Does new TTSD math program add up?

Parents for Math Choice plan to speak before the Tigard-Tualatin School Board tonight

By Jennifer Clampet

The Times, Dec 11, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (14 Reader comments)

ADVERTISEMENTS

A new approach to teaching math is shaking up more than just the classrooms in Tigard-Tualatin’s secondary schools. Some parents are afraid it’s giving their kids a shaky foundation for mathematics.

Tigard Tualatin School District Curriculum Director Carla Randall says feedback from parents on the district’s new secondary schools’ College Preparatory Math curriculum has been overwhelmingly positive.

“My kid never did well in math, and now he’s getting good grades,” Randall said as she recited testimony parents have given through phone calls and meetings with school principals and teachers.

Carol Feng has heard the same thing from parents just with a much different inflection.

“My kid never did well in math, and now they’re getting ‘A’s.”

Feng contends that CPM isn’t a miracle program, that it wasn’t designed to turn struggling students into straight ‘A’ students over-night.

Feng and a group of parents calling themselves Parents for Math Choice are questioning the rigor and content of the new math curriculum. Feng admits originally her concerns were for the advanced students. Feng worried that the new math approach wasn’t challenging enough for advanced students.

And with degrees in electrical engineering and computer science, Feng says a foundation of understanding math concepts is crucial for anyone interested in pursuing an engineering or science degree.

Without a good foundation, a student can’t succeed in college. But just within the last few weeks, Feng said parents of students who once struggled in math have sought her out to tell her “My kid never did well in math, and now they’re getting ‘A’s,” raising concerns that the program may be too easy.

And as some parents began to pick apart the research behind CPM as a successful curriculum, Randall said she stands by CPM as “the best choice for the district.”

But could the math curriculum be too easy? Are students learning enough? And will the new program do what it’s supposed to do — prepare students for college math courses?

What is CPM?

In a questions and answers brochure distributed by the school district, CPM is described as a math curriculum that has a record of improving student understanding and achievement in math.

1 | 2 Next Page >>