Math Program Article Didn’t Add Up
by Nancy Wood
April 22, 2010, page 7.....

(Note: The article entitled “Math Programs Add Up to Big Bucks” in the April 8 issue of The Charlotte News included several errors. Here is a rewritten effort with corrections. My apologies for misrepresenting the purpose of the “Summing It Up” forum, and for the math error in the comparison of NECAP scores.)

Molly McClaskey, Chittenden South Supervisory Union (CSSU) Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, organized the recent district-wide event called “Summing It Up.” She said in her introduction to the meeting, “This evening’s purpose is to provide a setting and opportunity in which parents and educators together, in a formal and informal manner, can listen, learn and engage in constructive conversation about research indications, understanding of math proficiency, instructional best practice and other current findings in the field of math education. Topics are intentionally broad in an attempt to help all of us think more deeply about the ‘big picture’, the foundations of learning math.”
The District has been examining two math programs, Investigations II and Bridges, to replace the Everyday Mathematics® program that has been used throughout the district for about ten years. The program that is chosen will be introduced in Shelburne, Williston and Hinesburg elementary schools this fall. Charlotte is opting out of this district-wide change in math programs.
CCS plans to continue using Everyday Math for at least another year, as more research is done. According to CCS board chair Lynne Jaunich, “We are offering a course with the Vermont Math Institute so that we will have teachers with greater knowledge in math, something that was stressed in the evening’s program. In addition, unlike the rest of the CSSU, Charlotte is piloting a third program.”
Charlotte’s 3rd-to-8th-grade students scored somewhat higher than Shelburne, Williston and Hinesburg on the Fall 2009 New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) math tests. In Charlotte, 88% of the students were either proficient or proficient with distinction in math, versus 84% in Shelburne and 78% each in Williston and Hinesburg.
Cost apparently has not been a factor in the decision not to change programs, as suggested in the April 8 article. The district has not yet estimated the cost. At “Summing Up” a teacher from another district commented that it was expensive, which was why they were slowly phasing in a new program a few grades at a time. She indicated it cost about $20,000 for each grade level, but that figure appears to be much too high. The prices that both Investigations II and Bridges list on their websites for their teaching materials and manipulatives are approximately $1,500 per classroom of 30 children.