Parents grapple with standards

EAST COUNTY — For Lisa Thompsen, trying to help her three children with their homework has become more frustrating than enjoyable lately.

When her children, who are in kindergarten, first grade and third grade at Freedom Elementary, sit at the dining room table and ask for help solving a math problem “the new way,” she’s stumped.

“I feel completely helpless, like I can’t even help my children with their homework,” Thompsen said. “My kids understand what they’re working on more than I do. I feel like the standards are a way to phase parents out.”

Since the Manatee County School District rolled out the Florida State Standards in August, also known as Common Core, the level of rigor students perform on a daily basis has not just been a challenge for area children.

Parents are also struggling to learn concepts their children need to know to pass assessments throughout the year.

LEARNING A NEW WAY
In response to teacher and parent requests at Freedom Elementary, school district Curriculum Specialist Tori Hicks delved into the principles behind the new standards at a Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) meeting Nov. 18.

Hicks dissected math problems that Kindergarten through Grade 5 students are working on this year.
At first, parents stared, wearing confused expressions that later led to frustrated responses.

“I don’t understand that problem at all,” parent Danielle Thompson said to Hicks after watching her use a new method to solve a multiplication problem. “That doesn’t make sense.”

Hicks explained her technique, called the partial product strategy. Using this strategy, students multiply parts of a problem and use addition to get the final answer. Hicks led the parents through each step she took to solve the problem.

After a few hands-on examples and explanations, the adults started to grasp the basic concepts their children use. Parents started calling out answers to help Hicks solve equations on the projector in the Freedom Elementary media center.

Although they had a better understanding of the concepts, parents didn’t know if they would be able to recognize which methods to use on their children’s assignments, should they need help.

Hicks is also the East County school’s instructional specialist and spends one day a week at the school’s campus. She assured parents she can be used as a resource to aid them in understanding the students’ new curriculum.

During her presentation, the district representative also stressed the big-picture idea of demanding more from students: to prepare them for college.

Although she isn’t necessarily a proponent of the new state requirements, Hicks sees advantages of the deeper-level thinking the standards require.

Students learning different ways to solve equations, and having to show their work and expand on the traditional avenues to reach an answer gives them a true understanding of why five plus five equals 10, Hicks said.

“I’m not trying to say Common Core is it, the best way to learn math,” Hicks said. “And, I’m not trying to make you love it. But, we’ve spoon-fed our children algorithms in school, and now they need to know why to divide, subtract, or multiply; they need to understand why they’re solving problems certain ways.”

Rethinking old methods
But change can be hard to adjust to at first, as Kathy McReynolds and her son are learning.

McReynold’s child could effortlessly solve basic math problems in his head. Although he would show bite-sized bits of his work, he did the bulk of the problems mentally.

Since the start of the school year, he has been struggling with learning the explanations behind how he got his answer, McReynolds said. He just knows that his answer and his teacher’s answer usually match.

“He’s getting the right answers, so it’s hard for him to understand how to show all the extra work,” McReynolds said.

In the traditional vertical multiplication style of problem solving, it was acceptable for students not to show their work.

New problem solving techniques in the Florida State Standards have teachers mandating that student show their work as it aligns with a new strategy called partial products (see sidebar above on division partial product strategy).

The standards require more in-depth analysis of problems, especially in math.

Seeing the mistakes made along the way will also help students avoid them in the future, according to the standards.

“Common Core is more of a shift in instruction than anything else,” Hicks said. “The standards are trying to actually make understanding math problems easier. Right now, our children aren’t problem solvers. We need to make sure children understand their work, because they really are our future.”

Sounding off
I’ve seen a huge change in the amount of work and the type of work my children are bringing home.”
— Chrissy Fairey, PTO member

Common Core is about problem solving, and right now, our kids aren’t problem solvers.”
— Tori Hicks, curriculum specialist for the Manatee County School District

I feel helpless, like I can’t teach or help them with their homework anymore. Common Core feels like a way to phase parents out.”
— Lisa Thompsen

COMMON CORE MATH GOAL FOR STUDENTS
Focus

Coherence

Fluency

Deep understanding

Application

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected].