Dear School Board Members:
Many districts have abandoned the EDM after using it for a number of years. Here are some examples that we discovered:
St. Josephs recently decided to drop EDM after using it for 7 years, a change that was made at the behest of its teachers. While the teachers were initially drawn to Everyday Math because of its focus on higher order thinking, the negatives of the program once brought into the classroom outweighed the positives.
Problems identified:
- Per middle school teachers, students who have learned EDM in elementary schools were not prepared for
- EDM does not provide good mathematical foundations, this was not obvious in lower grades but became a problem by 5th or 6th grade
- In Grades 1-3, teachers ended up having to use EDM very loosely because it required lots of supplementing for students to be able to master grade level math.
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- Other problems teachers found with Everyday Math:
– The spiral was quite problematic and, though teachers supplemented to try to make it work for them, there was no way to standardize the supplementation between classrooms so what was taught and how it was taught was very difficult for the administration to monitor for consistency. Also, it spiraled too quickly. The spiral was particularly problematic for struggling students.
– EDM takes a lot of time to implement. Because their school has a rich program that focuses on subjects in addition to the standard 3 Rs, their teachers were not able to give it the time needed to do it well (i.e., time needed to finding and teaching with supplemental materials)
– Everyday Math does not teach basic math facts well, which need to be really strong for the student to succeed in math. The calculator is introduced too early. For example, the brain v. calculator game is used in 2nd grade when students should be working on mastering automaticity with basic math facts (intimated that some children’s take away from this game was that since the calculator does it so easily there is no need to memorize the facts on your own).
- EDM has its own vocabulary which did not transfer well when students had to be familiar with common terms for standardized tests.
2. New Jersey’s Bridgewater District
http://www.brrsd.k12.nj.us/files/filesystem/K6%20Math%20Program%20Evaluation.pdf
New Jersey’s Bridgewater-Raritan school district’s has abandoned EDM just recently. Please see the cons they have found after many years of using EDM.
1) Language-intensive-based program
2) Stresses the use of calculators
3) Does not teach the traditional algorithms,
4) Does not advocate drill of basic facts in any form
5) Does not fit into the time constraints of a school
day on all grade levels
6) Some topics are covered quite well, while other
topics are given weak treatment
7) Not all topics are intended to lead to mastery
3. Texas sinks Everyday Math
http://antipositivist.blogspot.com/2007/11/texas-sinks-everyday-math-olentangy.html
In Nov 2007, the state of Texas has dropped a math curriculum that is mandated for use in New York City schools, saying it was leaving public school graduates unprepared for college.
One board member, Terri Leo, who is also a Texas public school teacher, called the textbook “the very worst book that we had submitted.” This year, the board of education received 163 textbooks for consideration.
4. PITTSBURGH
“EM has been implemented district-wide since the 1993-1994 school
year Results from the 5th and 8th-grade level PSSAs show that only
37% of district 5th-grade students and a meager 28% of its 8th-grade
students could demonstrate math proficiency at these grade levels
last year
� It’s clear that the math programs in the Pittsburgh
Public Schools have woefully failed to prepare many of its children
in mathematics for years
2008 the Pittsburgh math committee dropped Every Day Math and selected enVisions instead.
Some of the problems that Pittsburgh teachers and parents found were:
- Many teachers were unprepared to teach the curriculum and needed “substantial content preparation”
- EDM can exacerbate weaknesses in classroom management that principals could not help with
- Pittsburg had to provide support to parents who didn’t understand the program
5. When Maryland removed Everyday Math from 14 of their poorest performing districts and substituted a traditional program, the scores in every district climb dramatically in one year.
http://www.math.jhu.edu/~wsw/ED/moreem 6 READING, MASS. "Reading's math performance was in the 80 percentiles in the years 1993-1995. A downward trend appears in 1996 and 1997. The first students utilizing the "Chicago Math" program were tested in 1997 with the Stanford 9. This downward trend continues in the Everyday Math program with computational skills dipping to 67% in 1997 and Total Math dropping to 73%. The same group of 1997 students were re- tested in 1998 and the data shows a continuing drop in computational skills." (Dr. Robert Mandell, Concerned Parents of Reading, 2-13- 2000 @ http://mathematicallycorrect.com/cpr.htm )
7. STONEHAM, MASS. "As far as the nation-wide Iowa testing system is concerned, Stoneham students in grades 3, 5 and 7 are at the 35 percentile when it comes to math computation, announced Michael Kennedy, program supervisor of mathematics � " ("Calculators Add Up Trouble," Stoneham Sun, 11-3-1999). "In Stoneham, Michael Kennedy, program supervisor for math in grades 6-12, said they're replacing the more exploratory University of Chicago math program with "more of a meat and potatoes, more drill and practice" texts. ("Old Arithmetic Returns to Classroom," Boston Globe, April 7, 2002).
8. ROCKLIN, CALIF. Rocklin has been listed as a "success story" by EM. However, the School Board voted to discontinue EM in February 2002. ("Math Divides Folks in Rocklin," Sacramento Bee, 2-5-2002; http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/1584075p-1660349c.html ) 9. KINGSPORT, TENN. "Myself and two colleagues are now elected school board members because our district had "Everyday Math" for 6 years; that's also part of the reason we are getting ready to hire a new superintendent. It took 4 years, but the community was finally outraged. Parents got no straight answers � Students who have an engineering bent and who already know the multiplication tables will do ok with EM; most others will fail miserably." ("David Coffey: Everyday Mathematics, Fad or the Future," Oak Ridger Online, 4-6- 2001;
10. ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, ILL. (Chicago area) "In a recent study of the [EM] program done by a consultant, nearly 30% of parents of 3rd, 4th and 5th-grades said they were concerned their children were not learning basic computational skills such as multiplication and division tables." ("District 54 Board to Review Six New Math Curriculums," Elk Grove Times, 1-7-1999). "EM is still controversial among parents. In particular, parents have objected to the nontraditional teaching methods and the use of calculators in the classroom." (Arlington Heights Post, April 22, 1999, posted @ http://www.illinoisloop.org/chimath/html ) DISTRICT 109 (Chicago area) School math committee voted to drop EM in fall 2001. "District 109 officials found that the Everyday Math spiral was steep. "One of our biggest concerns was that spiral," [Ina] Kerrigan [assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction] said." ("Committee Proposes New Math Program, Deerfield Review, 5-10-2001).
11. CHEROKEE SCHOOL, ILLINOIS (Chicago area) "Since the UCMP emphasizes higher level thinking skills, it has become clear that children's computational skills have suffered. The district plans to provide additional help to children in grades 2-4 through after-school math clubs for remedial work, and recommendations of computer programs and other resources. Dr. Griffith stated that reinforcement of "math facts" by parents or other programs (i.e., Kumon, SCORE, tutoring) would be extremely helpful." (Minutes of the Cherokee APT Meeting, 2-21-2001; http://www.lfelem.lfc.edu/schools/apt/chaptmin2-2l.html )
12.
ST. CHARLES, ILL. � DISTRICT 303 (Chicago area) Parent group opposed EM. See web-site @ http://members.aol.com/edu4kids/ School board voted to stop using EM in 2-2000. Reported at http://www.illinoisloop.org/chimath.html
13. LOWER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT 62, BURR RIDGE (Chicago area) School dropped EM after two years. "When teachers started to review the materials from EM, they felt [another text] provided more practice and drill." ("District 204 Launches New Math Text, Sun Publications, 3-8-2002). 14. EDISON SCHOOLS "Edison Schools Inc. � has published test results revealing that elementary school math scores declined at an extraordinary number of the company's schools from 2000 to 2001 � Chicago Math, the program used by Edison, has drawn criticism from activists who deride it as "fuzzy math. -- 2nd grade math scores declined at 5 of 23 schools (21.7%); -- 3rd grade math scores declined at 12 of 28 schools (42.8%); -- 4th grade scores declined at 16 of 49 schools (32.6%); -- 5th grade scores declined at 6 of 41 schools (14.6%); -- 6th grade scores declined at 4 of 21 schools (19%)." 15. WICHITA, KANSAS Dodge-Edison School has been listed as a "success story" by EM on its website. "At Dodge-Edison � math performance is below the average for comparable schools and shows no progress since 1996." ("American Federation of Teachers Study of Edison Schools Shows Mixed Results," AFT press release, 10-19-2000. See http://www.aft.org/press/2000/101900.html
16. Conejo School District in Southern California
Conejo school district in Southern California, which includes Thousand Oaks has been using Everyday Mathematics for several years.
Parents started a group called “Save Our Children from Mediocre Math”
http://socmm.home.att.net/050510schoolboard.htm
These websites date back to 2005. Since then, Everyday Math managed to get approved by the state of California by adding standard algorithms into the program. However, all the other concerns about the program still apply.
Conejo stayed with Everyday Math. Elementary enrollment has been dropping despite growth in overall population. In 2008, Conejo had to close 2 elementary schools.
17. Columbia, Missouri
District decides to go back to traditional math
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/09/24/district-decides-go-back-traditional-math/
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 | 10:39 p.m. CDT
BY Stephanie Call
Missourian
COLUMBIA — As early as next fall, students in Columbia’s elementary classrooms will learn math with a traditional approach. After years of debate and discussion about the district’s math curriculum, the “investigations” program won’t be considered the district’s everyday math program anymore. The curriculum was under review as part of the district’s six-year curriculum revision cycle.
Linda Coutts, the district’s elementary math coordinator, told math curriculum committee members that the decision came from Interim Superintendent Jim Ritter. He met with Coutts and secondary math coordinator Chip Sharp on Sept. 9 and said he was concerned that the district’s math issues had divided the community.
