Advertisement
Advertisement

New math causing consternation

Share

The new Common Core math has been mocked by comedians. It’s been fodder for political conspiracies. And it’s a source of confusion for parents.

Although it may still have an image problem to deal with, Common Core math has arrived.

Public schools have reinvented math under the new Common Core academic standards nationwide. Teachers locally and statewide have rolled out California’s version this school year in varying stages in most school districts.

Advertisement

Proponents say Common Core math will give students a deeper understanding of math by focusing on critical thinking over rote memorization. As students work through problems they must demonstrate how they arrive at answers, confer with classmates and even critique the reasoning of their peers.

Critics have argued that this new math is fuzzy and relies too much on concepts and too little on correct answers. Some parents worry their children are guinea pigs in the early stages of a math experiment. Still others, including conservative groups, have accused the federal government of imposing a national agenda on schools and robbing them of their local control.

At least 43 states have come up with their own version of the nation’s first universal academic guidelines.

San Diego’s 42 school districts appear to have little in common when it comes to how they are rolling out the standards, especially in high schools — district to district and even campus to campus. Everything from teaching materials to the classes themselves vary throughout the region.

“Districts can plan their own implementation, so we expected to see variation,” said Mindy Shacklett, math coordinator for the San Diego County Office of Education.

Districts had the option of keeping familiar high school course titles — algebra, geometry and the like — while still changing the curriculum to reflect Common Core; or they could move to completely different integrated math courses that blend concepts.

The majority of San Diego County districts decided to use integrated math courses.

The Sweetwater Union High School District was aggressive with its implementation, offering a sequence of three integrated math classes this year. San Diego Unified replaced high school algebra and geometry classes with integrated math and will add classes over the next two years. The San Dieguito Union School District chose to add one integrated math class a year, while the Poway Unified School District will wait until next school year to change any of its courses to give educators and parents more time to prepare for the shift.

Regardless of how high schools offer math under Common Core, it looks nothing like the old model. Perhaps most dramatically, algebra is stretched over four years.

“This is how math is done in the real world. It’s the same content, just organized differently,” said San Dieguito math teacher Brian Shay, who helped vet the Common Core standards as a member of California’s Academic Content Standards Commission.

Most elementary and middle schools have made the shift to Common Core. That means math lessons often look more like Socratic seminars, with students questioning and debating answers.

“It’s a new way of thinking about math for a lot of kids. We are building that culture of building their confidence so they can talk about math, not just come with the answer,” said Michael McEwen, a fifth-grade teacher at Fay Elementary School in City Heights where his students work on math problems in teams.

Students still learn to add, subtract and multiply. But Common Core math requires more literacy skills and less multiple choice.

Under California’s old standards, a sixth-grade student might be asked the following question:

“A group of hikers climbed from Salt Flats (elevation -55 feet) to Talon Bluff (elevation 620 feet). What is the difference in elevation between the two places?” A: 565 feet, B: 575 feet, C: 665 feet or D: 675 feet.

A comparable question asked under Common Core: “Robert recorded the temperature outside his house in the table shown: At 4 p.m. it was 15 degrees. At 6 a.m. it was -7 degrees. Robert claims the difference between the temperatures is 8 degrees. Explain why Robert’s claim is incorrect. What is the correct difference in temperature?

“The standards are considerably more rigorous. The bar has really been raised,” said Barbara Edwards, executive director of the San Diego chapter of the nonprofit of Math for America, which trains master teachers to mentor colleagues on math instruction. “In high-performing districts, students are coming home confused. They may have been really good at cranking out algorithms. But they may not be good at defending their reasoning and thinking through viable arguments.”

California’s Common Core math standards identify what concepts students should understand at each grade level. It’s up to districts to figure out how to do that.

Some districts use text books, others use online curriculum from other states. Most use a combination of materials. Several have established virtual clearinghouses that offer teachers months of lesson plans, homework ideas and even video clips of good instruction.

Parent pushed back in some of the high-performing districts and schools and caught some districts off guard. Poway slowed down its transition to Common Core, in part, because of parent concerns. San Dieguito Union held 20 parent meetings last year that were attended by some 2,000 community members.

Jennifer Guzman, who has children in both San Diego and Poway schools, worries that math has been watered down to the point that her children will lose the ability to do well on the SAT and other high-stakes tests.

“I’m just not convinced that schools even know what or why they are changing math classes,” she said. “I want my kids to understand how to use math, I get that. But math is math. I’m just not sure about this.”

In San Diego Unified, the changes in middle school math has prompted the most parent concern, especially when it comes to the transition from fifth- to sixth-grade since the district offers one set of classes for advanced math students and another for those who are performing closer to grade-level, said Jim Solo, and administrator who is overseeing Common Core in the sprawling district.

The district has held parent meetings to ease concerns. It also posted a sort of road map on its website that shows parents how students can progress to the most advanced high school courses — regardless of where they start in middle school.

“We are working to educate our parents,” Solo said. “Communication is important. We are leaps and bounds ahead of where we were last year.”

Advertisement