Christmas WS's!An August 2011 study carried out by Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance & Education Next, looked at the math and reading performance of 15-year-old students in two studies:
- the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and
- the 2007 National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP).
The most startling conclusion they drew from these two reports is that US students rank so poorly in both the international and national math exams that the problem could cost the country $75 trillion over 80 years. How did they come to this conclusion?
In math proficiency, US students fall behind 31 countries and in reading proficiency, they fall behind 16 countries. Catching up to countries like Canada and Korea would increase the annual US growth rate by 0.8 percentage points and 1.3 percentage points respective. That increment would lift growth rates by between 30 and 50 percent. Increasing those percentage points over an 80 year period could yield $75 trillion.
So how can we apply these results to our young math learners? Lots of studies have carried out early math learning initiatives. This one from the University of Missouri (although fairly small) succinctly gets to the point:
Monitoring 177 kindergarten to grade 5 students from 12 schools, researchers from University of Missouri came to the conclusion that students with number line understanding and some basic math facts in the beginning of grade 1 showed faster growth in math skills over the next five years. As parents we can take the initiative to ensure our young kids know numbers (and the quantities they represent), counting and low-level arithmetic to set them on the path for successful math learning.
