Karen Lamoreaux Here is the scoop on the common core math. The language in the standards calls for controversial reform math, otherwise known as constructivist math. This is not an assumption or a theory, it is confirmed by Professor Jon Star from Harvard. Baby Boomers will remember the New Math in the late 60s. Back then we needed reform math to keep up with Russia over the Sputnik Crisis. Parents raised hell and it was gone in two years from the mainstream of public schools. In 1989 it returned. Now the crisis is that we must compete with China. The reform math standards come from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. They are reformers and have tried this at least twice before and it failed miserably. This time, they piggy backed it on to the Common Core Standards to make it more sustainable. Language that calls for students to explain, make an argument for, construct, draw diagrams or pictures, and consider math in an abstract way are constructivist/reform math standards. They are presented as word problems that often do not line up with the reading level of the student. The standards created by the NCTM were used by many schools as part of assessment under No Child Left Behind. The math scores did not change and have not improved since 1989 despite their attempts to mainstream these standards. Common examples include TERC investigations Math and Everyday Math. The problem is that in grades K-5, most students are concrete thinkers not abstract thinkers. This approach has been PROVEN to be cognitively inappropriate by scores of experts in childhood development. Yet each generation the reformers and corporate profiteers try it again only this time all of the researchers and reformers were paid by Gates (NSF, Harvard etc.). Professor Jon Star from Harvard studies this now along with Vanderbilt University and the National Science Foundation. So essentially, our public school kids are once again an experiment, and this one has already failed for two generations. Magically, without reform math, we still manage to be a force in global trade, a leader in innovation and entrepreneurship and space exploration. That is not a sound byte - that is research. Facts are stubborn things. Stop the Common Core. Unlike · · Share · 57 minutes ago near Little Rock, AR · Edited ·
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 03:56:41 +0000
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