Controversial math books get go-ahead from Menlo Park City School District

The Menlo Park City School District is going ahead with plans to roll out new math textbooks in the fall, despite the vocal opposition of a group of parents.

School board members appeared surprised by the controversy, and said at the March 24 meeting that they would do more to explain their decision to use Everyday Mathematics and dispel parents’ “misconceptions” about the program.

“I don’t appreciate a process in which the community was almost totally shut out,” parent Perla Ni told the school board. “The choice of a math curriculum needs to be a total community process.”

The board approved the adoption of the textbooks in December, on the recommendation of a committee made up of teachers and administrators. At the March 24 meeting, a number of parents complained that they had just heard about the adoption of Everyday Mathematics and that the adoption decision was poorly publicized.

“Every parent I talked to was unaware (of the decision),” said Claire Giordano at the meeting. “I think any new curriculum, especially one as dramatically different as this one, needs parent involvement.”

Several people said they’d done Google searches and found scathing indictments of the textbooks — that kindergarteners learn to use calculators instead of learning basic math, that strange alternative algorithms for multiplication, like the “lattice method,” are taught in place of traditional ones, and that students are left frustrated and in need of supplemental math tutoring.

David Ackerman, the principle of Oak Knoll school, said those accusations simply are not true, and warned people that just because there’s a lot of criticism on the Web doesn’t mean it’s valid. Try Googling “creation science,” and you’ll find a lot of hits, but it doesn’t mean that creation science is valid or meaningful, he said.

“I have the third-grade textbook. Nowhere does it say to use calculators for learning basic math,” Mr. Ackerman told the board, waving the textbook in the air. “Out of 600 pages, there are three pages on the lattice method.”

He said he was troubled by the amount of misinformation about Everyday Mathematics and he questioned the motivation behind it.

Superintendent Ken Ranella said that Menlo Park’s math scores on the state STAR tests are very high. “A lot of districts would die for 80-85 percent of their kids (testing at) proficient or advanced. I don’t think we’re going to do something to go back on that.”

Board members said they supported the decision to go with Everyday Mathematics, but that they clearly needed to do more to explain that choice to the community.

“A meaningful part of this community is not understanding this issue,” said board member Jeff Child. “There’s a group out there that is going to be trying to destroy this program, this book, from day one.”

A written response to criticisms and questions about Everyday Mathematics will be sent out to parents, and Mr. Ackerman said he would hold a “math night” at Oak Knoll School so parents can examine the textbooks themselves.

“I have confidence and faith in the teachers and administrators who looked at (Everyday Mathematics),” said board member Mark Box, referring to the district’s year-long study of various math textbooks. “It’s not replacing basic and computational (skills) but enriching them with a deeper understanding of mathematics.”

The “Everyday Mathematics” textbooks are being used in the nearby Woodside and Portola Valley school districts, but a recent recommendation to adopt them in the Palo Alto Unified School District has stirred up a great deal of controversy.

“If Palo Alto wasn’t buzzing about this, there probably would not be a buzz (about it) here,” said Mr. Child.

Better math

The discussion about Everyday Mathematics occurred after a three-hour study session about the district’s overall approach to math instruction while agitated parents waited for a chance to speak. David Foster, director of the Silicon Valley Math Initiative, discussed the importance of teacher training.

The Silicon Valley Math Initiative, funded by the Noyce Foundation, offers professional development and funding to improve mathematics instruction.

“We get way too hung up on the curriculum. The curriculum will never do it — it’s about the teaching, so preparing our teachers is the answer,” Mr. Foster said.

He also advocated better testing and assessment methods, and cultivating a positive attitude and a deeper understanding of mathematics in students.

“Almost 85 percent (of students) are advanced or proficient in math. It’s a real success story,” said Mr. Ackerman. “Our kids are really good at arithmetic. Our concern is the problem-solving. With real-world problems, the arithmetic is fine, but the problem-solving is not.”

He also discussed disbanding the practice of grouping elementary school students by ability in math, an idea supported by fellow principals Nancy Hendry of Laurel and Alison Liner of Encinal schools.

“It’s putting kids on a track that’s limiting them,” said Ms. Liner. “This is about increasing opportunities for all kids in third and fourth grades so they can achieve in the higher grades.”

Hillview principal Mike Moore said the district needs to do more to address what he called the “underclass of math students” that reach middle school feeling lost when it comes to math.

District officials also discussed problems surrounding the impending state mandate to have all eighth-graders take Algebra I.

“Eighth-grade algebra is an artificial benchmark,” said Mr. Foster. “I wouldn’t have been a math major if I’d had to know algebra in eighth grade. There’s no way I would have been ready.”

Math, he said, is not a race.