GEORGIA adopts new Math approach

[starbright]

The system you describe sounds like the one where we live (in our province in Canada). We have never had the labels you read about but the kids go through many topics every year (in a spiral).

So D doesn't have a class called "algebra" or "geometry" or "trig" but has all those topics each year in advancing degrees from Math 8 to Math 12 (the latter can be taken concurrently with calculus).

It seems to work very well (in terms of how they do in sciences and math assessments at the world level), but also for college prep it seems to pose no disadvantage that I can see.

I have no idea about Japanese methods nor pedagogy however. I also would NOT say its integrated.

I think you can teach in a spiral fashion as they do, without necessarily being whole or integrated. You can also have the pedagogy described above in Japan with any kind of sequence. There are a lot of dimensions to teaching math and I think most of us really don't understand them.

[mommusic]

When I saw this thread today I didn't realize it was the same one I commented on in 2008! Still a relevant topic, I see.

Thanks for the update. IMO, the spiral approach is good, and is the way many subjects are taught, being reinforced and expanded upon year after year.

That is different from "discussions" and group work where the kids have to reinvent math and are not taught the algorithms they need. That is just time-wasting foolishness.

[cocoa'smom]

Hate, Hate, Hate Georgia's integrated math. Instead of Algrebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Trig, and Calculus, they have Math I, II, and III that integrate all of those plus statistics. My DS is a freshman in high school. Luckily, he is good in math and it comes easily for him. His teacher this year and last were completely over their heads. Part of this new math is group learning. The kids get into groups of 4 and are supposed to teach each other. REALLY??? What if none of them understand it? Or if one understands but is shy and one doesn't understand but thinks they do and has a more forceful personality? Last year when my son's group would try to ask the teacher a question, she just told them to go back and work in their group. I have proof that she did not understand what she was supposed to be teaching (long story!). They are supposed to integrate reading into math. Last year his teacher had the students keep a Math journal. Every 3 weeks they were supposed to write have a minimum of 10 one-page papers on math in their journals. It could be about a math problem they were having trouble with and how they solved it, how they used math in their day-to-day life that day, pretend they are a teacher and teach a math problem - they had more writing about math than they had actual math homework. After a few months it disappeared - I think the school must have had a LOT of complaints. A friend of mine is an 8th grade math teacher. One of her frustrations is that a lot of her students are immigrants. Math came easy to many of her students because math is math - numbers are numbers, no matter the language. Now they have to be able to write in English about math - what's the point? Very frustrating.

What happens when a student moves into our state or moves from our state to another. They will be totally lost. I've heard from parents who have moved their kids to private school that the kids are not up to par with the other students who have been taught traditional math (Algebra, Geometry, etc. in a separate year) and have to take a remedial math class or get tutored to catch up. Our kids are guinea pigs. I fully expect them to do away with this math program at some point. All the teachers I've spoken to agree. It wil be too late for my son, but hopefully he will be OK since math concepts come easily to him.

I blame the state of Georgia and the legislature for this, as well as the poor training our county gave the teachers. The states they looked to for this program are abandoning it. It is a travesty.

[getalifemom]

H teaches 5th grade Math. His grade is departmentalized, meaning he teaches only Math to all 5th graders. In K-4, though, classes are self-contained. Unfortunately for students, many teachers choose Early Childhood Education in college to minimize the amount of math they must take for a college degree. Guess who doesn't understand or know how to teach Math? Each year his students arrive less proficient than the year before. This year even his gifted students are struggling with their times tables.

H can always tell which teacher his students had in 4th grade. Only one understands math completely, one somewhat, and the other does skits and posters. Her room is beautiful and she is regularly singled out for accolades, including teacher of the year. Oh, and she has her doctorate degree. Somehow she is allowed to let her students take their state exam at the group tables she uses (better for poster making) rather than separated desks. H does credit her with being bright enough to make sure each table has one smart kid.

The new grading system being implemented is even brighter - 1's, 2's, and 3's. No letter grades, no numeric grades. Try and get a 1, set up a problem correctly but incorrect answer scores a 2, correct answer is a 3. A 2 is considered passing!! Everyone passes, everyone graduates - Go Georgia!!!!!

[RebelCats]

Getalifemom; is that a county thing or are they trying to push that grading system statewide? I ask because I have not heard about that and my kids just got report cards the other day and it was the grading scale.

[getalifemom]

Sorry for the late response - it's coming statewide, I believe. I'll ask H for current info - the last I heard was after an introductory meeting letting teachers know what's in the pipeline.

[jablalf]

As Georgia HS senior, luckily I haven't had any firsthand experience with this integrated math but I've watched as freshman and sophomores fall behind. My school ran statistics last year and saw that something like 50% of 9th and 10th were failing math, so to counter that they began to gradeflate everything. Now, virtually nobody fails Math I/II because students are allowed to retake each test up to 3 times. In the meanwhile, standardized test scores remain the same or have decreased. Yikes.

[kaebug92]

I am a high school senior and this years freshmen math classes have about a 50% fail rate at my school so far. It is obviously not working esp since there are very bright freshmen that i know of and they are struggling this semester