New Math, Old Math, Same Math

Editor’s Note: There will be additional stories from the Board of Education Meeting in the coming days regarding student honors and community concerns about the cut of two teaching positions with the 2011-12 BOE budget.

Many people gathered at the regular Meeting to learn more about the elementary school math program, which has become a topic of discussion among parents, teachers and administrators in recent months.

Before opening the floor for public comment, offered a presentation about the current state of the math programming to clarify any miscommunications, which he felt was fueling some concerns over the program.

“I certainly received what I would consider a fair amount of e-mails and I appreciate that and my job as the Superintendent of schools is to look at that correspondence and find the common thread,” stated Hernandez. “There are two things I would like to do: one, is to provide the background and the context so I can clarify and the second piece is really reassure our community that we’re not really doing anything different.”

After a BOE Teaching and Learning Committee Meeting April 6, which you can watch via BCTV on Sundays at 7 and 10 a.m. and 1, 4 and 7 p.m., some people were under the impression that a supplemental workbook, Scott Foresman - Addison Wesley Math Practice Workbook, which is traditional math, would not be purchased again for next year for all students.

Hernandez stated that the book will be purchased for all three elementary schools’ third and fourth graders but only purchased for first and second graders at the principals’ discretion and added that this workbook is just one piece of supplemental material that is offered to students. Other supplementation includes Blackline Masters, which are supplemental materials that can be photo copied as well as teacher-generated instruction binders; uses such binders for all grade levels. Clarifying some concerns about continuity of using supplemental material, Hernandez stated, “The instructional decision about how these materials are used, that is a classroom-based decision as well as an instructional leader decision at the building level.”

For the past four years, Branford elementary schools (grades k-5) have been using TERC Investigations, a conceptual math program as the core teaching material for all students; traditional math and other support material has been used a supplement to the Investigations program to provide a balanced math program for students. Hernandez stated, “It’s very appropriate for teachers to have a variety of resources for any particular program. There’s no one particular program that addresses the curriculum in total.”

Investigations or conceptual math is what many call “new math” and offers students a variety of ways of doing math problems with a focus on algebraic-style equations. It is understood that this “new” way of learning math will better prepare students for advance learning later in school. Conceptual math focuses on linear and horizontal math equations rather than traditional vertical column math problems. The biggest difference between the two methods of solving the same equation is time; a math problem solved the traditional way can be done in less time than if solved conceptually.

While it’s clear that conceptual math, when supplemented with other teaching material can be an effective way of teaching students, the results are not entirely measurable apart from Connecticut Mastery Test scores. Since Investigations was instated in the school system during the 2007-08 school year, the percentage of grade four students at or above goal level for CMT math scores decreased from previous years, but increased last year in the 2009-10 results (see attached PDF for more information). The first wave of students to go through the elementary program using Investigations are current fifth graders and the 2010-11 CMT scores have not been released.

When the forum was opened to the public, Branford resident Laura Maniglia who is a former public school administrator and current owner of Handle Associates Learning Center in Guilford, asked Hernandez for empirical data that shows the efficacy of the Investigations program. “I’ve been looking for data and haven’t been able to find anything,” she stated.

Hernandez responded, “The Board has adopted this as its core program and I indicated that given its implementation, I think it’s premature at this juncture to say that we should abandon the program.”

Maniglia interrupted, “I am just asking for some data.”

Hernandez responded, “I think we are starting to gather some of that. We are looking at–we have periodic common form assessments; we have fluency tests; we have the CMT, which is one metric; we have exams, protocols, assessments if you will, to get an idea where those gaps are."

Andrea Snedegar the math specialist at asked Hernandez if the supplemental traditional workbook issued by Addison Wesley would be offered as a take-home to all students regardless if the teacher was using it in the classroom. “I just hope there are not workbooks sitting on the shelf because the teacher decides not to use it.”

Hernandez answered that take-home material should reinforce classroom learning and didn’t feel it would be appropriate to have workbooks not used in a classroom sent home for afterschool supplementation. “Not every classroom will be in lockstep. That’s not a realistic expectation. The realistic expectation is that the core curriculum–the common standards are being taught.” He furthered regarding the use of the workbook, “I think that’s a discussion between the teacher and the parent.”

Kate Marsland, head of the and parent of an elementary school student, first thanked Hernandez for making the Addison Wesley books available for third and fourth graders but asked why the use of the books in second and first grade was left to the discretion of building officials. She also expressed that in her opinion, supplementation to Investigations had not been offered at Sliney or Murphy schools since the program was launched.

Hernandez responded that "nothing indicated" that the workbooks should be a required purchase for the first and second grades and that though some schools may not have used the workbook in the past, it wasn't an indication of supplementation not being offered. "Don't ever confuse supplementation with a workbook," said Hernandez.

Rich Gussenberg, the interim principal at John B. Sliney School spoke during the open forum and stated, “There is a tremendous amount of supplement to go around. I just wanted to reinforce what Mr. Hernandez said–that a workbook means somebody is supplementing and the lack of workbook means that they are not... supplementing means that the teacher is instructing a particular skill or concept and assessing that.”

principal Anthony Buono spoke following Gussenberg stating that he agreed with his colleague.  “The decisions about supplementing,” he said, “have been based on student needs.”

Mary R. Tisko principal Mark Rabinowitz, who will retire at the end of this year, was present at the meeting but did not comment.

One of the last people to speak was Linda, a “Tisko mom” who started, “I think a lot of the trouble happened because of the difficulty with the parents and the communications.” She went on to explain that more parent communication could help solve a disconnect between the community and the BOE regarding curriculum.

Hernandez stated that parents, as well as Board members and administrators are on the math curriculum committee but added, “Perhaps we need a better mechanism to report that out.”

Lastly, she stated, “Investigations has been a new word to a lot of us and it wasn’t until my first-grader said, ‘No, mom, you don’t add this way [gesturing up and down], you add this way [gesturing side to side]. I had no idea and I was trying to correct him.” Linda asked if there could be an education fair for parents to learn the new math program.

“I think that’s a wonderful suggestion,” said Hernandez. “We can certainly look into that for next year.”

Because the topic of new math verses old math is complicated, we invite the community to weigh-in on the topic and share their thoughts and feelings in the comment section.