Elementary Math Grows Exponentially Tougher

In Virginia, George Mason University, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and three other universities have teamed with local K-12 systems to improve math teaching through a master's degree program in math and educational leadership for elementary and middle school teachers. The program, begun in 2002, has about 60 graduates, who have returned to their schools and become a resource for colleagues.

Virginia Commonwealth University math professor William E. Haver, who is involved in the partnership, said elementary teachers need to know far more than the standard curriculum. With a depth of knowledge, teachers can help children understand relationships between numbers and solve problems in different ways. Without it, teachers often rely on memorization and aren't well-equipped to help struggling students.

"Elementary math isn't elementary," Haver said. "There are a lot of deep ideas there. Usually, if a child doesn't get the right answer, there's a fair amount of good thinking along the way, but it got astray at some point. If you can pinpoint that problem, you're better off."

Gross runs the Vermont Mathematics Initiative, a graduate program that has trained more than 160 elementary teachers in math leadership. He drew an analogy to elementary reading instruction. "Would you want a teacher who has read 'Dick and Jane'?" he asked. "Or would you want a teacher who has read Shakespeare and the masters and has a fondness for reading?"

Results in Vermont are promising. In schools with the math leaders, students are earning better math test scores than peers in similar schools. Achievement of students from poor families has also risen.

Judy Schneider, a 25-year teacher who is a math specialist at Widewater Elementary School in Stafford County, is midway through the Virginia program. She helps teachers understand math and reach students through dynamic lessons. Recently, she helped a fifth-grade teacher who was preparing to teach a lesson on fractions but didn't understand the material.

Math wasn't always Schneider's strong suit, but after taking courses in algebra, geometry and statistics, she is able to help colleagues improve.

"I was such a bad math student as a child, all the way through high school and even into college," she said. "Math was something I struggled with, and all of a sudden algebra makes sense to me. I want it to make sense for the kids."