National Math Panel Emailed Public CommentsBoston – Palo Alto Meeting: September 13 – November 4, 2006
(The following emails appear in reverse chronological order from November to September 2006.)
-----Original Message-----From: Steven YangSent: Thursday, November 2, 2006 4:41 PMTo: National Math PanelSubject: Public Written Comment for the 4th Meeting
A Simple and Duplicatable Math Solution for the United States
by Steven Yang, CEO and Founder, MathScore.comI believe that the National Math Panel should emphasize a solution that can
easily beduplicated
across every school within the United States, regardless of teacher talent, access tocomputer technology, and budget. Although proposals to hire staff, train teachers, entertainstudents, and integrate technology all have merit, none of those types of proposals will effectivelyscale to meet the needs of every school in the United States.According to the findings in TIMSS, Asian countries, such as Singapore, China, and Japan greatlyoutperform the United States. They consistently outperform us without having made anysignificant adjustments to the way they teach math for well over 100 years. What they dodifferently is so basic that it surprises me to see such confusion in the United States.In Asian countries, students are forced to focus on math facts by regularly doing timed tests. Bythe end of 4th grade, nearly 100% of all students in these countries have complete mastery over their multiplication and addition math facts. Kindergarteners are typically exposed to addition, andby 2nd grade, addition math facts have already become second nature. By the end of 4th grade,without question, these kids know their multiplication facts. Furthermore, these students typicallydemonstrate superior critical thinking skills. This is because students who know their basics havea proper foundation on which to build critical thinking skills.According to student usage at MathScore.com, less than 1 in 5 of our 5th grade users start theschool year with mastery over multiplication math facts! The root cause of failure of United Statesmath students is an inadequate foundation in basic math skills, caused by the failure to memorizemath facts at a young age. Nearly every Algebra I teacher in a low performing school will agreewith that statement. If you would like some details regarding our analysis, I would be happy tosupply you with anonymous usage data.As the solution, I believe the National Math Panel should suggest a mandate on regular timedmath tests starting with first graders. There should be a standard on the number of problems,difficulty of the problems, and the time allotted at each grade level. This way, regardless of schoolresources, every teacher in the country can unambiguously adhere to this approach. I alsobelieve knowledge of math facts should be tested on state tests.
This solution is simple,measurable, and can be implemented easily in every school in the United States.
It evensupports the NCTM Focal Points.For schools with computers, I believe technology can help. MathScore.com providescustomizable, printable math facts worksheet generators at no charge. I believe these generatorscan make the process of producing appropriate math facts worksheets as painless and efficientas possible. We can also provide a patent-pending, adaptive learning system for schools thathave Internet access. I believe the proven improvement in test scores seen by users of our system validates the approach of starting with math basics before focusing on critical thinkingskills.If there is anything I can do to help, please feel free to let me know.Sincerely,Steven YangCEO and Founder, MathScore.com
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