Common Core Standards and Maths

[JABarney]

Hi;

I have spent countless hours researching math curriculum to the point where I am now experiencing the joys and agony of solving algebraic problems in my sleep! You see, I am attempting to plan out our homeschooling math progression after grade 6 (yes we are only in grade 4) and like many other 'good' homeschooling moms, I found myself researching as veraciously as I did when researching car seats and toddler safety! It's exhausting yes, but also quite fun in a geeky sort of way I could have never predicted only a few short years ago. Finally, after much resistance due to my "I can 'out-educate' my dc compared to any public school any day" attitude, I got curious about state 'standards' and the new Common Core especially as it pertains to math. One question I found myself repeatedly asking was "is the Common Core good enough?" I came across this online and thought I would share. Interesting is all I will say for now. Have fun in the discussion!

 

http://math.berkeley.edu/~wu/CommonCoreIV.pdf

[Chrysalis Academy]

Wow, that was fascinating; thanks for sharing.

 

It reinforces my intuition that my time is best spent in really learning mathematics, rather than researching curricula ;).

[lorisuewho]

That was really interesting and well worth my time!

Thank you for sharing.

[Nart]

Great article! I am cutting and pasting from the article if people don't want to click over.

FIRST THERE IS PRAISE FOR COMMON CORE MATH STANDARDS(CCMS):

CCMS has its flaws— that is inevitable—but its mathematical

quality is, overall, far superior to the existing state standards.

• It does not engage in the usual educational one-upmanship of

teaching each topic earlier than other standards.

• It emphasizes what counts the most in mathematics education:

(a) Restore mathematical clarity and precision to school

mathematics.

(b) Maintain logical continuity from grade to grade, and

infuse reasoning in the presentation of each topic.

 

THEN PROBLEMS WITH THE IMPLEMENTATION

What stands in the way of a successful implementation of CCMS?

As of 2011:

Quality of math textbooks: Very poor in general

Quality of assessment: Poor in general

Teachers’ content knowledge (of mathematics): Fragile, due to reasons to be discussed.

 

ISSUES WITH TEXTBOOKS

How to get adequate math textbooks to support CCMS is a

major, major issue.

Textbook publishers are driven by one thing only: the bottom

line. This translates into, not exposition of higher mathematical

quality, but more adoptable textbooks, i.e., books that most

teachers feel are easy to use, which is distinct from books that

make more mathematical sense.

[Kathryn]

Thanks for posting that! I agree, it's a vicious cycle.

[cmac]

Thanks for the post! And I thought I had math done. Looks like I will be spending more time figuring my math out:)