Mom Told Me Not to Say “I Told You So”

The link below takes you to a press release dealing with a research article discussing the relationship between “Math Success” and knowledge of fractions and long division.  As you might guess, there is a strong relationship.  I am trying to find a copy of the full article so that I can provide you with better information. 

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/knowledge-of-fractions-and-long-division-predicts-long-term-math-success.html

Remember previous postings highlighting ability with fractions and decimal division (long division).  Remember the common complaints (there are so many, of course they are common) about Everyday Mathematics lack of focus on these areas.

Take a look at the YouTube presentation by one of the authors: http://youtu.be/7YSj0mmjwBM

And Now for Something Completely Different

I don’t necessarily want to get off the math track (sorry, tracking is a bad word) here, but an article in the NY Times on Monday makes me wonder what we are missing on the other side of the three R’s (writing and reading). 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/11/education/florida-backtracks-on-standardized-state-tests.html?_r=1&ref=michaelwinerip

The article talks about the changes made to the scoring of the writing portion of the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test when the scores plummeted from last year.  Only 27% of fourth graders were proficient, down from 81% the previous year.  According to the article “The numbers fell so drastically because, as announced last summer, state officials toughened the standards, paying more attention to grammar and spelling as well as to the factual accuracy of supporting details.”

I may be old fashioned, but isn’t “paying attention” another phrase for actually grading the test properly?  How can you judge proficiency when you are discounting grammar and spelling, as appears was done under the old standards? 

The rest of the article is interesting, especially the solution to the reduced number if students reaching proficiency.

Push, Push, Push

I spoke at the Board of Education meeting on 24 May to urge the administration to start the Math Curriculum review before November, which is the date for the delivery of the next Math Monitoring Report.  The curriculum review policy is being discussed now in committee, and as written, would rely on the Monitoring Report to kick off the process.

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First, congratulations to the high school and middle school Math teams for their first place finishes in Connecticut competitions.


Thank you for your recent actions regarding the acceleration of a math curriculum review.  This is a great first step. 

Recognizing the impact of the proposed revisions to Policy E001, I would like to make a case for the initiation of this review prior to the delivery of the next Math Monitoring Report scheduled for November 2012.  The reasoning for this is simple timing.  If that report triggers the start of the 12-18 month cycle for the review, the earliest implementation would be September 2014, which is the start of the school year with the new standardized testing. 

Initiation now, or more realistically as soon as a new Math Coordinator is appointed, still provides the opportunity to conduct a thorough review and to have time for professional development prior to the start of the 2013-14 school year.  The budget cycle would allow for this timing.   I recognize the unsettled nature of some of the programs being offered for sale as Common Core compliant.  However, investigating the experiences of other districts which have already made moves to new curricula should provide the required information to select an appropriate, Common Core aligned, program.

The data contained in the January 2012 Math Monitoring Report can be augmented with the additional required elements as they become available.  Waiting until November would delay implementation a full year.  It would extend the use of Everyday Math one more year, and would also cause us to spend resources developing and implementing a transition plan with Everyday Math as its basis.

Please consider an immediate start to the review.

Thank you.