Math Wars: Time for a Truce?

Pittsburgh public schools conducted an interesting experiment on how to teach math, and they seem to have learned both less and more than they expected.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the schools used two different approaches and hired a research company to find out which was more effective.

One was the controversial "Everyday Math" program which stresses understanding what you're doing. The other was the more traditional Harcourt Math.

The result: no difference.

But the experiment wasn't as pure as the researchers, from Mathematica Policy Research, had hoped. That pesky human factor interfered. Teachers, it seems, filled in for what they thought were the weaknesses in both programs with supplemental materials. So the two programs, as actually experienced by children, weren't all that different. Teachers tended to prefer something between the two extremes.

So the study couldn't determine which approach is better. But it did suggest that if teachers are expected to carry out a strategy in the classroom, they had better be involved in planning it.

-- Alain Jehlen