To: The School District of the Chathams
Discontinue or supplement the Middle School Connected Math Program.
We respectfully request that Chatham discontinue or supplement the current Connected Math Program for the 2015-2016 school year.
Why is this important?
A group of parents of Chatham Middle School students are concerned that middle school math performance is in need of improvement. We feel that the program is not working for many of our children.
We are starting this petition because we feel this program is doing our children a disservice. These are our key areas of concern:
1) There is insufficient mastery of basic math concepts due to the overemphasis on higher-level problem solving.
2) Small group (peer to peer) learning format is less effective at this age than teacher-led clear direct instruction. In addition, with larger class sizes there are more groups, this makes it hard for teachers to identify which groups/students may be struggling. This method can intimidate those afraid to speak out and get extra help, and it can also hold back the most able students because they are forced to collaborate with less able and motivated students. It can also create confusion if students are unable to explain concepts clearly to one another. This places a lot of burden on our children who are only just learning to self-advocate and are working on building their confidence.
3) Due to the reduced amount of teacher-led instruction, when students are left to investigate and discover key mathematical concepts and skills on their own, this may lead to critical gaps and misconceptions in their knowledge.
4) Language based math programs are discouraging to students who are weaker in language arts, along with adding unnecessary complexity with insufficient practice time.
5) Inadequate information and lack of explanatory prose in the workbooks and online for homework review. This makes it hard for parents to help their children with homework. Some parents have felt they've had no choice but to get outside help when faced with falling grades and frustrated kids. This places additional financial and scheduling burdens on families.
If you share these concerns, we ask that you support our request for the School District to review and strengthen the program.
We are starting this petition because we feel this program is doing our children a disservice. These are our key areas of concern:
1) There is insufficient mastery of basic math concepts due to the overemphasis on higher-level problem solving.
2) Small group (peer to peer) learning format is less effective at this age than teacher-led clear direct instruction. In addition, with larger class sizes there are more groups, this makes it hard for teachers to identify which groups/students may be struggling. This method can intimidate those afraid to speak out and get extra help, and it can also hold back the most able students because they are forced to collaborate with less able and motivated students. It can also create confusion if students are unable to explain concepts clearly to one another. This places a lot of burden on our children who are only just learning to self-advocate and are working on building their confidence.
3) Due to the reduced amount of teacher-led instruction, when students are left to investigate and discover key mathematical concepts and skills on their own, this may lead to critical gaps and misconceptions in their knowledge.
4) Language based math programs are discouraging to students who are weaker in language arts, along with adding unnecessary complexity with insufficient practice time.
5) Inadequate information and lack of explanatory prose in the workbooks and online for homework review. This makes it hard for parents to help their children with homework. Some parents have felt they've had no choice but to get outside help when faced with falling grades and frustrated kids. This places additional financial and scheduling burdens on families.
If you share these concerns, we ask that you support our request for the School District to review and strengthen the program.