Several La Canada Math Parents (LCMP) met informally with LCUSD Board President Dan Jeffries, Board member Ellen Multari, and Superintendent Wendy Sinnette on July 20, 2017 to present findings from the LCMP K-6 parent survey and discuss concerns about Everyday Mathematics and opportunities for differentiated instruction in the classroom. A copy of the LCMP slide presentation from the meeting is posted here:
http://bit.ly/lcfmathsurveyresults
LCMP parents made an effective showing that the District’s Elementary Math Adoption Oversight Committee (disbanded earlier this year) failed to conduct sufficient outreach to parents and severely understated the level of student and parent struggles and concerns with Everyday Math. The tone of the meeting was constructive, and the District officials appeared to take the LCMP concerns seriously, although Superintendent Sinnette stated that the K-6 math textbook selection would likely not be revisited by the Board for another four years and the current adopted material needed to be utilized “with fidelity”. On the positive side, Sinnette and the Board representatives indicated a willingness to further consider the following measures:
- Creating an LCUSD Board subcommittee, which will hold periodic public meetings to provide ongoing oversight for issues relating to K-6 Math, including the Everyday Mathematics implementation, successful transitions to Grade 6 (Math In Focus) and 7/8 curricula, opportunities for differentiated instruction and/or homogeneous groupings, and other programs and policies to encourage excellence in math education.
- Reminding teachers that they are free (and encouraged) to use supplemental instructional materials in addition to Everyday Math (K-5) and Math In Focus (6th Grade).
- Implementing LCUSD Elementary GATE Instructor Gregg’s suggestion to coordinate student math schedules to allow for homogenous group instruction by ability across grades (e.g. advanced fourth and fifth-graders could attend math class with 6th graders learning 6th grade material, etc).
- Inviting the director of the Pasadena Unified School District’s highly-accelerated Math Academy math pilot program to speak here publicly and share his experience with our parents, teachers and Board members.
In addition, parents presented recent findings from cognitive research and how it relates to the teaching of elementary mathematics. In brief, the research indicates that the method used by Everyday Mathematics is exactly the opposite of what should be done when teaching a secondary knowledge domain like mathematics to novice learners.