Be still indeed,I saw the article this morning.I couldn`t wait to get to my computer to see if you`d blogged about it.
Where are the progressive voices now that testing has proved that “curriculum"is the cure and that like any infection it is caused by shamefully harmful instruction.

They`ll say that pesky EQAO,it`s so expensive,we need to get rid of it.

Also,bravo to Moira Macdonald from the National Post
for braving the education story of the year!She`ll do so much good.
Accountability,here we come,parents are finally outraged.Previously they were minimized and intimidated

Part one - The Cause

In 2004 - The Report of the Expert Panel on Mathematics in Grades 4 to 6 in Ontario
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/reports/numeracy/panel/numeracy.pdf

And here - Another 2004 report - From the Chairs of the Expert Panels on Student Success in Ontario:
Mathematical Literacy, Grades 7– 12
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/reports/numeracy/numeracyreport.pdf

In 2010 - “With so much at stake for students who do not do well in mathematics, the Ministry of Education’s Student Achievement Division brought together a Mathematics Teaching and Learning Working Group in September 2010 to identify what it would take to bring greater depth and coherence to the K–12 mathematics program. Representing experts in mathematics
pedagogy, curriculum and research, and including members from the ministry, district school boards, federations, professional associations and universities, the group adopted a highly collaborative approach in order to surface current, research-based knowledge in mathematics teaching and learning, K–12. Following research and consultation, the group’s task was to
advise the Assistant Deputy Minister on ways to bring about a positive change in the field and to ensure better results for all students. This publication shares seven foundational principles from the work to date of the Mathematics Working Group. These principles will serve as a guide for planning and implementing improvements in mathematics teaching and learning.”
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/teachers/studentsuccess/FoundationPrincipals.pdf

The above and the current discovery math that is causing so much chaos in Ontario and across Canada, the Mathematics Working Group is the place to start off. Note who are sitting on the Working Group, what is being advocating for and what is being downplayed and often dismissed. Such things as practice, drills, standard algorithms are a thing of the past,

In the last link a quote from Small - ““As teachers become more familiar with which ideas are more complex for students and why, they are better able to ensure that their instruction is at the appropriate developmental level for students, and that it challenges students’ mathematical conceptions in appropriate
ways. This minimizes the likelihood of students developing mathematical misconceptions.”
– Small, M. (2009).Making math meaningful to Canadian students, K–8. Toronto, ON: Nelson Education.

Mathematics Working Group is a collection of groups within the Ontario Education Ministry and its subsystems working collaboratively and across the globe. A more recent publication, in November 2012 - http://www.edugains.ca/resourcesLNS/MathResources/MathematicsResourceInventory.pdf

Note the resources listed and how far the Mathematics Working Group(s) have come to entrenched the 2004 reports of the Expert Panel in Mathematics. Busy beavers for the last 9 years, making math even more mysterious and baffling to students. In an earlier article by the Globe and Mail, “What’s gone wrong isn’t a mystery. For the past decade and more, school systems across the country have been performing a vast experiment on your children. They have discarded “rote” learning in favour of “discovery,” a process by which students are supposed to come up with their own solutions to the mysteries of arithmetic.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/whos-failing-math-the-system/article14112165/

How true that is, by the educator set still won’t concede any territory that they may have been wrong. In another chat forum where teachers gather, On the second page, there is a comment that pretty well sums it up that the public education stakeholders are not about to change tracks - “Anyway, here is another article from the Globe and Mail that is mostly nonsense. I don’t get how people with no backround in education think they are experts. The 300 comments that follow the article are again filled with people who don’t understand modern mathematics. Go to teachers’ college and read the latest research to understand current trends. Memorizing timestables and doing long division are relics of the ancient past. Time to move on and help kids UNDERSTAND math. That’s the key wor that some of you can’t grasp. UNDERSTAND.”
http://www.mapleleafweb.com/forums/topic/22991-ontario-math-scores-down/page-2

His handle is ‘socialist’ - I pity the parents dealing with this one. Over at the Huff and Post - it concludes - “So what will Ontario’s education establishment do with this information? Be a model for students, I hope. Which is to say, don’t proffer a set of excuses when confronted with a mistake. Admit it. Then figure out how to arrive at the right answer next time.”  http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/marni-soupcoff/math-skills-ontario-students-being-wrong_b_3956338.html

Part 2

Over at People for Education - Dismal Mathematics outcome among our youth in Ontario is a HUGE concern…  http://discuss.peopleforeducation.ca/forum/topics/dismal-mathematics-outcome-among-our-youth-in-ontario-is-a-huge?xg_source=activity

Well, P4E talking about the outcomes of mathematics…perhaps there is hope after all. Nah, I take it back -  Kidder’s comments - ” “It may partly be how teachers are trained, but that hasn’t changed and the scores are going down,” Kidder said.

She pointed instead toward societal attitudes that give the message math is hard, or just for some people.

“There may be more we need to do as parents in terms of how we talk and think about math,” Kidder said. “I think we have a tendency to put it in a different category that may have changed some students’ attitudes about math.”
Read more: http://www.cp24.com/news/ontario-elementary-students-show-decline-in-math-1.1430299#ixzz2fSeVpC16

I shall assume that P4E are still ignoring the parents/educators who are advocating standard algorithms. After all according to the so-called experts in the education system, its all about the poor attitudes of students and parents have towards math. And for some math is still not culturally relevant to the students of the 21st century.

Over at WISE, the EQAO people along with the Math Expert Panels should be pouring over the comments, especially the ones that come from teachers.  http://wisemath.org/join/

Yes,too bad they don`t ask teachers.They know the kids aren`t succeeding .

As far as differing opinions,it`s horrible.I believe these professors publish with Pearson or Nelson.Education is like a Lichenstein painting,every educator has an opinion.Do they test if it works?No

Also,the Trillium list,who are these people that have jobs of evaluating curriculum and putting it on a list?
Who are these people that tell every school what to do from the Literacy Secretariat.Do they defer to research.Do they look at studies?

They defer to personal opinion.
Fraught with agendas and look at the consequences.
Will Ontarians sit idly by and will the Ministry hold it`s breath while it all blows over?

I`m betting on the latter.

POBOD

Tempest in teapot. PISA 65 nations. Canada #6 of real nations behind only Finland, Korea, Japan, Switzerland, & Liechenstein. Asian nations use specialists teachers for math from grade 1.

ECE + FDK + specialist teachers will fix problem overnight and take us to #1.

http://www.oecd.org/pisa/46643496.pdf

I agree Doug,naturally,there is a great deal of good instruction,good teachers,good intentions.

But our EQAO scores are dreadful in math.

And,have you seen the reading scores, they`re dreadful in 36 percent of schools,totally fixable by the way,like the weak math…with good instruction that works.

Bottom up instruction.
I always wish they would let us prove our worth with a competition..

Bottom up teaching versus the other,in both math and reading..even if they`re poor.
Could you arrange that Doug?

I caught the CBC on Thursday in an interview of a prominent math teaching professor who laid out the picture in terms which were impossible to misunderstand.
1. The bulk of math teaching is done by teachers who had one or less undergraduate courses in mathematics while obtaining their degree and if none then maybe one math in high school.;
2. There is no “prerequisite for a much higher level” of undergraduate math coverage for those choosing to become mathematics teacher.
3. The content of the mathematics curriculum for teaching teachers is grossly inadequate;
4.  The growing public result is easily and readily understood within the context of inadequate teacher training and teachers who are very uncomfortable with math because of 1, 2 and 3 above.
5. The current band aid “professional development” approach being applied to “fixing the problem” will never do do. A fundamental shift has to take place in the mathematics teaching curriculum and the qualifications of those wishing to teach math.

All the fuzzy math stuff is clearly a direct symptom of all the fuzzy headed ill-trained and qualified folks presently engaged in teaching math.

One and one does equal (2) when it comes to mathematics teaching

In reference to the Mathematics Working Groups and other Learning Working groups in Ontario, the only external data that is used to support the current math curriculum and practices are the PISA data. The EQAO data is rarely mentioned to support the current approaches that has been in used since 2004.

Why would the educationalists used the EQAO data streams that obviously does not support the crazy math methods being used. The PISA data streams does a much better job at masking the increasing levels of low numeracy skills among the 15 year old students. In 2003, 56 % had numeracy skills at levels 1 and 2. http://www4.hrsdc.gc.ca/[email protected]?iid=79

I highly doubt the new report coming out in October - International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC
will turn things around for adults with low numeracy skills. http://www.essentialskillsontario.ca/sites/www.essentialskillsontario.ca/files/Essential Skills Bulletin 1_2013 PIAAC.pdf

In between 2003 and 2013, many reports from various government departments, other agencies and think tanks have reported the same dismal stats when it comes to the numeracy levels of not only adults but as well as the K to 12 students. Here is one stat reported by the Conference Board of Canada - “In 2010, Canada’s proportion of overall graduates emerging from science, math, computer science, and engineering disciplines was 21.2 per cent, the third year of decline.”
http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/education/graduates-science-math-computer-science-engineerin.aspx

Rather ironic, that the universities across Canada in 2013, are having PR blitzes trying to attract Canadian students to entered into the STEM programs. Each year, universities are grappling with a smaller portion of high school graduates who have the math/science grades to enter the STEM fields. Of course, at the K to 12 level, approximately 20 % of all students at any high school are qualified to undertake the advanced and academic senior high school science and math courses that leads to entry into post-secondary STEM fields.

Discovery Math = declining achievement + labour shortages across the spectrum + increasing economic costs at the expense of the Canadian economy

I am a retired MATH teacher whos helps kids in high school.It is very difficult to be successful in algebra and calculus when you do not know the multiplication tables off by heart!! Ontario teachers marvel at the math skills of the Orientals.They know the basics to the ultimate degree.As soon as we have the social engineers out of the classroom things will improve!!!

This cross my desk this morning.

The Education Week Spotlight on Math Instruction
http://www.edweek.org/ew/marketplace/products/spotlight-math-instruction-2013.html?cmp=EB-SPT-092113

Highlighting this article - Procedural Fluency: More Than Memorizing Math Facts
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/coach_gs_teaching_tips/2012/07/procedural_fluency_more_than_memorization.html

Would you believed the educators commenting are still insisting the opposite???  In the comment section - “

POBOD

If people want higher math scores that is easy enought to arrange but there is little connection between math scores and a strong economy. We have a surplus of engineers and scientists and we are up to our necks in computer specialists and still people like Bill Gates want more and want to immigrate more - why demand more STEM people? Supply and demand. Gates is attempting to drive down the wages of his employees by watering down the value of STEM degrees.

Business leaders are demanding more grads from liberal arts.

Doug, it is quite the opposite - there is not enough students enters fields across the spectrum in the STEM fields (includes skilled-trades) because the students do not meet the requirements in math grades and/or have low skills that requires serious upgrading and remediation.

Ergo, over the years foreign workers have been used, which allows the post-secondary institutes a free pass to put seating caps on the programs while they complete for foreign students who are paying double to triple the domestic students are paying. Just to rub more salt in the wound, both levels of government, federal and provincial - have actively work against the Canadian students with low skills in literacy and numeracy. How?  It goes back to the seating caps, reduction in upgrading and remediation in areas of math and sciences and the refusal of the K to 12 education system to ensure ALL students have average to above levels in literacy and numeracy.

The vast majority of jobs, across Canada requires average levels of numeracy plus advance mathematics, including high school calculus. The current K to 12 math curriculum does not fit the bill, and the evidence is displayed in the data streams. Pick any high school, and the percentage of students in senior STEM courses are well under 30 %. Guess which Canadian students the colleges are clamouring for?  The Canadian high school graduates with the emphasis on STEM courses. Even the teacher faculties are putting out a PR blitz to attract student teachers with science and math degrees.

As for the connection to the economy - after WWII, it would have been impossible without men and women having average to above skills in math. Otherwise, the economies in United States and Canada would not have been jumped started. The need for high-skilled trades workers was urgent, and both leaders saw the political necessity to make it happen. Today, in 2013 the picture is very different, the globalized world. There is no surplus of engineers across the globe, but in each domestic country high-skilled labour shortages. It is called the race down to the bottom in terms of wages - pitting the foreigners against the domestic workers.  Just the other day in NL, we were cheering the firing of some Irish foreign workers who were sent back home after three weeks of work in a 12 week contract. So much for contracts eh Doug? 

Do you know the basic math knowledge that is not being taught in the K to 12 public education system, but is taught in the college level for a price?  It should be common knowledge for one and all, but it isn’t. My youngest who was 17 at the time, was taught it by a pipe-fitter, and she was a bit peeve that she took a teacher to task over it. I am not going to tell you, but there is heavy discussion across social media what the K to 12 education system is not teaching in the K to 12 math in Canada and United States.

Having low numeracy skills, is not good for any economy. Especially when the economy is in a tailspin, that leaves people entrapped without job mobility because of low numeracy skills. You see Doug, in 2013 you need a certificate and proof that you have the skills.

In the Globe and Mail article - “In Ontario, just 57 per cent of students met the provincial standard, down from 63 per cent in 2008-09. That’s just not good enough in a world where so many future jobs hinge on math skills. Research shows math skills correlate strongly with future income and academic success. Can anyone blame parents for looking for a way to supplement their child’s learning, when the public school system is falling so short?”  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/editorials/the-trend-to-two-tier-math-teaching/article14425445/

POBOD

http://ideas.time.com/2013/06/19/our-economy-can-still-support-liberal-arts-majors/

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2012/06/13/no-america-does-not-need-more-scientists-and-engineers/

Tons of data all around that we are overproducing engineers and scientists.

The TFW program is mainly bringing in workers for Tim Horton’s in Ft McMoney for heaven sake. This idea that we must concentrate on STEM is dead wrong. Huge mistake.

Want math scores higher anyway? Treat math like French. Specialist teachers. $0.00 cost.

Doug,you are relentless,what about the kids who struggle and how they feel and how they are impeded in their progress and options on what they want to do in post secondary?
Everything`s political with you,what about human beings?
All I can say is gggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

POBOD

We cannot run an education system designed around the kids who struggle. We help them of course but we need a “best for the most” outlook.

You can give the kids who struggle any system you like but I look at the schools for the educated and financial elite and say “give that to everybody free”.

In this discovery math discussion Doug,you`re letting everyone down,including the elite.
The devil is in the details Doug, teach them all as best you can and with the lack of arithmetic to support algebra and calculus so THEY can choose their life dream,you`re letting them down.
You don`t seem to “get it”.They don`t have basic skills math,can`t you hear?

May I ask why you would support this kind of error in the school system,it makes no sense.
Can`t you say it`s obvious they have to have foundational math,this is a publishing error,no one is blaming the teacher or the union???

POBOD

You don’t seem to get it, Jo Anne, we are #6 of 65 nations, ahead of many asian nations. Most get it, if you are looking for 100% dream on, we have never been there and neither has anyone else.

Want better math results use specialist teachers from grade 1. Does not mean more teachers.

Same teachers same kids same curriculum as 5 years ago so they are not the variables.

I am afraid Doug, you and the authors of the links that you have provided are dead wrong plus on the wrong track. The vast majority of jobs requires a good grounding in math and basic science knowledge. Unless you like crooked walls, shoddy wiring and plumbing, and bridges falling apart in 10 years - its time to upgrade the K to 12 students education and their futures. Given that the vast majority of students will not become a medicinal chemist, its time to upgrade K to 12 education. The kind that gives the millwright on equal footing with the engineer, talking math and if indeed the fanciful plans of the engineer can be enacted. My father sometimes came home talking about the engineers when it was time to retooled the plant. My father was on equal footing with the engineers because he had the math and physics knowledge. Back in the mid-1930s my father had a grade 12 technical diploma, and was never out of work for the rest of his life. I wonder what he would be saying today, the state of education…........but I digress.

Digress, because grade 12 graduates no longer have the luxury of going straight to work, and all of them must spend the next 5 or 6 years spending major dollars to get a certificate or a ticket for the same value of my father’s 1936 grade 12 diploma.

Just recently, “U.S. Schools Need More STEM Training, Better Broadband
More students need to study science, technology, engineering and math (or STEM) subjects and schools must have high-speed Internet service, says the U.S. Education Secretary.”
http://www.cio.com/article/738336/U.S._Schools_Need_More_STEM_Training_Better_Broadband

My youngest would have never known she quite adept at programming, nor would know how good she is at fixing computer bugs. All thanks to a science course in high school. That said, it is the STEM fields that have open up the doors for a multitude of jobs. Even the humanity graduates are returning to college, for one of the STEM college programs from everything to A to Z.

Oh yes Doug, are you not a wee bit bias about the foreign workers program?  Bias, because you depend on foreign students for your little private school. As long as both levels of government are enamour of handing out student visas to every Tom, Dick and Harry because they pay pricey tuition compared to Canadians, while opening the door for foreign workers to take over middle-class jobs (think Royal Bank), high-skilled trades jobs (think pipe fitters) and the low-skilled McJobs, Doug thinks it is ducky dory. Just ducky dory from one year to the next, producing a steady stream of grade 12 graduates with major math and science knowledge gaps….......no problem….......let the foreign workers have the jobs for a cheaper wage than what the employer is willing to provide.

Doug, you really should get off the teachers’ union sites, and get on the union trade web sites. Even some would state, that the K to 12 education system are not helping, and instead are working along side governments to reduced the wages. As for math specialists, lots of stuff on that one if you care to google it. The public K to 8 system does not need math specialist teachers. What is needed is a wholesale change from the lousy math curriculum and poor instruction. Believe it or not Doug, you do need to know basic calculus to navigate a ship or to retooled a plant.

Its time to put Canadian students first and their futures!

I have to say Doug that Nancy knocked it out of the park!

“We cannot run an education system designed around the kids who struggle. We help them of course but we need a “best for the most” outlook.

You can give the kids who struggle any system you like but I look at the schools for the educated and financial elite and say “give that to everybody free”.

Oh dear Doug - elitist intellectualism creeping in?? Perhaps spending too much time around the uber rich Chinese and their funny ideas about educating to the class that they are born in. Reminds me of the conversation I had in NL, with two Chinese guys who had high school, and they give me a run-down on what it is to live in China. The warning, don’t let Canada become China.

By the way Doug, also in the data streams - shortages in specialists in the STEM fields, across the board and especially in support staff dealing with assessments. Teachers faculties are desperate to recruit the STEM graduates, but even now the STEM graduates get paid a lot more than being a teacher. All you have to do is google it…............ and then check out how very discriminatory your ideas are - treating the struggling students as if they are sitting in a 19th century classroom wearing a dunce cap. Its the 21st century, and its about time the public education system in Canada start to think 21st century…........students first and their futures!

Great discussion,

I appreciate the diverse view points as they help focus my thinking and efficacy in the classroom.

Do take issue with the venomous dismissal of arguments and misattributions to intent posted by the same individual repeatedly.  These posts pass through the filter of the moderator, repeatedly.  Why?

The high road (not elitism, just good manners) has in my experience garnered better outcomes in every situation.

Serious people debating big ideas can do it without the venom.

Aside:  I support Doug’s position whole heartedly.  Put math specialists into the elementary grades and the “discovery” nonsense will be a non starter.  Subject specialists look at the curriculum, which is not absolute, but a list of suggestions, and cobble best strategies possible.

Think restaurant—you have a line cook pretending to be a chef.  The kitchen has four ingredients ( halibut, tomato, apples, and eggs).You can add steak (curriculum adjustment)  to the list and keep the line cook expecting radical change OR you can put a trained chef (subject specialist)  in charge of the same list of ingredients.  WHICH change gets better results quicker?

A year in the life of a child.

best,  Mirka

Well Mirka, perchance are you sitting in one of the Mathematics working groups in Ontario?  It takes some courage to defend the K to 12 math curriculum that is authored by educators without a background and degree in mathematics. Even more courage, to compared educators to lone cooks and chefs. Courage, because cooks and chefs must abide by the laws of chemistry and physics if they want good outcomes like happy customers.

Unlike the student math achievement outcomes across Canada. A good place to review the dismal math outcomes of students would be at the WISE site. One comment - “Thank you for expressing so clearly what I have been trying to articulate for the past three years. Watching my daughter struggle with the Ontario math curriculum until we put her in Kumon,was very frustrating. I want to complain to the teachers or Board, but it seems futile.
We spend a lot of evenings guiding her through the proofs and then allowing her to practice through rote.
It’s a balanced approach that her school just can’t seem to grasp.”  http://wisemath.org/join/

To expand one’s knowledge, go on to read the comments in news articles about the math curriculum and instruction in Canada, where 99 % if not all comments are stating the same thing - paying for tutors, doing the tutoring at home, lots of drills and practice, and heaven forbid memorizing the math facts and laws - a practice that has been banned in the math classroom.

Mirka suggests math specialists in the elementary school, the discovery approaches would be dropped. Oh really??  A brief history of American K to 12 Mathematics Education in the 20th century -  Will explain why long division is generally absent in the 2013 math curriculum. “Progressive education had recovered from its doldrums of the 1950s, and by the late 1960s and early 1970s, it had regained its momentum. A. S. Niell’s book Summerhill, published in 1960, is an account of an ultra progressive school in England. It was one of the most influential books on education of that decade. Founded in 1921 in Suffolk, England as a boarding school for relatively affluent children, Summerhill students determined completely what they would learn, and when. Niell wrote, “Whether a school has or has not a special method for teaching long division is of no significance, for long division is of no importance except to those who want to learn it. And the child who wants to learn long division will learn it no matter how it is taught.” By 1970, some 200,000 copies of Summerhill were being sold per year, and it was required reading in 600 university courses.”  http://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/AHistory.html

PS - one will learn why the folks raised in the 1950s and 1960s did received a solid foundation in arithmetic and basic algebra, calculus and trig using standard algorithms. The discovery logjam may indeed start to break-up, providing we connect the Student-Centered Philosophies to the math curriculum to the agendas of the education stakeholders who care little about the futures of the students, and if they have the skills and abilities to progress to advanced mathematics. Without mastery of long division and fractions, a student will not and cannot understand basic calculus, algebra and trig.
http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Student_Centered/

However, its not stopping the K to 12 education stakeholders at all to proclaimed that fractions and long division should not be taught until after the student learns calculus. Not when they are being urged by people like Dennis DeTurck, a person with a mathematics degree.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/mathscience/2008-01-23-fractions_N.htm#uslPageReturn

Thank you Nancy - your post above makes my point,

again, because it is important,

``I take issue with the venomous dismissal of arguments and misattributions to intent posted by the same individual repeatedly.  These posts pass through the filter of the moderator, repeatedly.  Why?

The high road (not elitism, just good manners) has in my experience garnered better outcomes in every situation.

Serious people debating big ideas can do it without the venom. ``

the sun is shining Nancy - great vitamin D to be had,

Mirka

Mirka,

Typical talk down speak to a parent from a teacher.
Nancy doesn`t need scolding from you,I`m surprised your e mail made it through the filter.

And you`re wrong,candy and sugar tarts wouldn`t move the education system an inch!

POSTED ON BEHALF OF L. MURRAY:

Right you are Joanne!

Mirka’s response to Nancy stands as a classic example of what parent not only learn to expect from some educators but also detest.

There was a time when I’m sure Mirka herself wouldn’t have stood for being replied to in such a way when she was stumping as an advocate for parents.

Times sure have changed.