Math Books for Seattle: Will the District Make a Wise Choice?

Seattle Public Schools is in the home stretch of picking new K-5 math textbooks and if you live in Seattle you can have a voice in the decision.  See below how you can make your opinions heard.

As I have described in several previous blogs, Seattle is now using a terrible math series for K-5: Everyday Math.  It has undermined the math learning of Seattle students for too long.

After lots of complaints and the evident failure of Everyday Math, the Seattle School District began a selection process for a replacement, managed by a Math Adoption Committee.  After some deliberation and limited input from the community, they have narrowed the field to three books:

1. Math in Focus - The Singapore Approach pub. Houghton-Mifflin
2. enVision Math   pub. Pearson Education
3. Go Math!   pub. Houghton-Mifflin

Math in Focus is clearly the best of the lot.  enVision Math is far better than Everyday Math, but a step down.  Go Math is the weakest.  Here are a few comments on these books.

Math in Focus

Math in Focus is the Americanized version of the highly acclaimed  Singapore Math program (Singapore students have some of the best math performance in the world). 

Reasonably clear exposition of elementary math in a solid, well-designed package.  Highline Schools adopted Math in Focus a few years ago, with substantial improvements in standardized math tests.  A NY Times story on Singapore Math, including its MIF version, is very positive, with parents suggesting it to be far superior to Everyday Math.
    
EnVision Math

EnVision is lacking in depth in many topics (e.g., multi-digit addition and subtraction) and does not

provide adequate practice to ensure procedural fluency. The exposition ranges from barely o.k. to downright awful. 

Go Math

Busy, graphics-heavy layout. Distracted presentation, jumps from foundation to skill to application and back again without giving a student time to master anything, just running in place. Too many of the assessments were multiple choice. 

The Seattle Math Adoption Committee will be considering public input, and quite honestly they really need the input form parents and the community to ensure a mistake is not made again.  You can either do this in person at several school libraries or provide your comments online/mail..

In person viewing and commenting can be done at  five school libraries during school hours:

•    MAGNOLIA: Catherine Blaine K-8, 2550 34th Ave W, 252-1920
•    RAVENNA: Bryant Elementary, 3311 NE 60th St., 252-5200
•    NORTH END: Northgate Elementary, 11725 1st Ave NE, 252-4180             
•    WEST SEATTLE: West Seattle Elementary, 6760 34th Ave SW,  252-9450       
•    RAINIER VALLEY: Wing Luke Elementary, 3701 S Kenyon St., 252-763

School libraries are only open during school hours, usually around 8-3, but are also open some evenings for special programs. All schools Closed for Spring Break: April 12-April 20.

 Or come to the Douglass-Truth Public Library, 2300 E Yesler Way, 684-4704 during open hours:
Mon-Thur 10AM to 8PM, Fri-Sat 10AM to 6PM, Sun 1PM to 5PM

You can also view the books online and download an evaluation form.  If you do this, please take some time to provide independent comments on the official form.

In order to view the books on-line, follow the instructions on this page.  The form you must fill out to provide comments is available on the committee website, here, along with the address to send it to at Seattle Public Schools you can mail it to (or you can email your filled in form).

We have come a long way and with strong community support, Seattle Schools can move from one of the worst K-5 math textbooks series (EveryDay Math) to a good one (Math in Focus).