Improving math skills pays off for students in adult life, concludes an Urban Institute report. Math matters more than reading skills, health or relationships when it comes to predicting how much students will earn by age 30, writes Lauren Camera on The 74.
An increase in math skills correlates with higher adult earnings for all students, but the impact is greatest for Hispanic students and for girls.
Math-centric occupations are increasing at a faster rate than other jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
It would make sense to invest in improving math education -- especially in middle school -- the report concludes. But how?
"Math achievement improved slowly between 1990 and 2013 and then plateaued, only to fall sharply during the pandemic," writes Camera. "On average, students lost half a school year in math between 2019 and 2022," thanks to pandemic disruptions. As always, the neediest students lost the most. Math scores fell by 9 points last year on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the largest drop ever.
Camera talks to DeAnn Huinker, a professor of math instruction at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and director of the Center for Math and Science Education Research. Teachers spend too much time teaching procedures, not enough on "conceptual understanding . . . and developing a positive math identity," she says. “We want kids to make sense of the mathematical ideas that they’re exploring and learning about. So not rote learning, not memorizing, not worksheets."
"Science of learning" advocates say students won't develop a deeper understanding of math or confidence in their math abilities if they can't multiply 4 x 3 without a calculator. Cognitive science has found that students "need to develop fluency with their multiplication tables and single-digit addition . . . and be able to recall them automatically," wrote Stephen Sawchuk in Education Week in 2023. "Having these facts at their fingertips frees up working memory for students to attend to problem-solving, applying procedures to more difficult problems, and other tasks."
The fact is that no method of teaching mathematics works unless you require mastery at each level, before moving the student to the next level. If you can't multiply and divide or if you can't do fractions, algebra is going to be a mystery forever. Since our schools won't do this, they'll never enjoy overall student competence in math.
Once again, when anyone talks as if everyone can master calculus, then one knows to ignore those people. Of course, these are the same people who believe that coaching and private lessons are good for sports, singing, or playing an instrument but not for going science fair projects or math.
Americans could try what works overseas, like integrated mathematics, which finish the equivalent of Algebra II by the end of ninth grade, instead of keeping their blinders on and sticking to their ideological guns, regardless of how easy it is for those of us with international teaching experience to rebut their specious claims; but hey, those professors of mathematical education are established in higher education (of doubtful value), so they dominate reporters' citations, in spite of the miserable returns Americans have been getting from their investments (29th out of 31 nations among young adults, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, whose latest results were released last month, in spite…
“We want kids to make sense of the mathematical ideas that they’re exploring and learning about. So not rote learning, not memorizing, not worksheets."
What do you mean "we", paleface?
Competence is motivating. It feels good to get good at something, even if that something is a children's game like jacks or chess.
I'm a fan of rote learning, memorization, and worksheets. Just as there's a language window in childhood, when learning languages is easy, there's a memorization window, when learning poetry, the multiplication tables, and electron orbital shells is easy.
Professors of Math Instruction will do to Math instruction what Professors of Early Childhood Education did to Reading instruction, with the brutally stupid Whole Language fad.
Camera talks to DeAnn Huinker, a professor of math instruction at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and director of the Center for Math and Science Education Research. Teachers spend too much time teaching procedures, not enough on "conceptual understanding . . . and developing a positive math identity," she says. “We want kids to make sense of the mathematical ideas that they’re exploring and learning about. So not rote learning, not memorizing, not worksheets."
The view of the dreamer.
Kids who don't know that 3x5=15 won't even understand what 1/3 of 15 means, or why it's 5. We need to get rid of calculators in elementary schools and teach decimals after fractions. It used to be done that way, and in fa…