Recall Everyday Math in Long Valley NJ

OK, it has been some week on the campaign trail, but we are almost there. Since a few folks around town like to look at other school districts through rose colored glasses, I thought this post would be very informative for you readers.

According to the New York Sun as well as the Houston Chronicle (more in a second on why the New York Sun cared), Texas dropped Everyday Math on the list of math curriculum available for the 3rd grade. They can not use state aid to purchase the book (a district could use their own funding) for the 3rd grade but can use state aid to purchase it for first, second, fourth, and fifth (who would do that, I don’t know).

You can read the articles yourself to see their personal opinion, but what I found very interesting are the actual comparison tables that the Educational Research Analysis did on the third and sixth grade versions of Everyday Math. You’ll also notice that the sixth grade Everyday Math curriculum is not used either. Hmmm, I wonder what a THOROUGH ANALYSIS OF MATH CURRICULUM WOULD LOOK LIKE?

Well, here you go. Enjoy fun facts people. I’ve yet to find anything on the internet that compares to this analysis of math; you’ll also notice that Saxon Math was listed at the top for math curriculum.

• 3rd Grade Ratings of math curriculum – Everyday Math is rated as Worst
• 3rd Grade summary chart of math curriculum – actual counts of how many times critical skills in math are taught in the math books. Extremely poor showing by Everyday Math.
• 3rd Grade detailed finding so you can dig in for yourself. This backs up their point as to why Everyday Math is the worst
• 6th Grade ratings of the math curriculum where Everyday Math is rated as very poor and is only ranked above Connected Math2. However, before you Everyday Math supporters jump for joy, Texas rated it as non-conforming because it only delivers 64% of what Texas requires. Notice the % of the time calculators are used.  Speaking (really writing) about calculators, check out the 6th grade calculator comparison table

I have yet to find or hear of a more thorough comparison of math curriculum. Judge the results yourself and make your own decision. This is not a result of me calling districts and writing down what I wanted to hear or cherry picking school districts to confuse people. This was a study conducted in Texas to evaluate math curriculum. It is an ongoing issue across the country because people are realizing why America is falling behind the world in mathematics, leading to the presidential panel to issue its report (the reason the New York Sun cared)

Good luck with your readings and research. Thanks for listening (really reading). Again, this information for me provides more data as to why we need a thorough understanding of what our math curriculum looks like. I thought it was important to see what an in depth analysis looked like.  Nice huh?

BTW – spoke with quite a few parents today while I was out and about. One person got it precisely. He said, “I don’t know why people are attacking you. It is simple, either you agree with the direction you want to go in or not. Simple decision.”  Simple.

Eric