Heard a story recently about a 3rd grader who was failing math.
Her state had signed up to the Common Core Standards (and testing) … and her school district had embraced the the Common Core curriculum.
Her math grades in 1st and 2nd grade were just fine.
When the Fs started coming home, her father – a college-educated engineer – jumped into the fray to tutor her.
The Fs kept coming.
The Fs kept coming even though her answers were right … her process of arriving at the right answer was wrong.
Before you say, “well, certainly she needs to do the problem the right way”, take this simple test.
Question: Little Joey has a jar with 35 jelly beans. He gives away 17 of the jelly beans to his friends. How many jelly beans does Joey have left in the jar. Show each step of your calculation and label all numbers.
Do it ! Should only take a few seconds ….
The Homa Files 