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It all adds up to the wrong answer
We have previously mentioned the math problems arising from the new programs that emphasize understanding over skill. Here’s a recent article in the Toronto Sun on this topic (quoting Doretta), and there has been a lot of other coverage, including a cover story in Maclean’s Magazine.
An alert reader in Oakville sent us this link. You have to hand it to the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board - they are listening! In response to parental frustration with their new math programs, the board is offering SuccessMaker: an adaptive online math program for parents - so they can learn the new math programs themselves and then support their own children. The course will take a minimum of eight weeks, 20 minutes four times a day.
An alternative, of course, would be to offer math programs that are effective and accessible to parents, but that would probably break Ontario laws. At a minimum, the use of such programs would handicap its students on the provincial tests. H/T HH
“In response to parental frustration with their new math programs, the board is offering SuccessMaker: an adaptive online math program for parents -”
Too funny, except for the fact that it’s more bitter than the grave.
Bureaucracies do not exist to solve problems, but to multiply subordinates. In this case, creating more work for specialists, consultants and wotnot.