the new era in mat [...]
A Math Teacher on Common Core Standar...
Everyday Mathematic Program is similar to TERC Investigations – Both are Fuzzy Math Programs.
Stephanie Sawyer gives her view of the flaws of the Common Core math standards:
I don’t think the common core math standards are good for most kids, not just the Title I students. While they are certainly more focused than the previous NCTM-in [...]
Uniformity Is NOT Equality
The biggest fans of standardizing education are those who look at our children and see only future employees. Click here to link to article
The top-down, test-driven, corporate-styled “accountability” movement — featuring prescriptive state standards — has already done incalculable damage to our children’s classrooms, particularl [...]
Equalizing Mediocrity
Sandra Stotsky- September 23, 2010 – NY Times. Click here for link
The case for national standards rests in part on the need to remedy the inconsistent aims and inferior quality of many state standards and tests in order to equalize academic expectations for all students. The argument also addresses the urgent need to increase academic [...]
Fairfield Elementary Math Program Tri...
Fairfield Elementary Math Pilot Programs
Riverfield, Grade 1, Singapore Math – Primary Mathematics , Number of Students =71
Riverfield, Grade 2, Origo Stepping Stones, Number of Students = 67
Osborn Hill, Grade 1, TERC Investigations, Number of Students = 85
Jennings, Kindergarten, Singapore Math – Math in Focus, Number o [...]
Miracle Math
While the goal of bolstering high-school math is a laudable one, the success of high-school students in math depends on what they’ve learned in the lower grades. If those foundations are weak….
A successful program from Singapore tests the limits of school reform in the suburbs
By BARRY GARELICK It was another body blow to education [...]
Singapore math is “our dirty li...
The success of Singapore’s programs relies in many ways on more traditional approaches to math education, such as explicit instruction and giving students many problems to solve, in some ways its very success represented a slap in the face to American math reformers, many of whom have worked hard to eliminate such techniques being used.
[...]
The Pedagogical Agenda of Common Core...
The popular interpretation of SMP is a pedagogical agenda that features student-centered and inquiry-based approaches.
Discovery and group learning approaches to math have had poor results when they have been used in classrooms across the country.
… Such a process while eliminating what the edu-establishment views as tedious “drill and [...]
Singapore Math in Scarsdale Middle Sc...
Scarsdale Middle School Math
Singapore Primary Mathematics
“seeking to inspire lives of contribution through an exemplary public education in the liberal arts tradition”
“The purpose of mathematics education is to nurture an ongoing appreciation, enthusiasm and curiosity for mathematics as all students learn to effectively use mat [...]
Bringing Singapore Math To Your Schoo...
…even with the difficulties and challenges of using Singapore math in the higher grades, the benefits outweighed the drawbacks.
It is important to consider students’ current state of learning when implementing Singapore math. This is because the level of mathematical rigor in Singapore math is higher than in most U.S. math program [...]
Fairfield District Leaders are Interp...
A New Kind of Problem: The Common Core Math Standards – by Barry Garelick from The Atlantic
Scroll down to comments: NOTE the Comment by Bill McCallum (one of the authors of the Common Core): William McCallum barrygarelick • 13 days ago
It seems strange to me to be basing a claim on a couple of sentences in a draft document about the [...]
Singapore Math: Expect more schools i...
“My students actually have become better math thinkers,” said Scott Sheets, a fifth-grade math teacher at Clays Mill Elementary, which began using Singapore math this year.
As its name indicates, Singapore math was developed in the small southeast Asian nation that bears its name. It has attracted the interest of American educators because st [...]
Singapore Math with successful result...
Davidson called math a fundamental skill connecting to all other types of learning. “Math teaches you how to think,” he said. “I want our students to learn to be great thinkers.”
Singapore Math: Great and Quick Results in California and Kentucky
While Singapore math now is being taught as part of a pilot program in nin [...]
The Common Core Math Standards
the Common Core defers fluency in division to grade 6. Fractions are touted as the Common Core’s greatest strength, yet the Common Core pushes teaching division of fractions to grade 6 without ever expecting students to master working with a mix of fractions and decimals. Students in Singapore, Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong achieve fluency in f [...]
The Poverty Myth Persists
Want a convenient scapegoat for our problems? Poverty. It’s there, it’s handy.
I sat through an hour meeting of our small school district’s budget committee last week, most of it devoted to bemoaning our fate as a “poor district” (over 60 percent of our kids qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, the standard definition of “poor” for schoo [...]
Singapore Math: New Haven Schools Ado...
The New Haven district chose the Singapore approach because it “matches so well” with the Common Core effort. The method is based on a curriculum introduced in 1992 in Singapore’s public schools. Teachers take a slow pace, focusing on thorough understanding of the fundamentals of math, with multiple approaches to the same p [...]
Wilton, CT woke up to Singapore Math ...
Singapore Math Means Hope
First, as a parent, I have been appalled by Chicago math. The “logorythmic spiral” approach described by teachers just never made sense to me. (I can’t think of other areas in life where important skill sets are taught in fragments and where necessary practice and repetition are derided as mindles [...]
Singapore Math Source
Sinapore Math Source- Thinking Through Math- Schools in the News using Singapore Math Curriculum. Look at the states that have adapted the Singapore Math Curriculum http://singaporemathsource.com/curriculum/schools-in-the-news/
Singapore Math:Can It Help Solve Our ...
In 2008, I left the Paterson school district and was hired by Scarsdale Public Schools as one of three district wide Math Helping Teachers to help facilitate the adoption of Singapore Math. Scarsdale is using the Primary Mathematics Standards Edition textbooks. It is interesting to me that Scarsdale, one of highest performing and most innovat [...]
Singapore Math arriving in Bridgeport...
The new books include a literacy series called “Journeys,” a math series that focuses on Singapore Math, a teaching method in sync with the proposed Common Core State Standards being developed in the state and nationwide.
Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/New-books-arriving-in-Bridgeport-schools-3657645.php#ixzz2CyFG [...]
National education reformer to lead B...
Vallas replaces John Ramos, whose contract was terminated by the board. Vallas will bring with him Sandy Kase a former supervising superintendent at Chancellor’s District in New York City. She will take over the slot held by Associate Superintendent Robert Henry, whose retirement was announced this month.
Vallas’ tenure is expect [...]
As Math Skills Slip, U.S. Schools See...
The Singapore method continues to attract fans. Inspired by North Middlesex, 20 schools in 12 different districts across Massachusetts are now running Singapore pilot programs. North Middlesex is a farming and commuter district that’s an hour’s drive from Boston.
North Middlesex’s program got rolling soon after the educatio [...]
Singapore Math – A Model Method...
Singapore’s method is highly visual and explores fewer topics, but in greater depth.
By Michael Alison Chandler http://voices.washingtonpost.com/x-equals-why/2009/04/singapore_a_model_for_math.html
Singapore Math – definition fro...
The hallmark of the curriculum is the careful guidance of students, done in a child-friendly pictorial language, not only to technical mastery, but to complete understanding of all the “whys” (see an example). This differs from typical U.S. curricula, which either aim for dogmatic memorization of “rules,” or expect stu [...]
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