Three years after voting for Everyday Math, Seattle’s school board president has delivered an articulate message about how content is king. In ASD, I’ve heard many times from a couple of great teachers how they can use Investigations math and the kids really learn. I still have my doubts that those students are keeping up with peers that are receiving more content, but I have no doubt they are among the best students on Investigations.
What this board president has finally come to realize, is that the bottom 90% of teachers teach from the text, not from a position of math mastery. They only teach what the book contains because they don’t know enough to cover anything else. Solid texts contain material that those 90% of teachers need. Of course the best result would come from solid texts and solidly content math trained teachers who know and understand the math they are teaching.
