EdAction
Maple River Education Coalition PAC
105 Peavey Rd, St 116
Chaska, MN
55318
952-361-4931
http://www.EdAction.org
E-mail
March 8, 2001r
Print Version
By CHRISTINE RUPP
Thursday, March 8, 2001
Sentinel Staff Writer
BLUE EARTH -- In his opinion, the Core-Plus Mathematics Project, and other integrated curricula like it, do not benefit students, said Dr. Lawrence Gray.
Gray, the director of undergraduate studies in the School of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota, was asked to speak to Blue Earth students, parents, teachers and school board members at a meeting Wednesday.
He said Core-Plus, which was named as one of the five exemplary math programs by the Department of Education, actually places Core-Plus students behind traditional students in college math courses. (See the "Open Letter to Richard Riley," Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, signed by two hundred science and math professors)
The Core-Plus program, which was developed, in part, to help students in the United States get into a comparative realm in math scores with students around the world, was piloted in Michigan schools, and according to the Core-Plus Web site, the results are good, said Blue Earth Area Superintendent Tim Collins.
The only concern brought to his attention is that algebra is not addressed early enough in the Core-Plus program, which is something he wants to address.
However, Gray said the claims on the Core-Plus Web site are unsubstantiated.
Core-Plus itself was introduced in 1997, and the BEA school district is in its third year of offering Core-Plus classes, Gray said. There is not enough research in the four years Core-Plus has been around to support the claims of success on the Web site, he said. Gray said he considers the Core-Plus program to still be in its experimental stage.
Until there is sufficient research to show how the top 20 percent of math students are affected by Core-Plus or other programs like it, schools should still offer students traditional math options, he said.
Traditional math was in place before the math scores of U.S. students began slipping, Gray said, so he doesn't know if it's right to place the blame on the traditional way of teaching math.
He also said that math in Japan and Singapore and other nations where the students have higher math scores does not look like the lessons offered in Core-Plus classes or other integrated classes.
Lessons in other countries look much like our traditional math lessons, although in other countries the algebra and geometry are taught side by side, he said.
Gray said he is not opposed to reform, but said one of the main problems with Core-Plus material is that it is "riddled with lots of errors."
Core-Plus, which focuses on integrating the different types of math, such as geometry, algebra and trigonometry, and applying them to real-life solutions, often contains false real-life information, Gray said.
"It's amazing how often ... that part is wrong," he said, speaking of the errors in problems that try to relate math to other areas such as geography, electrical engineering or physics.
One example Gray used was a lesson in which students are asked to model a bungee jump apparatus with rubber bands and fishing weights. The students are supposed to plot a graph depicting weight vs. stretch, and in the teacher's guide it says the graph should be linear, Gray said.
However, the graph derived from such an experiment is non-linear, he said. These types of errors are found about every five pages in the Core-Plus textbooks, he said.
If it takes faulty information to put math problems in a real-life context, then maybe that's not the best thing for students, Gray said.
"I don't know how they're going to fix that," he said.
In an ideal world, educators would take traditional math lessons and work in correlation with other departments and other educators to add some integration into traditional lessons, Gray said.
Physicists, engineers and geography teachers could take some of the information in the Core-Plus textbooks, correct it, and teach some of the math problems in their own classes to help integrate the traditional lessons, he said.
This would give students the stability of traditional math problems but also open them up to more complicated and diverse mathematics applications.
However, one of the big concerns with traditional math classes that led to the development of Core-Plus is the segregation in traditional math classes, Collins said. In traditional math, students either do well or they don't. With the group work in Core-Plus classes, more students are encouraged to work through problems for the correct answers.
If a student feels secure with Core-Plus lessons, then Gray said he would be fine with that as long as that student did not come to the University of Minnesota expecting to do well in college math.
Although it is not proven that a student who excels in Core-Plus will have difficulty in college math courses, all his experience indicates that is what will happen, Gray said.
In a study of 150 college math students, 60 did not continue with their classes in later semesters, Gray said. Thirty of those students did not have enough high school math to prepare them for college math, he said.
However, the other 30 students were not able to understand the material taught in the classes, Gray said. Two of those students came from traditional math programs, and 28 of those students came from integrated math programs like Core-Plus, he said.
Collins said he has received data from several sources stating the exact opposite of Gray's findings.
However, Gray said the only place he has seen research that gives supporting numbers for Core-Plus classes is on the Core-Plus Web site.
The Core-Plus Web site also admitted that Core-Plus students are behind traditional students when it comes to manipulative skills, he said.
Collins, who noted the difference in opinion between the mathematics education community and the mathematicians community, questioned whether Gray is a strong traditional mathematics advocate.
It is confusing to try to make the best curriculum decision for students when mathematics education professionals "overwhelmingly" support Core-Plus and Gray and other mathematicians talk about the disadvantages of the Core-Plus program, Collins said.
Collins wanted to know what Gray would do if he were the BEA superintendent.
If he really were the superintendent, then the students would be his first priority, Gray said.
He can't say whether he would choose to implement the Core-Plus program, but he did say it is only fair to offer a choice, at least until the Core-Plus program has been around long enough to offer definitive research results.
One of the major concerns parents have expressed about the Core-Plus classes is not being able to help their children with homework, Collins said. He asked Gray how many parents are able to help their children with traditional math problems.
The parents who are usually the most upset about homework problems are the parents who have the background, such as engineering, physics or chemistry, to help their students but can't with the Core-Plus problems, Gray said.
Casey Barnes, a BEAHS junior and the student council secretary, said it isn't necessarily the Core-Plus math that worries her as much as being ready for the ACT and SAT tests.
Gray said he doesn't know how Core-Plus students perform on ACT and SAT tests compared to traditional students.
Any three-year math program is sufficient for admission into the University of Minnesota, Gray said, and placement within university math classes is determined by math placement tests.
However, Gray said students from other integrated math programs that have been around longer than Core-Plus do not fare as well on math placement tests.
Core-Plus students who are behind in math when they reach college may have to take extra classes in college to make up for it, Gray said.
Barnes, who is in Core-Plus 3 this year and gets A's and B's in her math classes, said that what most people don't see are the extra hours before school and during free periods that she goes in for extra help.
Her grades are not indicative of how much she's learning or how well she understands the material, Barnes said.
Now Barnes wonders if she should go all the way through Core-Plus 4 or try to get into Algebra 1 for her senior year.
Since the school has not yet adopted Core-Plus 4, it is still possible to have an option in the senior year, Gray said. He also advised Barnes to take that option and get the algebra that might be missing in her Core-Plus lessons.
"I definitely think the parents need to fight for an option," Barnes said, although she admitted she is not sure if she would prefer to take a 10th grade class during her senior year or opt for Core-Plus 4.
For other parents who raised concerns about wanting their children to understand traditional math and get the necessary understanding of algebra and geometry, Gray suggested they get together in groups and take extra math lessons out of traditional textbooks.
He suggested "New Elementary Mathematics," which is a series of books printed in Singapore. Gray pointed out that the algebra and geometry are side-by-side in the book and the problems look nothing like they do in the Core-Plus textbooks.
One mother there said that with the effort of the school's teachers there is hope for the Core-Plus students. Her daughter was in the Core-Plus 1-3 classes, and she recently took college placement exams.
"All is not lost," the mother said.
Core Plus and other integrated math programs are often favored because they meet the performance requirements of the Profile of Learning.