A recent TIMSS study says that the U.S. ranks at the bottom 40% in math among industrialized nations. But according to Larry Shiller, creator of the latest Montessori Diagnostic Math Test, there is a solution for easing our nation's math crisis.so waht is this "magical new tool":
"The old monolithic classroom is gone, replaced by focused and concentrated students working on material that is appropriate for them as individuals, while using the learning styles that are best suited to them," Shiller says.
Higher math scores have been reported across the U.S. and Pilot programs in 38 states including California, Florida, Illinois, and Texas have demonstrated superior math performance while using this new diagnostic program.
The diagnostic tests pinpoint the weakness in each student's math foundation, and the analyzer provides the teacher with precisely targeted lesson plans that turn the weaknesses into strengths.Um, yeah, common sense diagnotics. If a teacher can put together a test to diagnose what kids are good at and not good at, they can tailor teaching time to meet those needs. It is called professionalism. Granted, some teachers may not be able to do this, but I suspect most can. It is what we pay teachers to do.
The shame of this is that some school district will buy this product without have any clue that if they gave their teachers a little more leeway in their lesson planning, they could accomplish the same results with far less money. But they won't it is all but guaranteed.
1 comment:
I agree: teachers need more leeway in the classroom. To support our goal of making the US #1 in math, the diagnostic tests may be downloaded free from www.shillermath.com.
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