A group of concerned parents advocating a change in the Camdenton School District’s math curriculum will hold a community forum Thursday evening. A few miles away, at Hawthorne Elementary, teachers will gather for the monthly math help night offered to parents as a way to help them understand what’s being taught to their children.
Stacy Shore is one of the most outspoken parents against Investigations math, a curriculum that teaches the meaning behind math applications before memorization. Standards-based math teaches memorization and then the how-and-why behind the problem.
The district has implemented the math program in grades third through fifth.
One of the first changes Shore noticed was in her children’s homework.
What once used to be 20-30 math problems every night, was reduced down to one or two long word problems, she said. Drawing pictures, lines or some other representation, the word problem was solved using simple addition.
“These types of skills should be drilled into them,” Shore said, noting addition, multiplication and other skills needed as a foundation for math.
After Shore did some homework of her own, she found several schools across the country that once used Investigations only switched back to standards-based math.
To get a similar result here, after a presentation about Investigations Thursday night, Shore says the group will discuss setting up a petition drive.
“I don’t think it should go away completely, but I want there to be a balance,” Shore said. “The school should be teaching a strong foundation of skills and pepper it with Investigations.”
Balance is just the word Superintendent Maurice Overlander used as well.
Two changes have been enacted since the November special board meeting that examined the growing controversy.
The first was that the district purchased numerous supplemental handbooks for students.
Parents are being encouraged to use them as well.
The guides give examples on how to work through problems.
Overlander said he hopes the move will be the first large step to ease parents’ concerns when attempting to help their child with nightly homework.
Overlander described the guides as the piece that was missing when the new Investigations program was implemented.
About 50 guides have been purchased for each grade level. Overlander said if parents continued to express the need for them, the district would order more.
A letter describing the upcoming math unit is also being sent home with students, Overlander said. The letter to parents explains what the student will be learning, how and why.
There are also monthly math help nights where parents can get hands-on lessons about what their child is learning.
Still, Overlander recognizes there are a lot of misconceptions about Investigations.
“If the students aren’t learning the materials as they should or in a timely manner, the teachers are expected and required to use other methods, including supplemental materials,” Overlander said.
Because everybody learns differently, he said it is hard to say the students are not learning the appropriate material.
Even Shore recognizes that the situation isn’t black and white. She said both her children learning Investigations math are earning As.
However, it’s her concern that she doesn’t know what they’re learning nor if they will be able to take those lessons beyond the classroom.
Community Forum
When: Thursday, Dec. 11
Time: Free chili supper is from 5:30-6 p.m.; presentation from 6-7:15 p.m.
Where: Linn Creek Baptist Church on Route A
Math Help Night
When: Thursday, Dec. 11
Time: 6-7 p.m.
Where: Hawthorne Elementary School in Camdenton
Camdenton, Mo. —
