An Inconvenient Truth: the College Placement "Trap"

I have often talked about the problem of “Algebra Too Soon,” that is, the situation where students are programmed into classes for which they lack the prerequisite knowledge necessary for success in the class.

This creates a "trap."

The “trap” is that students are under such tremendous pressure to perform in the current class that they don’t have the time or the interest to acquire the “missing” knowledge that will make future success possible. When confronted with the stark reality that genuine learning is not taking place, many students, parents, and school counselors con themselves into believing that if we can “just get past this hurdle, everything will be alright.”

This is an illusion whose consequences are not manifested for many years to come. Here is a quote from The Mathematics Association of America website outlining reality for far too many students.

“We begin with a familiar story. A student, we call him Tom, arrives at the University, happy to begin his college adventure. Almost immediately he is confronted with the Mathematics Placement Exam, designed to see if he is ready to enroll in a general education mathematics course (or in a credit-bearing course required by his major). The results of the Placement Exam unfortunately indicate that Tom is not prepared for the course he wants, and he must instead take a Developmental Mathematics Course. The results: he faces adelay in completing the needed mathematics course, he must take (for no credit) a course that he feels he has already taken, and to add insult to injury, he must pay an extra fee for the developmental course. Unhappiness, frustration and despair set in, the course is treated as a lowest priority (and often failed because of it), and an angry and frustrated student emerges.”
(http://www.maa.org/features/112103devmath.html)

This happens thousands of times each year to students who have “passed” all of their required high school math courses, many times with good grades, only to discover that they are being placed in a “Developmental Math” class (a non–credit course) because they lack the knowledge and skills necessary for success with college–level math courses. Many colleges and universities are now giving student a maximum of one year (one semester in some cases) to “catch up” or else be required to leave the college or university until they are “ready” for college–level work.

Not surprisingly, the curriculum of most Developmental Math courses is exactly the material that students and parents choose to bypass years earlier so that the student could “get ready” for college. The “inconvenient truth” is that all of the dire warning about a “lack of foundation being a real problem in the future” are in fact more real than many are able to admit.

Why Mathnasium?

At Mathnasium, higher grades are only the beginning...

Call now and find out how we can help your child succeed in math.

• Improved attitude toward math
• Preparation for success in future math classes
• Preparation for high school graduation and college entrance exams
• Problem Solving skills beyond the classroom
• Greater success in other subjects
• Ability to use math in Life

1–877–MATHNASIUM

Back–to-School Math Checkup

If your child is going into [ask the appropriate grade–level and below grade–level questions]:

• Second Grade: “Efficiently compute: '7 + 8 +9 – 10.'”

• Third Grade: “How much is 99 plus 99 plus 99?”

• Fourth Grade: “Count by 1 3/4 from 0 to 7.”

• Fifth Grade: “Which is greater: 9/10 or 18/19? Explain your answer.”

• Sixth Grade: “Half–way through the second quarter, how much of the game is left?”

• Seventh Grade: “How much is 6 1/2% of 250?”

• Pre–Algebra: “On a certain map, 6 inches represent 25 miles. How many miles does 15 inches represent?”

• Algebra: “Solve '4x + 3 = 0' mentally (by inspection).”

Back–to–School Checklist

1) Are your child’s math skills ready for the coming school year?

2) Is your child being placed in the right math class?

3) Do you have resources identified in case your child needs extra help with math?

A Radio Ad in Blog Form

Female voice #1:

I just heard about a thing called the, “Mathnasium ‘Power Math Workout.’”


Female voice #2:

Yeah, my Katie goes to our Mathnasium Learning Center twice, sometimes three times a week for her workout.

Not only have they filled–in the gaps that have always plagued Katie in math, they actually teach her how to understand the math she’s doing, and they challenge her to really think.


Female voice #1:

My Jamie has always done okay in math. Can they help him, too?


Female voice #2:

That’s why the Power Math Workouts are so cool.

No matter what children’s level, Mathnasium helps to make kids better mathematical thinkers and better problem solvers.


Female voice #1:

Wow...fill–in the gaps, learning basic skills, thinking skills, and problem solving... Mathnasium sounds like the right place for our family!


Sincere Math Voice:

Mathnasium, where math makes sense to kids.

Call 877-531-MATH, and let your child have the “Mathnasium Experience.”

Larry's “Do’s” and “Don’ts” for Parents

Do’s:

One Major Math Tip Per Grade Level

Do check to see if your child:

Second Grade: Is “fluid” with single–digit addition and subtraction.

Third Grade: Can find half (1/2) of even and odd numbers.

Fourth Grade: Knows times tables “by heart.”

Fifth Grade: Can order fractions using benchmark numbers.

Sixth Grade: Is able to mentally calculate percents using “friendly” numbers.

Seventh Grade: Is able to convert fractions to decimals to percents.

Pre–Algebra: Can effortlessly add and subtract positive and negative
numbers.

Algebra: Is able to solve simple equations “by inspection.”

For our free booklets
Math Tips for Parents—Grades K to 5 and
Math Tips for Students—Grades 6 and Up,
please call 1–877–MATHNASIUM.

Don’ts

1) Don’t let your negative experiences in the math classroom influence your child’s education.

2) Don’t let your child use a calculator until the child has developed genuine Number Sense.

3) Don't let your child be put in a math class that the child is not ready for, that is, a class where the child does not have the prerequisite knowledge necessary for success in the class.

To find a Learning Center near you,
visit www.MATHNASIUM.com.

How is your child doing in Math?

How is your child doing in Math?

If your child is typical, everyday he or she is losing ground to students all over the world who preparing themselves for success in the future, which includes, like it nor not, a lot of math.

In December 2004, the Wall Street Journal reported that American kids are sitting on “Economic Timebomb” because they not learning enough math to be the good problem solvers the new millennium demands.

Whether your child needs to catch up or needs to be challenged at a higher level, Mathnasium has the program for you. The Mathnasium Method is an approach to teaching that makes it possible for students of all ability levels to learn math.

We help kids catch up, keep up, and get ahead. Amazing things can happen in 6 to 12 of high energy, focused instruction.

Our core program is for students in grades 2 through Algebra 1. We also offer Higher Math and Early Childhood programs.

Give us a call at 877–531–MATH and find out how we can help improve your child’s math skills. Check us out on the web at www.MATHNASIUM.com and discover the Mathnasium Difference.

"Re–form" in Math Education and How It Affects Your Child

I started teaching in Los Angeles schools in 1974. 33 years and countless “reform” movements later, mathematics education has been “re-formed” into a disaster of epic proportions. The past 50 years have seen rise and decline of Traditional Math, New Math, Back–to–Basics, and Constructivist Math (not to be confused with "Constructive Math").

Thousands of students in Los Angeles City Schools, and thousands more in schools around the country, will not get a high school diploma because they have not passed first year, college–prep Algebra.

Why? Because as Supt. Roy Romer says, “I think it is the cumulative failure of our ability to teach math adequately in the public school system.” He is right. It is the failure to ensure that students acquire number sense in the elementary grades and solid pre–algebra skills in middle school, together with the fact that students are year–after–year put in classes for which they do not have the prerequisite knowledge for success. Under these conditions, it is not surprising that more than half of the students taking Algebra Fail or get a D.

Until these three things, acquisition of number sense, pre–algebra preparation, and class placement, are properly addressed, all attempts at “reform” will continue to be no more fruitful than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

"Math Wars"

Before getting into the details of the "Mathnasium Method," I feel obliged here to point out the existence of the so-called "Math Wars."

Math education was changed forever when the Russian launched the Sputnik rocket in 1957, and thus became the first country to put an object in Space.

Teaching Math in 1950:

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?


Teaching Math in 1960:

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?


Teaching Math in 1970:

A logger exchanges a set “L” of lumber for a set “M” of money. The cardinality of set “M” is 100. Each element is worth one dollar. Make 100 dots representing the elements of the set “M”. The set “C”, the cost of production, contains 20 fewer points than set “M.” Represent the set “C” as a subset of set “M” and answer thefollowing question: What is the cardinality of the set “P” for profits?


Teaching Math in 1980:

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. Her cost of production is $80 and her profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.


Teaching Math in 1990:

By cutting down beautiful forest trees, the logger makes $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the forest birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down the trees? There are no wrong answers.

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* Many people perceive the above to be a more–or–less acurate summary of the last five decades of mathematics education in the United States. [Received anonymously from the Internet.]

People don't "hate" math...



...What they hate is being confused, embarrassed, and intimidated by math.

Through a combination of uneven teaching, poor work habits, and ever changing societal expectations, most people leave school with the impression that math is an endless collection of facts, concepts, and procedures that have no apparent connection to each other and little or no use ouside of the classroom.

As this blog unfolds, you will see that in fact math can be learned in a very different way, one that displays the beauty and interconnected nature of mathematics and provides valuable life-long tools for the learner.