http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Jun/20080611News006.asp
Professors=92 petition critical of state math guidelines
By JANESE HEAVIN of the Tribune=92s staff
Published Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Missouri students aren=92t prepared to take higher-level mathematics
courses in college, said a group of math professors who fear that
proposed state guidelines will worsen the situation.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in March
released a draft re****t of what will eventually dictate what students
should be learning in math cl*****.
As proposed, those learning targets aren=92t spelled out clearly enough
to ensure students are being prepared for college-level work,
according to a letter and petition signed by more than 50 math
professors from the University of Missouri, Wa****ngton University and
the Missouri University of Science and Technology, formerly the
University of Missouri-Rolla.
The letter was sent last month to DESE and to the Department of Higher
Education. It was co-authored by MU College of Arts and Science Dean
Michael O=92Brien and President Emeritus Melvin George. MU math Chairman
Mark Ashbaugh also signed the letter, as did math Professor Jan
Segert, whose wife, Ines, is on the Columbia Board of Education and is
a critic of Columbia Public Schools=92 current math curriculum.
The proposed state standards are "not written with enough precision,
and that makes them very difficult to be implemented," MU math
Professor Dan Edidin said. "Instead of saying something like,
=91Students need to be able to multiply three-digit numbers,=92 it fails
to say something as simple as that. ... It=92s extremely fuzzy language.
Our concern is that we expect, as college professors, students to know
how to do certain things. But the state standards never come out and
quite say that."
The mathematicians also contend that the proposed guidelines do not
align with a re****t released by the National Mathematics Advisory
Panel. Specifically, the national re****t advises states to avoid any
language that suggests either student-centered or teacher-directed
instruction. That "contrasts sharply with the =91student centered=92 focus
dominating the Missouri K-12 do***ent, which repeatedly prescribes
that students =91explore,=92 =91investigate,=92 =91develop models,=92 and
=
=91conduct
experiments,=92 " the letter says.
David Geary, a curator=92s professor in MU=92s Psychological Sciences
Department who specializes in the way children learn math, served on
the national math panel. While he didn=92t sign the letter to DESE, he
agrees the state do***ent should better mirror national standards.
"I=92d hate to see any state, especially my own, not take advantage of"
the re****t, he said. "Statements in the Missouri math framework are
based on assumptions that aren=92t always sup****ted by our literature
review," Geary said. "Discovery learning, everyday problem solving,
sometimes work but there are many conditions under which it does
work."
Cindy Bryant, DESE mathematics consultant and co-chairwoman of the
writing team that developed the proposed standards, said input from
math professors will be taken into consideration. Additionally, she
said, state learning targets must align with national *****sments and
with input from classroom teachers who understand students=92 needs. The
do***ent also is being aligned with college-level competencies, the
minimum skills students need to transition from high school
mathematics to college algebra.
The K-12 do***ent does not address traditional versus concepts-based
curriculum.
The teaching of concepts-based math in Columbia Public Schools has
created a heated debate between educators who say students need to
understand numbers and parents who believe their children need to
learn basic math facts. The national math re****t dubs debates between
the two camps as "misguided" because students need both concepts and
memorization of math facts.
"You can=92t just throw problems on a page and have kids do them," Geary
said. "You need practice that involves different types of operations."
At the same time, he said, curricula such as the Investigations into
Numbers, Data and Space used in Columbia "are not designed as well as
they could be and are probably not enough. To do this right will take
a lot of effort and a lot of work."
Reach Janese Heavin at (573) 815-1705 or jheavin@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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