Dear Editor,
We live in a society where mathematics can be the key to
success.
Dear Editor,
We live in a society where mathematics can be the key to success. I have a unique perspective as a retired high school math teacher, a current math faculty member at Evergreen Valley College and a substitute teacher who has taught in all elementary schools in the Gilroy Unified School District.
According to research in education, mathematics and linear subjects should be taught early in the day, structures such as reading and language next, and more creative endeavors such as art and music last.
In most elementary classroom in the GUSD, math is taught after lunch. Additionally, sustained silent reading, teacher read-aloud, short days, physical education, assemblies, and other activities frequently take chunks of time from mathematics. Math needs to be moved to a dedicated time in the morning.
There are some basic concepts which must be mastered as a foundation for more advanced topics and some topics which can be explored but not tested. This is not happening in mathematics. Students in kindergarten are being tested on subtraction before they understand the concept of number value. Students are advancing from first to second grade without knowing their basic addition facts. Students in third grade are not required to know their multiplication facts. Basics must be mastered.
We know that students learn at different rates, reach plateaus, and sometimes jump at leaps and bounds. To allow for differences, students progress from grade to grade, but if second-grade basics for math and reading have not been met by the end of third grade, then the students must be held back to reach mastery. Similarly for the other grades, we really need to consider realistic readiness.
Middle school is for advancement not for catch-up. If elementary school standards are realistic, instruction is quality, and mastery of basic concepts is required, then students will have much more success. Change with a return to mastery of basics needs to occur in the primary and upper elementary grades immediately.
Janet Espinosa, Gilroy
