"It seems our math educators no longer believe in the beauty and power of the principles of mathematics. They are continually in search of a fix that will make it easy, relevant, fun."
Diane Ravitch, Wall Street Journal, June 20, 2005

Welcome to Teach Our Kids!

"If we as a nation want to increase student achievement in mathematics, it will take more than the happiness factor to do it. The happiest, most confident, most soaked-in-relevance American eighth
grader cannot compete with the average Singaporean eighth grader in math."
Tom Loveless, Director, Brown Center on Education Policy, October, 2006

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FEBRUARY 13, 2007
MAJOR NEWS:

They did it! The vote was 7-0 to spend $150,000 on the 3rd edition of Everyday Mathematics.

The suggestion was that after seven years of using Everyday Mathematics, they should "Explore" the latest materials and research. See one trustee's response here.

Please pay attention to the quote at the beginning.

"It's important in terms of supporting the administration."

What about supporting the education of our children?

The district is proceeding full-steam ahead with the 3rd edition of Everyday Mathematics. The Mathematics Advisory Committee will propose adopting the new edition of Everyday Mathematics without looking at any other materials. Click here for the memo sent to the Curriculum Committee.

This decision is being made in spite of:
- NO credible research showing Everyday Mathematics works
- Growing parental discontent with mediocre programs
- NO improvement in MEAP scores compared to the state average

Check out these YouTube videos made by the people at "Where's the Math?"

Math Education: An Inconvenient Truth

University View

Math with Madeline

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The goal of this web site is to educate parents and community members about the quality of education provided in our school district. Right now the focus is on the Elementary Mathematics curriculum.

In particular, we are very concerned that the elementary math curriculum "Everyday Mathematics" is failing our students. This progran cannot prepare students adequately to succeed in high school or university math programs. 'Reform-math' programs have not shown any credible evidence of helping children learn math. In fact, in many cases, they slow down learning.

The Department of Instructional Services Master Plan Goal 1g. Mathematics states:
"Compare the elementary Grade Level Content Expectations and the new 3rd edition of Everyday Math for possible adoption for 07-08."

NOW is the time to stop the mediocrity!

Urge the district to NOT ADOPT the 3rd edition. It is time to do a full study of available curricula and adopt one that promotes excellence. If the district spends the money on the 3rd edition, they will be locked in for several more years. Our children will continue to fall behind.

Here is a quote from the Everyday Mathematics Handbook about Partial Products (their preferred form of multiplication).
"As with left-to-right algorithms for addition, this encourages quick estimates of the magnitude of products without necessarily finishing the procedure to find exact answers."

On September 12, 2006, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) took a significant step in acknowledging that 'reform-math' programs don't work by publishing a new set of Curriculum Focal Points. These focal points start to re-emphasize the basics. See the Recent Articles section for more commentary.

Many other states do not allow Everyday Mathematics to be anything other than a supplement to the main math curriculum. There is a significant national movement to get mathematics education on track to being globally competitive. Plymouth-Canton has been acknowledged as an educational leader. Let's LEAD the state in mathematics education.

See the 'What Can I Do' page for more information on how to get involved.

Background
Our district's curriculum is aligned to the Michigan Curriculum Framework. This framework should be considered to be the MINIMUM requirement in education. Other states and countries have much higher standards.

The Fordham Foundation has recently increased their grading of Michigan standards from a 'D-' to a 'D', tied for 31st in the nation. Being 'above average' in a below average state is not something to be overly proud about.

Our children deserve better.

While we can't do much about State standards here in Plymouth-Canton, we can make sure our children are prepared for a globally competitive job market.

We should be very grateful to every teacher in our district for doing what they can within the curriculum to ensure success. Our children are scoring above the state average on the math portion of the MEAP. We believe this is in SPITE of Everyday Mathematics, not because of it.

Everyday Mathematics (EM) was chosen as the single math instruction method in 2000. The world has changed since then. It is time to step up and do everything in our power to provide teachers with the best tools and programs available to assist them in educating our children.

The Everyday Mathematics program is based on standards and practices first published in 1989 (revised in 2000) by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. These standards de-emphasized doing mathematics in favor of writing about mathematics.

Our children are paying the price.

Please take the time to learn more about Everyday Mathematics and its effect on the education of our children.