CVUSD Everyday Math curriculum

Twice rejected by CA State Board of Education

By Jo Anne Cobasko

Back to School Advice Fall 2005

Parents owe it to their children to become informed about Constructivism and how it is impacting the education being provided in public schools. This latest teaching fad, also known as discovery based instruction, insists that knowledge discovered through cooperative group activities is the best method for learning. Teachers in this model are relegated to the role of “facilitator,” no longer are they experts providing direct instruction. Today’s teachers are trained to circulate among classroom groups asking probing questions, being careful not to provide answers or specific directions on how to accomplish tasks.

Constructivism is at the heart of the “whole math” programs such as Everyday Math and several other similar curricula whose efficacy has been publicly questioned by mathematicians and scientists alike. In spite of numerous scientific studies which indicate that discovery based teaching methods are vastly inferior to direct instruction, administrators and education experts ignore these facts and continue to promote discovery based programs with no apparent regard for the negative impact on student achievement.

The Conejo Valley Unified School District adopted the Everyday Math program even though this Constructivist math curriculum has been rejected twice by the State Board of Education for failing to meet California Math Standards. Parents can access Save Our Children from Mediocre Math (SOCMM) at http://socmm.home.att.net to learn more on this subject and for links on how to supplement a child’s math education.

Originally published in the Ventura County Star August 23, 2005

Jo Anne Cobasko is the founder of

Save Our Children from Mediocre Math

Web site: http://socmm.home.att.net

Project Follow Through is a 27 year study conducted on teaching philosophies and techniques which cost taxpayers 1 billion dollars. Test results consistently showed that the highest student achievement resulted from Direct Instruction. Read more about the study at this link, and discover how the Educators (embarrassed by these findings) fought and succeeded in burying these results. http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~adiep/ft/151toc.htm

Never Heard of It – the response of the President of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) when asked about Project Follow Through.

http://www.mathematicallycorrect.com/never.htm

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Constructivism and Everyday Math in the CVUSD

SOCMM