Connected Math

I would seriously reconsider this as a sole curriculum.. While I have been open minded about it as a good tool to have students learn math while “immersing” them in problem solving they have had serious problems with it as we use it as our only curriculum and there is so much reading and writing without any practice and algorathims they are frequently lost and often shut down. Parents hate it.. I have posted below a message I sent earlier so you can see my experience and the research done to evaluate this curriculum. Hope it helps!

This is my third year co teaching in an inclusion classroom in a math class teaching mathematics. I have done alot of research on the effectiveness of connective math and it has not been very positive. Try the website http://www.mathematicallycorrect.com/programs.htm to get a review of variety of math curriculums. They reported that a F was too high of a grade for connected math.They listed several other curriculums that meet the performance standards at this web site. I have to admit I like the concept of realistic problem solving and scenarios so that student are doing more than problems and worksheets. However it is sorely lacking in algorythms, examples and is far from parent friendly. I have to frequently look at the answer key to assist my students. (and I am in my 3rd year in these books) The problem is that parents don’t speak up. We need more parents to speak out and implement a lawsuit if necessary because there is no way we can meet the goals and objective on our students IEPs with using connective math as a sole curriculum like in my county. In fact we have been “warned” not to use anything else. A lawsuit was done in Texas a few years back and the parents won! In the end the students loose (high school teachers in our county are reporting to me profound deficits in math skills when they get to Algebra), teachers are frustrated in student failure and parents give up because they can’t understand the work themselves

We use Connecting Math with our LD students that have severe math deficits. These students are not included in the regular ed for math. They are making good progress and seem to enjoy the program. This is our 2nd year using it with these students and they will continute using it into middle school because it is working for them. I especially like the program because it comes back and reviews/reteaches what has been covered previously.

I tried this for 2 weeks and hated it. I find it difficult to follow and BORING to teach.
Michelle

I would seriously reconsider this as a sole curriculum.. While I have been open minded about it as a good tool to have students learn math while “immersing” them in problem solving they have had serious problems with it as we use it as our only curriculum and there is so much reading and writing without any practice and algorathims they are frequently lost and often shut down. Parents hate it.. I have posted below a message I sent earlier so you can see my experience and the research done to evaluate this curriculum. Hope it helps!

This is my third year co teaching in an inclusion classroom in a math class teaching mathematics. I have done alot of research on the effectiveness of connective math and it has not been very positive. Try the website http://www.mathematicallycorrect.com/programs.htm to get a review of variety of math curriculums. They reported that a F was too high of a grade for connected math.They listed several other curriculums that meet the performance standards at this web site. I have to admit I like the concept of realistic problem solving and scenarios so that student are doing more than problems and worksheets. However it is sorely lacking in algorythms, examples and is far from parent friendly. I have to frequently look at the answer key to assist my students. (and I am in my 3rd year in these books) The problem is that parents don’t speak up. We need more parents to speak out and implement a lawsuit if necessary because there is no way we can meet the goals and objective on our students IEPs with using connective math as a sole curriculum like in my county. In fact we have been “warned” not to use anything else. A lawsuit was done in Texas a few years back and the parents won! In the end the students loose (high school teachers in our county are reporting to me profound deficits in math skills when they get to Algebra), teachers are frustrated in student failure and parents give up because they can’t understand the work themselves

We use Connecting Math with our LD students that have severe math deficits. These students are not included in the regular ed for math. They are making good progress and seem to enjoy the program. This is our 2nd year using it with these students and they will continute using it into middle school because it is working for them. I especially like the program because it comes back and reviews/reteaches what has been covered previously.

I tried this for 2 weeks and hated it. I find it difficult to follow and BORING to teach.
Michelle