Katie Couric's Notebook: Math

By: Katie Couric
Topics: Katie Couric's Notebook

Video:
Notebook: Math

Remember this story problem from elementary school math class? One train leaves New York at 9 o'clock and another leaves San Francisco at 10 o'clock … oh, never mind – it brings back too many bad memories.

So many of us, including me, were never very good at those problems. So more and more elementary schools are bringing in tutors, not just for the kids, but for the teachers.

Teachers that are great at, say, reading or social studies are not always as comfortable helping students figure out fractions and pi. In fact the National Council on Teacher Quality says most states don't even require elementary school teachers to have high school math skills

Many teachers who have used tutors say they really help, and there's some evidence it's working.

While our children's' math skills are far below results in Singapore, Japan, Belgium, and a number of other countries, they have been going up. That equals progress.

That's the kind of "new math" we can all understand.

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by pmichaels2 November 20, 2008 11:19 PM EST: Excuse me, pi? Elementary teachers and children need to make this a priority?

Maybe if the ADULTS in this country could get THEIR math priorities straight - debt,golden parachutes, celebrity pay, the STOCKMARKET - they would realize how lucky they are that elementary teachers are willing to do the almost impossible job of raising other people''s children in a society far more complex than that of Belgium or Japan.; Reply to this comment