Why Johnny can't do math

Memorizing multiplication tables is "a major foundational skill, like phonics is to reading, argues, writes David Margulies, a former IBM researcher, on The Well. Yet teachers are discouraged from teaching math fact fluency. Instead, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics recommends students use “reasoning strategies” to figure out what 6 x7 might equal.

Math proficiency keeps falling, he writes. Teachers need "evidence-based programs scaffolding students to math fact fluency, with benchmarks and assessments," but they keep getting research-resistant fads.

In California, the home of Silicon Valley, the state's Mathematics Framework, which is supposed to guide instruction, disparages memorization, Margulies writes.

It also "claims that timed tests, a highly recommended practice for enabling math fact memorization," cause math anxiety, he writes. "Researchers have examined this claim and concluded it’s not evidence-based," but it persists.

I've noticed that some want to focus on reducing math anxiety, rather than on teaching so effectively that students don't need to be anxious.

"The nation’s huge financial investment in math education" will be wasted, if it's directed by educators who ignore the fundamentals, Margulies writes. Legislators may have to step in, "as they’ve done with reading instruction," to require fact fluency assessments, he concludes. It's only one step in teaching math, but it's one students can't afford to skip.

Jeff Murray writes about a program to teach the "algebra ladder," a "hierarchy of math skills" reaching back to elementary school that's necessary to understand algebra. Teach to One Roadmaps, developed by New Classrooms, is showing success, according to a TNTP report, Unlocking Algebra. Students who master key "predecessor skills" are much more likely to pass algebra tests.

Roadmaps assesses which skills students need to learn, and provides text, videos, and practice problems to fill in the blanks, writes Murray. "Short formal assessments follow, with more-nuanced instruction and practice based on the results, until mastery is reached and students can move on to the next missing skill."

The regular algebra class and Roadmaps takes 80 to 90 minutes a day, Murray notes. That's a lot to build into the school day. "As with science of reading, it seems that if students were able to reach grade level mastery earlier, less time would be needed for catch-up in later grades."

Four in 10 Americans say they wish they'd learned more math in school, according to a Gallup poll. Nearly all say math is very or somewhat important for work and their personal lives. Managing their finances is their top concern.