Manil Suri, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Nearly four decades after President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the first National Math Awareness Week, math readiness and enrollment in college math programs continue to decline.
A new grant from the Gates Foundation to promote ‘high-quality’ curriculum comes with strings that could constrain teachers.
Kues/www.shutterstock.com
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is on a mission to get schools to adopt a “high-quality” curriculum. But the effort will constrain teachers and stifle creativity, an education scholar argues.
Polls indicate that a large percentage of Americans know very little about Common Core, the standards for teaching math and English language arts. Here are some Common Core facts.
Change can be a good thing – really.
Homework image via www.shutterstock.com.
Both have been much maligned by parents who felt like they couldn’t help their kids with basic math homework. But the Common Core could help with conceptual understanding and math intuition.
Helping kids learn patterns can develop math skills.
Poughkeepsie Day School
Patterns are simple sequences that repeat over and over again in a certain order. Supporting children’s ability to recognize patterns can improve mathematical skills.
Students are refusing tests as part of a nationwide Opt Out movement.
bibiphoto / Shutterstock.com
If the Opt Out movement has gained ground, it is not without reason. Testing has not only pushed learning out, but taught people how to “game” the system.