Parents Question "Fuzzy" Math
Holly Maynard (Penfield, NY) 05/18/05

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Some parents are wondering if a newer way to teach math in some Rochester-area school districts really adds up. They call it "fuzzy math."

Instead of using traditional exercises, the new concept focuses on strategizing, connecting past experiences, and building on them to solve bigger problems and some parents are worried that it's not as effective as the old curriculum.

About three weeks ago, more than 700 people there signed a petition about their concerns and recently gave it to the school board. Many of them say they don't necessarily think the program is bad, they just want their kids to have choice. The board said they'll continue to listen to parents on the issue.

Don Olson of Penfield said he is concerned that the school district is not teaching his children what they need to know. Olson said when he asked his daughter in middle school what 7 times 8 was, she said, "I don't know, but I could figure it out.."

Proponents of the new method say national research shows students thrive using it in the long-term. Judi Fonzi of the University of Rochester has helped secure grants to introduce the concept into some local districts. She said research shows people don't learn by being told, they learn by figuring things out. She also said research also shows students thrive using the concept and it's much more effective at helping them solve real-life problems.

"If you went through your math education thinking it was all about memorizing and 'If I forget it, I'm done. I can't solve the problem. I can't even attack the problem because I can't remember the formula.' That's an awful place to be," she said.

The Penfield School District has been phasing in the concept since the late 1990s. The Greece, Brighton, and Rochester City school districts also used the new method.

Officials at the Greece district said some parents there were really apprehensive about using it in the beginning, but they've provided many parent workshops and informational sessions to help change those attitudes.

Presentation of Petition to the Penfield NY School Board:

To: Dr. Susan Gray and Members of the Penfield School District Board of Education

From: Bill Munch

Subject: Presentation of Math Petition at the 4/26/05 School Board of Education Meeting, Room G-18, Penfield High School, 7 PM

Good evening - Dr. Gray, Mr. Felicetti, other school board members, parents, students, and members of the community. My name is Bill Munch. I have been a resident of Penfield since 1989 and I reside at 1 Peabody Circle.

I come before you tonight to bring the following petition:

We, the undersigned, state that the Investigations, Connected Math, and Core Plus Math programs, recently implemented in the Penfield School District, do not teach the fundamental math skills that children must know to succeed in furthering their education. We therefore ask that a traditional math program be offered as a choice for all Penfield students.

This petition was signed by 671 Penfield residents 18 years of age or older, and 65 residents under 18 years of age.

I am the parent who early in January of this year organized the parent group which created this petition. We are calling ourselves "Parents Concerned with Penfield's Math Programs". This group was formed as a result of many parents' total frustration with these new reformed math programs brought into Penfield Schools starting in 1999. This group currently has about 70 active families, who, in addition to collecting petition signatures, are trying to educate our community on the issues.

What are the issues? At the heart of these issues is a math program which expects students to learn math on their own, through investigative group work in a process referred to as constructivism. Through nationally funded studies many of which were authored by those that don't teach mathematics, investigative group work was shown to be the "best" way to teach mathematics.

Although it has taken some years for Penfield parents to figure out what is really happening, we now understand. Our students are not learning math! Why? Because they are never taught the math in the first place, and have no reference material to learn it on their own. Because multiplication tables and basic number sense are not practiced by our children in elementary schools, they don't have the number sense they need in middle school to understand basic algebra and geometry skills. By the time they reach high school, they are ill prepared for college preparatory classes like calculus, and then it is too late.

Quite disturbing about all of this is our administration's firm belief that these studies absolutely show this is the best way to teach math. The successes of this program are touted based on rising test scores, when in fact there are many factors affecting scores such as watering down of tests, lowering of grades required to pass, many students being tutored, and the list goes on an on. Further, since the start of the reformed math program, over and over again deep concerns have not been answered. It is only since January of this year AFTER the formation of a parent group, that our administration is starting to listen. Yet, at every turn, there is a very limited concern for those children whose lives have already been adversely affected by this program.

Different members of our parent group have met a few times since January with our administrators, and it feels like the same old delay tactics. When we ask, "Why can't we be allowed a choice right now?", the comment is that it must be reviewed by committees. The disturbing fact is that, this program was brought in very quickly with little to no attention given to the comments from those teachers and parents that showed concerns. Our administration can't have it both ways - you can't, on the one hand, bring in a program quickly, and then, on the other hand, tell us it can only be removed based on committees.

We also have been told by our administration that the traditional instruction methods were failing based on looking at math aptitudes in the United States in comparison with other countries. This is then followed by asking: "Isn't the chance of success of improving student's math abilities worth the risk?" We as a parent group say, NO! IT IS NOT WORTH THE RISK! DO NOT EXPERIMENT WITH OUR CHILDREN! Many parents believe that the administrators have forgotten who the customers are - that is us, the parents of the Penfield students, the taxpaying residents of Penfield!

It is difficult for us to put into words the utter distaste for this math program from family after family in our community. Some have thrown their hands up in the air, and now tutor at home or pay for tutors. Others have completely given up and, because of this program, now have their students in private schools. Many of us who live in Penfield tell prospective home buyers not to buy homes in Penfield or other communities using reformed math - and, in fact, several have not.

As you may be aware, this is not just a Penfield issue. There are concerns about reformed math programs in city after city across the United States, including:

Andover, Massachusetts
Alpine School District, Utah
State of Arkansas
Austin, Minnesota
Blue Earth, Minnesota
Boston, Massachusetts
Broward County, Florida
Cattaraugus / Little Valley, New York
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chicago, Illinois
Chippewa Valley, Wisconsin
Exeter, New Hampshire
Fairfax, Virginia
Hopkinton, Mass
Iowa City, Iowa
State of Kentucky
Livonia, Michigan
State of Maine
McFarland, Wisconsin
Montgomery County, Maryland
Mountain View, California
New York City
North Penn School District, Penn
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Okemos, Michigan
Palo Alto, California
Petaluma, California
Plano, Texas
Portland, Oregon
Reading, Massachusetts
San Diego, California
St. Louis, Missouri

Concerns about the math program are best presented by our own Penfield students. I would like to repeat part of what was said at the April 5th Board of Education meeting by two different Penfield High School seniors, especially since these comments were not taped due to technical difficulties:

Samantha Meek, a Penfield High School senior, stated the following: "Believe it or not but some of us students want to learn. There have been students who have gone to math teachers and asked them stop using this book and to teach them something and make them learn and understand math. The frustration level is high among the students. We despise this math program. I cannot give you all the statistics on how well the students do on SATs or other standardized tests but I can tell you that the students are not happy with this program; they hate it."

Katie Elliot, also a Penfield High School senior, stated the following also at the April 5th Board of Education meeting: "Ask any student at PHS and they will honestly tell you how horrible our new program is and how much they dread going to class because they just get confused. I have never talked to someone who took the new program and liked it. Rather, they hate it with a passion and most drop math all together as soon as they can. This I find very sad, because I enjoy math and I believe that many of these students who say that they don't like math, in reality, do not like the style in which it is being taught, and would enjoy math if it were to be taught in the old way."

The time for waiting is over. The time for analysis and test results is over. Our Penfield parent group is asking that ALL Penfield students be allowed to choose traditional math right now.Please remember that the parent group consists of Penfield taxpayers who will use all options open to them, including all voting opportunities, to pursue our goal of having each child in Penfield offered traditional math.

BILL MUNCH
1 Peabody Circle
Penfield, NY 14526

Just so you know this is not one voice speaking out, here is a list of those that reviewed and endorsed this document:

Kelly Battoglia # Pam Beyer # Glenda and Chris Bondy # Matt and Cheryl Brookmire # Mike and Donna Caito # Anand Choudri # Kim Comeau # Lee Drake # Chuck and Linda Dronsfield # John and Eileen Fuest # Matt Geherin # Joe and Nancy Hoover # Michael, Donna and David (student) Kaser # Dr. Linda M. Lee # Benjamin R. Lee # Claudia and Jerry Lioy # David and Darleen Pulito # Eileen Ramos # Chris Schnaufer and Beth Schachtman # Drs. Saul and Alice Sokolow # Kathleen Stear, and Kimberly (9th grade) # Karen and Dan Sweeney # Mary Jo Wells # Joy Zaccardo # Karen and Steve Zilora

Math Petitions to Be Presented to Penfield Board of Education, a press release by "Parents Concerned With Penfield's Math Programs". Contact information: penfieldocm@yahoo.com

Schools Must Face Up to Math Woes
Letter to Penfield Post
By Claudia Lioy
Published 3/17/05

LINK

What constitutes a formidable math curriculum? Penfield Administrators should have pondered that question prior to adopting the reform math programs in 1999. Certainly, they didn't ask parents for advice or approval. Tinkering with mathematics curriculum is a time bomb. There's no stunning proof that these new programs are superior. Conversely, districts across the country are experiencing declining scores and angry parents. While we always strive for better ways to educate and advance our children, we must remember the important lesson that new isn't always better.

Penfield is teeming with well-educated parents. The traditional math program that preceded the reform math was strong because the community sported high expectations for all students. Administrators should have enriched the existing traditional program. It was proven successful and prepared students for the rigors of college. Real world problem solving content could have been added to existing coursework. Furthermore, the traditional program was a better fit with the math standards proposed by NYSED.

Many parents feel disenfranchised by administrators who railroaded these new math programs. It's impossible that so many people are wrong about the inadequacies. Parents who have attempted to address the shortcomings with faculty or administrators have been ignored.

Red flags rise everywhere. Elementary students cry because they can't comprehend homework problems. New math workbooks omit instructional reference materials. Children are dependent on parents for instruction. There's too much group work. Kids can't grasp concepts through discovery and walk away without the intended fundamentals. Math concepts aren't retained because they aren't practiced sufficiently to be ingrained. Students receive inflated math grades that don't equate to their actual knowledge in the areas of study. It's common practice in middle school to resubmit failing tests for revision credit to bolster grades thus creating a dilemma for parents who see grades that reflect high achievement, yet the skills are absent. Many families supplement with tutoring services to assure coverage. Students who once thrived in traditional math programs are disheartened to forfeit leisure time for remediation. Some well-known universities acknowledge that high school graduates from reform math curriculum are unprepared as compared with pupils from traditional programs.

The Penfield School Board has a responsibility to acknowledge the complaints from the numerous parents in the district and to end the stalemate. These problems with the new math program have been swept under the rug for too long. Our children deserve a choice in their math curriculum.

Claudia Lioy
Penfield, NY

Review of TERC

Review of Connected Math

Reviews of Contemporary Mathematics in Context

Honest Open Logical Decisions on Mathematics Education Reform