How math is taught (more or less)

Via an email from Terri Leo here's a video on how math is being presented to many school students these days. You might be surprised at the contortions and extra steps kids are being asked to go through to multiply and divide. (When, of course, they aren't just told to go ahead and use a calculator...)

This is related to what is covered in this article from last December: Leo: Connected Math an Example of Why SBOE Needs More Authority (Lone Star Report, Texas Insider).

In today's email, Leo states:

Why do students learn Math more slowly in Texas today? Because the Texas Education Code (TEC) ties the hands of the State Board of Education (SBOE) from rejecting textbooks and math programs that use poor teaching methods. Poor teaching methods = slower learning. The legislature by law prohibits the SBOE from designating methodologies in Math instruction. It would be counter productive for the SBOE to try to accelerate learning in Math standards (TEKS) before the legislature removes this prohibition in the TEC. The faster you try to teach with poor teaching methods, the less students learn. Below is a link to a brief but superb video on K-12 math education that every parent and policy maker needs to see.

State Representative Bill Zedler's HB 3557 would fix this problem. Please thank Representative Zedler for carrying this bill in the House, and ask your own state representative to sign on to it as a co-author. I am still needing a Senate sponsor.