Will Parents See Math Ed Adding Up?

By Etta Sanders
POSTED FEB. 2, 2007

It was “math morning” in the P.S. 89 auditorium last month, a time when teachers explain the math curriculum and parents ask questions. One mother stood up and described her child’s homework. The page fills with numbers, loops and lines, she said. “And 20 minutes later she gets six plus six is 12.” What left this mother so mystified is “Investigations,” the math curriculum by a non-profit education organization called TERC that is a staple at Downtown elementary schools—P.S. 234, P.S. 89 and P.S. 150.

The curriculum avoids traditional methods of computation, instead encouraging children to find their own way. This, they believe, gives children a deeper understanding of math and avoids rote memorization.

But TERC has left some parents puzzled and frustrated. The methods are  slow and cumbersome, they say. Because they don’t understand it, they can’t help with homework. And they worry that their kids will be ill-prepared for the crucial 4th grade tests and middle school entrance exams.

“Why are they teaching TERC?  What is wrong with teaching traditional algorithms?” a P.S. 89 parent wrote in a recent parent math survey.

Some relief may be coming. The first major revision of Investigations is due to be ready for September. (Each school makes its own decision about when to use the revised materials). And while there will be no sweeping changes—back to addition with carrying, or subtraction with borrowing—there will be a guide for parents and teachers. For the first time, students will use a workbook that explains homework assignments to parents. And for families lost in the jargon of friendly numbers and skip charts, there is an online glossary. “This reference book we’ve developed will help parents understand more,” said Karen Economopolis, co-director of the Investigations revision project. Judging by recent parent surveys and interviews with local families, anything that lifts the fog will be welcome. Parent math surveys, recently developed by the CEC, reflect parent frustration. “I find TERC confusing. I would like to understand more about TERC so I can work with my child at home using the same methods,” wrote a P.S. 89 parent.

“Tell us how you teach basic concepts so we can help with homework,” wrote another.

Others were more hostile. “I’m totally unhappy with your philosophy. It’s extremely confusing and overdone,” a parent wrote, “I don’t understand why you complicate simple math.”

Still, many of their kids seem to be getting it. On the surveys at P.S. 89, many parents said their children need little help with their math homework.

Damien Gray, father of a P.S. 234 4th grader, said he has grown to like TERC because his son, (“not an exceptional math student”) did well on the state test. “His ability to learn conceptual thinking has really paid off,” Gray said.

Other parents say they are impressed by their children’s degree of understanding and the sophisticated vocabulary. “My daughter likes the math,” said Heather Johnson, mother of a P.S. 89 2nd grader. “She really enjoys some of the activities. And some of the things I see her doing with numbers are very impressive.”

So why do parents get so upset? “Some of it is a parent education issue,” said Maggie Siena, P.S. 150 principal and a former P.S. 234 teacher. “We’re getting our message out better.” She said math workshops at local schools allow teachers to demonstrate how basic skills are taught, sometimes with parents playing math games in the classroom. (Games are a common feature of the curriculum.)

At P.S. 150, students are exposed to traditional methods, Siena said, but in higher grades. “Second graders don’t understand place value. If you don’t get it you take a big step away from making sense and make really big errors,” she said. Elizabeth Sweeney, assistant principal at P.S. 234, agrees, saying the schools never “walked away” from expecting students to know basic facts. But, she insisted, there are misconceptions that traditional algorithms are quicker and more efficient. Children who do arithmetic by stacking often make mistakes, she said, and without a deeper understanding of numbers, they don’t recognize why wrong answers don’t make sense. “That ‘carry the one’ has an error rate that’s unbelievable,” she said.

District officials point to high math scores at schools that use the TERC curriculum. In fact, only schools that score high on the state tests can choose TERC. Other city schools must use a curriculum called Everyday Math.

“The fact is in District 2 our kids are learning math like champs. Our scores are extraordinary,” said Daria Rigny, District 2 superintendent.

But the whispers in the schoolyards are that the high scores owe much to the widespread use of tutors.

“If you just studied TERC and took the test for Stuyvesant you wouldn’t be prepared. The only way is to be tutored,” said Jonathan Levine, the father of one current and two former P.S. 234 students. He says this makes two tracks, those who tutor and those who don’t.

One math tutor who works with many Downtown kids said most of her students are 4th and 5th graders whose parents worry that they will be unprepared for state tests and middle school. “They don’t even tell me what it is they want them to learn. They just say ‘could you teach them the math that I learned?”’  The tutor, who did not want to be identified, said some kids do struggle with TERC. “They try to show me how they solve problems in their classes and half the time they don’t understand it.”

Many parents, like Lisa Viscardi, mother of a 5th grader and a 2nd grader at P.S. 89, straddle a middle ground. She finds her children’s math homework, “extremely confusing” but likes that her daughters are doing well, without tutors.

She believes that the school has been adjusting its approach, however, and that her younger daughter is learning more efficient methods.

“She seems to be getting right to the shortcut. She doesn’t draw those big stupid diagrams anymore,” she said.

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