NEWS

Why Common Core math still causes headaches

Kirsten Clark
@kirstenlmclark

Late last month, a frustrated father’s check to his son’s elementary school written using “Common Core numbers” garnered tens of thousands of likes and shares on Facebook reigniting years-old debates about the merits of math education in the Common Core era.

The internet war was waged.

Bloggers said the Ohio dad “doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” and social media users lobbed months-old videos — like “Why is Math Different Now?” and “Arkansas Mother Obliterates Common Core in 4 Minutes” — back and forth across Facebook walls.

As Kentucky enters its fifth year since adoption of the federal standards, the way in which kids these days are taught math continues to be polarizing.

The Courier-Journal sought answers to questions about what is perhaps the most controversial development in mathematics instruction since New Math.

Q: Is my kid is learning Common Core math?

If you attend a public school in Kentucky, yes. Indiana withdrew from the Common Core last summer and has since developed a state-specific set of standards, called College and Career Readiness standards. Still, those standards are similar to Common Core in that they both call for a deeper understanding of math concepts.

Lynn Smith, a math specialist with JCPS, talks about the basic principles of Common Core math.

Q: What is “Common Core math?”

While "Common Core math" has become synonymous with skip counting and other seemingly convoluted methods for solving problems, it mainly is just a departure from how most of us learned math. JCPS elementary math specialist Lynn Smith described the way most of us learned math as memorizing “sets of procedural skills and mnemonic devices” that would lead us to the answer quickly.

With Common Core, she said, the focus is on “conceptual understanding” — why something works — before learning, say, how to apply the FOIL (first, outside, inside, last) method to distribute binomials.

So where did "Common Core math" come from? Common Core is a set of federally recommended standards that Kentucky adopted in 2010. Public school districts in Kentucky, as well as the other 41 states that have adopted Common Core, use the standards to guide the curriculum and dictate what students need to learn but not how teachers have to teach it.

The truth about Common Core standards

Common Core is not a curriculum, according to  a variety of different education-related organizations, including the Council of Chief State School Officers, the American Federation of Teachers and Jefferson County Public Schools.

However, many critics of the Common Core maintain it is a curriculum because its standards reach into the classroom, and it isn’t uncommon to find textbooks, worksheets and assessments bearing a “Common Core Standard” label.

Q: Why is there so much disagreement about it?

Both local educators who support Common Core math and many disgruntled parents who oppose it agree that the standards are more rigorous. However, critics like Karl Steutermann — who is both the president of Kentuckians Against Common Core and a parent of an Oldham County Schools fourth grader — often say the rigor is age-inappropriate and the methods employed are unnecessarily complicated.

Steutermann is quick to point out that he has degrees in mechanical engineering and has trouble deciphering his son’s math homework.

“I understand what they’re trying to get to," he said. "They’re trying to give kind of the backstory as to why two times two equals four — two groups of two equal four, and you do it in a graphic way. But in the end, two times two equals four because two times two equals four, alright? And there is a certain value to rote learning rather than confusing the kid.”

Some of the creators of Common Core, some of whom are parents themselves, say this is a problem with textbook publishers and worksheets not necessarily the standards themselves.

Letters | Understanding Common Core

JCPS Chief Academic Officer Dewey Hensley acknowledged that today’s method of math instruction forces parents out of their comfort zones and can be frustrating but maintains that, in the long run, it will help students be more “fluent” in math. The added rigor, he said, will help better prepare students for college and careers after high school.

“Our most important consideration isn’t designing our curriculum so parents can help the child,” Hensley said. “Our most important consideration is ensuring our kids have the skills and the knowledge they need to be successful in the 21st century.”

Despite pushback from parents, there are some, like Audubon Elementary parent Eve Lee, who support it.

In an email, she said she feels much of the outrage about Common Core has to do with parents’ anxiety.

“My education quickly exceeded that of my parents; that didn’t stop them from trying to follow along, though,” she wrote. “They learned from me just as I’m learning from my daughter’s explanations.”

Some of the tactile pieces used to help students learn.

Q: Is there any proof that this method of teaching works?

This is another point of contention for parents.

Some, such as Steutermann, feel Common Core math is a product of "theoretical educators" who are out of touch with classroom teachers and that there is no hard evidence that the method is effective.

"I'm not willing to let them experiment on my child," he said.

And it's important to keep in mind that these standards are relatively new. This year's fourth-grade students — the class of 2024 — will be the first to go all the way through high school being taught Common Core math.

But in the short-term, the percentage of third-grade JCPS students who scored high enough on the K-PREP to be considered "proficient" or "distinguished" in math has increased from roughly 40 percent in 2011-12 (the first year of Common Core) to 46 percent in the most recent school year. The district points to this metric as an indicator of effectiveness.

Q: What can I do as a parent to help my child?

JCPS classroom.

A: JCPS has several resources for parents, including the Math Matters newsletters, which are released for every grade level and tell parents what their kids will be learning in the coming educational cycle.

The newsletter offers activities to try at home, library books that support classroom lessons and instructions for accessing the district's Math is Fun website.

Director of Curriculum Management Suzanne Wright also recommends the Common Core Standards app for iPhone and Android so parents can easily access and understand the standards.

Some schools will offer "math classes" for parents to help them understand the unfamiliar "Common Core" methods to learning math and solving problems. Check with your student's teacher.

Reporter Kirsten Clark can be reached at (502) 582-4144 or kclark2@courier-journal.com.Follow The Courier-Journal’s education team on Facebook at Facebook.com/SchooledCJ.