Schools

Parent Says Math Curriculum Doesn't Add Up

'Front End Estimation' rounds 19 down to 10

A father spoke up at the Dec. 5 school board meeting to register a complaint about his third-grader's math quiz. James McKay passed out copies of the quiz to the school board and directed their attention to question 3:

399 + 19 = ?

Students were supposed to use a a technique called front end estimation to arrive at a rough, reasonable conclusion.

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"My son rounded 399 to 400, and 19 to 20. Four-hundred twenty—that sounded reasonable," McKay said. "That was wrong. He was supposed to round 399 down to 300 and 19 down to 10."

This elicited light laughter from the crowd. McKay said his son's teacher told him she was following the curriculum in teaching front end estimation, which focuses on only the first digit or two in each number.

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"I said, to be frank, I don't want you teaching my son that. .... It looks like he doesn't understand that, and that's a good thing," McKay said.

School board member Andrew Daga thanked McKay for stepping to the podium and said the estimation technique used "twisted logic."

"Alan [Superintendent Lonoconus], I'd really like you to look into this. This blows my mind," Daga said.

[Edited 12-12-11 6:30pm to correct the school from KDM to Gen. Wayne.]


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