To The Reader’s Forum:

Boards of Education, did you know that when children learn a math algorithm it allows for efficient and fast computation, freeing up precious cognitive brain space for problem-solving? No doubt you find that information shocking, but yes, it’s true. The sooner students master an algorithm, the more competent in math they become. Fact: the algorithm for borrowing in subtraction has been used for more than 800 years. Eight hundred! Moreover, countries whose students master facts, algorithms, and strategies outperform the United States on international math tests.

Instead of teaching the 800-year-old efficient algorithm for borrowing, we see in “Math At Work” (The Post-Journal, Jan. 20, 2015) two industrious, Bush School, second grade boys laboriously making charts of tens and ones columns, filling the columns with dots, arrows, and “magnifying glasses” in order to compute 71-56 = ? and 84-38 = ? on worksheet Grade 2, Module 4, Lesson 11 Exit Ticket. Absolutely insane!

Here is what second grade children do on the comparable school-year day in a research-validated math program: multiply two digits by one digit; division problems; adding and subtracting fractions with same denominators; equivalency of fractions (more, equal to, or less than one); subtract 4-digit numbers from 4-digit numbers, with zeros in the minuend; adding exact amounts of money for several items purchased; estimating money for items purchased; inserting information into cells on a data chart, completing empty cells using addition and subtraction and drawing conclusions from the data. These children have been using algorithms for carrying and borrowing since first grade. They are proficient in adding columns of figures.

Boards, why would you sanction Common Core’s EngageNY Mathematics, an incredibly inefficient and cumbersome math program? Did you forget that Common Core math has NO research supporting it? Nothing! Not one research study! Did it escape your notice that the program was not field-tested, that is, NEVER tried out in a few classes in various grades to see if it worked?

Boards, you sanctioned programs that leave children grossly undereducated in Mathematics and English Language Arts. Your actions leave you looking incompetent and irresponsible. Does the magnitude of what you did ever prick your conscience? It should! You were elected to a position of trust in your community. Under the New York Constitution and Education Law, the Board has legal authority for district education decisions.

Take responsibility! Rectify what you did!

Deann Nelson

Jamestown