Here’s the success story of Jill Gladstone, a parent in Bridgewater, NJ whose children were being instructed using Everyday Math — the constructivist ’step-sister’ to Investigations….
After 12 years of the Everyday Math program being implemented in my school district, I am happy to say that we abandoned it and adopted HSP Math 2009 (Harcourt School Publishing) last year. It wasn’t easy getting Everyday Math removed. In 2006, I started a Yahoo Group for parents in my town who were very concerned about the program and wanted to discuss the issue with others. I rallied parents to attend Board of Education (BOE) meetings with me and speak at the podium. I connected myself with national math content experts- mathematicians – who educated me on the flaws of the program. I then decided to run for a seat on the BOE myself. One of my main campaign platforms was to remove Everyday Math from the district because I saw how this “one size fits all” reform math program was not meeting the needs of so many students for a variety of reasons. After I won a seat on the school board, we had a few changes in the top administration. The new folks eventually were willing to set up committees to evaluate our K-6 math program. (It had never been formally reviewed or evaluated in all that time!) The new administration did a fabulous job.
This whole process took a lot of pressure and patience.
Finally last year, the K-6 Math Evaluation Committee (consisting of 35 K-12 teachers and 4 administrators) and the 9-member school board were unanimous in their desire to replace Everyday Math with a balanced, more traditional math textbook, HSP Math 2009 (Harcourt). HSP Math started in September 2009 and has been very well-received. I still get e-mails from parents thanking me for my efforts and telling me how thrilled they are with the new program. It is a wonderful program. It teaches to mastery without “spiraling” and has plenty of practice opportunities to make kids feel confident.
I hear that Houghton Mifflin Math is good balanced program. Stay away from Connected Math 2 at the Middle School as it is worse than TERC and Everyday Math in the lower grades. Good Middle School textbooks are Holt-McDougal Mathematics or Glencoe Math Course 1, 2, and 3. Their Pre-Algebra and Algebra books, as well as Prentice-Hall books, are fine. I’d suggest the same publishers for High School. Do not have your district ever use the “Discovering” series (like Discovering Algebra or Discovering Geometry).
Good luck and don’t give up!
Jill Gladstone
Bridgewater, NJ
Links:
Bridgewater-Raritan District BOE Votes 9-0 to Drop Everyday Math and Adopt Harcourt HSP Math 2009: www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20090227/NEWS/902270359
Complete Bridgewater-Raritan Math Program Evaluation:
www.brrsd.k12.nj.us/files/filesystem/K-6%20Math%20Program%20Evaluation%20Complete%20Document.pdf
Bridgewater-Raritan Math Program Evaluation PowerPoint:
www.brrsd.k12.nj.us/files/filesystem/Math%20Program%20Evaluation%20v%202.ppt
Contact these folks from Virginia fighting TERC: http://pwceducationreform.wordpress.com/
U. S. Coalition for World Class Math: www.usworldclassmath.org
Contact the PA State Chapter: http://paworldclassmath.webs.com/
