What is Wrong With Everyday Math?

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with the Math coordinator for Greenwich Public Schools, at his invitation, to discuss my thoughts on Everyday Math.  We both realized from the start that we were not going to change each other’s mind (he is a supporter), but we had a excellent discussion on the issues (as I see them) and on the pluses (which I recognize exist and understand).  I appreciate the openness shown by all members of the administration.

The primary issue with EDM is structural, i.e., how the material is presented.  If the structure is flawed, anything you build on it will be weak.  Educational theory holds that factual, procedural, and conceptual learning should occur in parallel.  Problem is that not enough of the factual knowledge is being practiced, and the wrong types of procedural knowledge (i.e., non-standard algorithms) are being emphasized.

Board of Education Meeting Recap - Making Progress

Last evening I made my monthly visit to the Board of Education meeting.  The principal of New Lebanon School, where the meeting was held, gave an interesting recap of their efforts to improve the literacy level at the school.  It is obvious a large amount of work has gone into the thinking and execution of this plan. 

The President of the PTA Council, Lisa Beth Savitz, indicated in her remarks that the PTAC was “discussing Everyday Math.”  She also expressed concern about the focus on comparisons of Greenwich to DRG A and B districts, which I have used extensively to bolster my arguments.  I understand her concern, but this is one means of getting the attention this issue requires (especially if you mention real estate values in the same line).  Once the focus moves to the curriculum, I will be happy to stop using that tool, but also feel we should be sharing thoughts with other districts about what they are doing regarding math curricula and Common Core Standards.  In addition, she questioned the lack of actions in several Monitoring Reports related to male/female gaps.

The Board of Education accepted the Math Monitoring Report.  The recommendation contained in the report relating to the Common Core Standards implies that the next math curriculum review will be held, as scheduled, in 2014.  Peter Sherr picked up on this, and noted that the actions in the report fell short of changing the curriculum.  He shared my concerns about Everyday Math and the slow rate of improvement, and wanted to go on record to ensure that the “actions we are taking are the maximum actions we can take.”  He also indicated he was not willing to defer to 2014 for a review.  Dr. Lulow reiterated that the administration has made a commitment “to look at ways to move the timeline forward and not wait until 2014.”  Board Chair Leslie Moriarty also indicated that the Board wants to get a deeper understanding of the transition to Common Core.

Thanks Peter!

Following is a copy of my comments (I left out the Shakespeare quote). 

Recognizing the Issue, and Doing Something

In the latest blog poll here, I asked the question “If you recognize the issues with Everyday Math, how do you fix them?”  Four options were provided, with multiple answers accepted:

1.    I help with homework

2.    I tutor at home using other math programs

3.    I hire a tutor for my child (Kumon, Mathnasium, private tutor)

4.    Right now, I am not doing anything

With the usual caveats and disclaimers (preaching to the choir, etc.), the results confirm my guesses.  Ten out of sixteen respondents help with homework, and eleven out of sixteen tutor at home.  Obviously a bit of overlap, as you would expect.  Most parents try to provide guidance, as I do, to help their child understand some of the nonsensical homework provided by Everyday Math, and to provide the background in basic math which Everyday Math is missing.  I am sure there are also other times when guidance is needed, like asking a question to help at the start of some of the word problems in Sunshine Math, or reminding your child to check their work (NOTE: if I were typical, my mom would say I started to do this sometime in high school). 

Assuming no overlap between tutoring in house and hired out, thirteen of the sixteen respondents are providing tutoring.  I see two main reasons for tutoring: wanting to move your child ahead of the class (or the child’s desire to do that), and/or wanting to fill in the gaps so that your child will not be behind when Everyday Math is over.  I find nothing wrong with the first motivation, and actually wish it were the only reason. 

I am concerned that the second motivation probably accounts for the lion’s share of the tally.  While it indicates a wide recognition that an issue exists, the fact that parents have to respond in this way is troubling.  Whatever the form of this tutoring, from flashcards to worksheets to entire home schooling efforts, that it exists at all indicates a failing by our schools.  I obviously come down on the side which argues that the poor curriculum (Everyday Math) is the major factor contributing to the issue, but I don’t discount other contributing causes.

Conclusions?  A high percentage of concerned parents, and (in my opinion) rightfully so.

The Important Questions

After thinking about this for several months, two questions regarding our school math program and performance stand out:

1.    Are we really preparing our students for success after high school, whether in college or in the work place?

2.    Regardless of the answer to question one, can we do a better job?

Both of these questions deal with results: Greenwich student results and Greenwich students compared to other students. 

Upon Further Review

I had a meeting today with several of the curriculum folks with the Greenwich Public Schools.  As with my previous visit with Dr. Lulow, everyone was very interested in my thoughts and ideas, and we had a good conversation.  That is not to say I got an agreement to do an immediate curriculum review (that would be too easy, wouldn’t it?). 

We agreed to disagree on that, but I understand their constraints (as I did before) and they know I will continue to push utilizing a variety of means.  Only by having a clear and informative Math Monitoring Report (and reports for the other subject areas) will the Board of Education be in a position to judge where reviews need to be done and where resources need to be committed.

We reviewed my thoughts and ideas on the Math Monitoring Report, some of which will appear in the next version.  Hopefully all of the data issues will be corrected.  The format of the report will remain the same, and I will forward my suggestions for changes to the format/organization to the Board of Education members, who are talking about how to improve all of the Monitoring Reports.

The author of the section containing comments from Middle School teachers about “the grade 6 students’ preparation for middle school math: difficulty reading problems, basic fact fluency, operations with fractions, long division competency” clarified that the report should have stated that this “informal poll” pertained not to all students, but to a small sample of students with learning disabilities.  Noted.

I am glad that most of our sixth graders are not having difficulty reading and, by extension, translating English word problems into math problems to be solved.  But I will go back to a comment made by an administrator from another district who said that Everyday Math is a “language rich” program, and that they don’t even use Everyday Math for their special needs learners.  Might this be a cause of our lack of progress for the English Language Learners and Special Education students? 

And what of long division?  It seems that the school has realized it is important and it is now being taught, although the lessons are being supplemented outside of EDM.  Several parents of middle schoolers, however, including parents of honor students, have mentioned that their children don’t know how to do long division and that they (the parents) have had to show them.  Maybe a catch-up session is needed.

And do you really feel comfortable with your fourth, fifth, and sixth graders’ command of their basic facts? 

Upon further review, even with the clarification, I will stick with my 2.5 strikes against Everyday Math.

Strike 2.5

In researching the best way to tutor my daughter at home, I ran across an article that provided a clear path, as well as an interesting structure for understanding what is wrong with Everyday Mathematics. 

http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/winter2009/willingham.pdf

Dr. Daniel Willingham is a professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Virginia (My nephew, who graduated from UVa as a Mechanical Engineer, assures me it is an excellent school.  His brother, who graduated from Virginia Tech as a Chemical Engineer, respectfully disagrees).  The article asks and answers the question, “Is it true that some people just can’t do math?” 

Referring to the National Mathematics Advisory Panel report that argues that factual, procedural, and conceptual knowledge are required to learn mathematics, Dr. Willingham develops the linkages between the three knowledge types.  “Factual knowledge refers to having ready in memory the answers to a relatively small set of problems of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.”  Procedural knowledge is the knowledge of “a sequence of steps by which a frequently encountered problem may be solved.”  “Conceptual knowledge refers to an understanding of meaning; knowing that multiplying two negative numbers yields a positive result [the procedure] is not the same thing as understanding why it is true” [the concept] (brackets added).  Dr. Willingham goes on to discuss the math wars, where the conceptual versus procedural question is at the battle front.  He reasons that both types of knowledge should be taught together. 

Which brings us to Everyday Math.  When I read the article, most of the shortcomings of EDM came sharply into focus.  We just have to look at the draft Math Monitoring Report to learn that our Middle School Math teachers are concerned about their sixth graders “Basic fact fluency,” also know as factual knowledge.  Ask any parent who works with their child on their math whether their students know their multiplication tables cold, or their division facts well.  I would wager the answer would be a resounding “No!”  And these are kids where the parent works with them.  Everyday Math doesn’t even pretend to take students to the required level of automaticity for these facts, despite the recognition that “Automatically knowing basic number facts is as important to learning mathematics as knowing words by sight is to reading” (EDM Teacher Manual).  Strike one.

Two other concerns the Middle School teachers have are “Operations with fractions” and “Long division competency,” which point to issues with procedural knowledge.  The standard algorithms are given limited attention in Everyday Math, but a variety of other algorithms (e.g., lattice multiplication, partial-sums addition) which have limited application in more advanced math are given time.  And the practice to ingrain any of these procedures, much less the standard procedures, is limited.  Strike two.

So at least Everyday Math is teaching the concepts, the whys (ever wonder why that word is not spelled “whies?”), right?  Dr. Willingham discusses the conceptual problem with understanding that an equal sign refers to equality (mathematical equivalence).  “Students often think it signifies ‘put the answer here.’”  Could it be because they are more commonly referred to as “number sentences” so as to include inequalities?  Ask your child what an equal sign means.  If they are above sixth grade, let’s hope they understand.  If so, according to one study, they would be better off than 72% of their classmates, meaning only 28% understood.  If they were in China, 98% of their fellow students would understand.

http://people.cehd.tamu.edu/~rcapraro/Publications/Capraro_CI_Equal_Sign.pdf

Everyday Math or teacher preparation?  I’ll give half a strike to EDM.

All-in-all, a reasonable explanation why Everyday Math is failing our children.