Standards-based math instruction

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

I am a resource specialist. Our district has adopted a new standards-based math instruction for all grades. This entails many skills for which some of my students do not have the prerequisite skills. Most parents understand this concept. How do I communicate to other parents the need for teaching the prerequisites (whole number operations, decimals, fractions, etc.) before I devote my time to teaching ordered pairs, algebraic expressions, prime factorization, exponents, etc. Parents would like to see me do both and, in my limited time with kids, that’s impossible. Thanks for any suggestions.

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 04/26/2003 - 5:49 PM

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We are both in CA. I would do this by simply using the assessment data. Period. You can show where the child is. Math is like no other area in that skills are built upon skills. Missing skills spell disaster.

Our standards are so aggressive our teachers are teaching math twice per day in an attempt to get students ready for the STAR testing. Only the brightest students are mastering these standards.

In my RSP program I teach the students what they need to learn to move on the the next “layer” of skills. Parents understand this just fine.

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 04/27/2003 - 1:56 AM

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Don’t give in to it.
If you can get ‘em knowing how to add fractions with different denominators, and the difference between 3 times 3 and 3 to the third power, they’ll be ahead of lots of high school graduates who’ve been exposed to all of those standards.

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 04/28/2003 - 3:00 AM

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Dear Anitya,
Thanks for your input. That’s exactly what I have been communicating to parents (and teachers) and will continue to do so. The real challenge I face is when my students are placed in GATE clusters. At my school, we have only two classrooms per grade level in the upper grades, and I must place some students in these GATE clusters. There’s some pressure from GATE teachers that I support my kids with the standards-based math instruction. I am very curious how other RSPTs are handling all the issues that have arisen with the new math adoption. Which district are you with? I’m with San Diego.

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