Articles

A Balanced Approach to Math Standards

by Julie Williams

Remember the old ‘rithmetic days? You know, those lists of math facts in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with some fractions and decimals thrown in once you got to middle school?

Well, those skills are still taught, along with a whole lot of other stuff! Over the last decade, the National Council of Teachers of Math (NCTM) has created standards for every student from kindergarten through twelfth grade across the country.

So, why the change? Well, says NCTM, it’s true that kids need to add, subtract and divide: but your kid also needs to think. After all, they point out, math is an evolving science. This means that as students advance in the subject, they need to understand concepts fully.

In simple terms, math helps build strong minds. It helps kids make sense of a big world by finding shape and pattern. It allows kids to see underlying similarities in the way all things balance and equate. This learning starts as early as kindergarten.

How does this translate to real curriculum? Probably the first place you’ll see a change is in the way standards are presented. Think first grade is just 1+1, for example? Look again! You’ll see separate “strands,” like patterns, algebra, geometry, measurement, statistics, and probability. Teachers are presenting simple concepts in each area, and introducing these building blocks so that they’ll fully make sense in upper grades. In addition, teachers will work to balance skill building, like computing numbers fast, with investigative skills, like discovering abstract patterns with real life applications. For example, sixth graders in Massachusetts will still add and subtract fractions and create decimals; but they’ll also learn to find areas of triangles and parallelograms—measurement skills they’ll later apply in high school algebra and geometry.