Teach Effectively!

The folks over at Where’s the Math are still raising a ruckus—andconsciouness— about the need for effective instruction in arithmetic and mathematics. Having not visited for a couple of weeks, I flitted over there today and found that WtM people have another video (Cliff Mass, a professor of atmospheric sciences recites a devastating litany of problems with the education in-coming university students receive and calls for reform), new endorsements by professional mathematicians, and lots of other content.

WtM is located in the US state of Washington, but many of the points it makes are relevant to arithmetic and mathematics instruction elsewhere. For example, the group’s examination of the standards and recommendations of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics makes brutally how those standards and recommendations are mis-serving students. NCTM is influential in every state in the US, so parents elsewhere can use these data.

The coalition of scientists and parents in this endeavor reminds me of a similar coalition that formed in the 1980s and 90s when a group of eminent linguists, to the delight of a small group of educators interested in reading and a large group of distraught parents, clearly stated that the claims of advocates for whole language literacy instruction were based on bogus interpretations of linguist theory and evidence. It would be good to see whether a blue-ribbon group of mathematicians would consider today’s arithmetic and mathematics instruction to merit acclaim or criticism.

Link to the Where’s the Math site.