MAP
Missouri Assessment
Program
Southwest Region

Mathematics

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Thousands in Over Their Heads as Schools Push Advanced Math
What happens when you try to challenge more students by placing them in advanced eighth-grade math classes? “Unintended and damaging consequences,” says the Brookings Institution in releasing a report by Tom Loveless, director of the think tank’s Brown Center on Education Policy. In a hard look at the nationwide trend to teach algebra to eighth graders, USA Today notes, the Brookings study found that about 120,000 middle-schoolers have been struggling in advanced classes for which they were seriously unprepared. Based on data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Loveless estimates that among the lowest-scoring 10 percent of students, nearly 29 percent have been taking advanced math, despite having the math skills of a typical second-grader. The idea may be to level the playing field among students, but Loveless thinks the practice is doing kids a disservice. “It’s really counterfeit equity,” he says. The report’s title: “The Misplaced Math Student: Lost in Eighth-Grade Algebra.”
Read more at http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-09-21-algebra_N.htm
Read the press release at  http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2008/0922_education_loveless.aspx
See the report at
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2008/0922_education_loveless/0922_education_loveless.pdf

Calculations Okay in Math Class, if Students Know the Facts First
Calculators are useful tools in elementary mathematics classes, if students already have some basic skills, new research has found. The findings shed light on the debate about whether and when calculators should be used in the classroom. “These findings suggest that it is important children first learn how to calculate answers on their own, but after that initial phase, using calculators is a fine thing to do, even for basic multiplication facts,” Bethany Rittle-Johnson, assistant professor of psychology in Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development and co-author of the study, said. Rittle-Johnson and co-author Alexander Kmicikewycz, who completed the work as his undergraduate honors thesis at Peabody, found that the level of a student’s knowledge of mathematics facts was the determining factor in whether a calculator hindered his or her learning. “The study indicates technology such as calculators can help kids who already have a strong foundation in basic skills,” Kmicikewycz, now a teacher in New York City public schools, said.

The researchers compared third graders’ performance on multiplication problems after they had spent a class period working on other multiplication problems. Some of the students spent that class period generating answers on their own, while others simply read the answers from a calculator. All students used a calculator to check their answers. The researchers found that the calculator’s effect on subsequent performance depended on how much the students knew to begin with. For those students who already had some multiplication skills, using the calculator before taking the test had no impact. But for those who were not good at multiplying, use of the calculator had a negative impact on their performance. The researchers also found that the students using calculators were able to practice more problems and had fewer errors. “It’s a good tool that some teachers shy away from, because they are worried it’s going to have negative consequences,” Rittle-Johnson said. “I think that the evidence suggests there are good uses of calculators, even in elementary school.” Rittle-Johnson is an investigator in the Learning Sciences Institute and the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development.  (top of page)

Southwest Missouri District Association of Mathematics Teachers (SWMDAMT) Meeting
October 9, 2008 Missouri State University, Plaster Student Union, Speaker, Dr. David Ashley, MSU on the software Geogebra.  Contact Janet Cain [jcain@seymourschool.net] for more information. 

Spokane Takes Second Place at State Math Contest
Spokane High School Math Team placed second in the Relay Round for Small Schools at the MCTM/Great Plains Math League State Contest. Team members were Josh Meese, Jessica Elam, and Anthony Bolin.  Their math coach was Phyllis Farmer.  Congratulations!!!!!! 

Southwest Area School receives Gov. Blunt’s eMINTS/METS Classrooms Grant Initiative Award
One of the five of Gov. Blunt’s Mathematics, Engineering, Technology and Science (METS) School Grants was awarded to El Dorado Springs School District, Cedar County, ($219,400) for a high school math project.  Congratulations, El Dorado Springs!!!!!

All of this year’s school projects revolve around the use of the eMINTS instructional model, which combines a technology-rich classroom environment with intensive teacher training and support providing teachers with lessons on how to incorporate technology into instruction and learning. The eMINTS model, developed in Missouri over the past decade, has been shown to improve student performance on the state MAP tests.

For more information, contact Deborah Sutton, director of instructional technology for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (573-751-8247); or Monica Beglau, director of the eMINTS National Center, Columbia (573-884-7202).   (top of page)

Be sure to check out the changes in the glossary that were made last spring.  http://www.dese.mo.gov/divimprove/curriculum/newwebpages/MathematicsGlossary.html

Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics (MCTM) Annual Conference
December 5^th and 6^th in Columbia. http://www.moctm.org/Conferences/2008/2008MainPage.htm 

NCTM Annual Meeting and Exposition, April 22-25, 2009, in Washington, D.C.  Over 1,000 sessions and workshops where you can preview the latest teaching tools and network with friends and meet new ones.  http://www.nctm.org/annual.aspx   (top of page)

Curriculum Frameworks

Curriculum Frameworks Supplement

It's All About the Verbs PowerPoint Presentation

Literature /Resource List

Math Fun Page 

Math Grade Level Expectations, Course Level Expectations, Examples, and Glossaries 

Math Learning Goals

Math Reference Sheet

Math Vocabulary Cards K-4
Math Vocabulary Cards 5-8
Math Vocabulary Cards 9-11

Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Released Items, Scoring Guides and Anchor Papers

Virtual Manipulative Websites
http://nlvm.usu.edu
http://illuminations.nctm.org
http://42explore.com/graphs.htm

The Missouri Assessment Program is a part of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education working in conjunction with the College of Education at Missouri State University.
Missouri State University  ∙  Department of Elementary and  Secondary Education  ∙  Southwest Regional Professional Development Center
Missouri State College of Education  ∙  Missouri State University Institute for School Improvement