Oak Norton, a parent from Alpine School District, is determined to show that one parent can and should have a say in what his child is taught.

Norton's concerns originated from the fact that Alpine School District uses a new style of math called "investigative math," in which classrooms present various concepts to children and allow the students to explore these concepts through a series of actual investigations in which they use important mathematical ideas. This in turn replaces having students practice and learn the standard concepts, which are referred to as, "direct instruction."

Norton said investigative math is a sentence for failure.

"In California, for example, they ran these programs for seven years and went from being one of the top scoring states in the country to the second lowest, just above Mississippi and tied with Louisiana," Norton said.

He said he believes the Alpine district's investigative math approach will dumb down the children to the point that Utah will only be importing low paying, non-math skill required, blue collar jobs.

"We ought to be teaching kids as if we knew they were the next Einstein or Marie Curie," Norton said, "Under investigation approach, nobody gets pushed."

Norton said his concerns began a few years ago when he went to a parent-teacher conference. He asked the teacher why his third-grade daughter hadn't yet been taught multiplication tables. The teacher responded that the school was no longer teaching times tables or any sort of that type of math, but rather a new style of math called "investigative math."

Norton was appalled and confused, but after being assured by the principal this was an excellent program, Norton calmed down. He decided to teach his child the basics of math at home because it wasn't being covered in school.

Norton said his feelings changed when his daughter came home upset and in tears because teachers said she wasn't allowed to use the method of writing out a division problem, which her father had taught her.

Norton decided to do something.

"I wasn't going to let my children continue to suffer through a system that was not going to prepare them for college and life," Norton said.

He said he has branched out and has networked with nationally and internationally known mathematicians, and so his claims are nothing short of expertise. He soon realized the program was not the excellent program he had been told it was, and so he went door-to-door for many weeks, petitioning the district to go back to basic fundamentals and forget the investigative math. Eventually, Norton had created a petition with 1,000 families on it, as well as recognition for his efforts from the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.

Norton said he is not alone in finding the teaching ridiculous, and many families have shared similar stories. One individual didn't believe Norton about these programs until he took his second-grade child, who had received a 94 percent in math, to be tested at the private tutoring center. She tested at a kindergarten level of computation skills and first-grade comprehension skills.

Another parent said her daughter was scolded at school for putting two, three-digit numbers on top of each other in order to add them.

"Getting 'A' grades coming home with children mask the problem of this program to parents about what is really happening," Norton said.

In response to all Norton's efforts, Alpine School District has finally announced that next year it will offer a choice between two programs for all the schools to choose from, Norton said.

Norton said he believes this was a major step, but was frustrated by the fact the school blocked anyone who had signed his petition from being on the committee to choose the programs to be offered.

"The decision to not allow these people on the board causes a lot of distrust over who will select the programs," Norton said.

Not everyone is so convinced the program should be changed at all, however. Loretta Stevens, a second-grade teacher for 20 years at Alpine Elementary, said she finds it to be an excellent program.

"I think it helps students really learn to think mathematically, more so than some other methods I have used," Stevens said.

She said, as a teacher, she really has become well trained in the program and believes the problem parents are having with investigative math is they don't really understand the program or don't have adequate opportunities to see the teachers' perspective.

"Most parents of students in my classes have found value in investigations, " Stevens said. " I've been amazed at what second-graders can do."

For second-grade students, Stevens said the investigative math program is most successful.

But BYU math professor Sum Chow disagrees.

Chow said the investigative approach by its nature requires a large amount of time for the students to identify which of the solution strategy will work. By exclusively implementing this approach, it is of necessity to cover fewer topics or to diminish the depth the content. Most students will only gain superficial knowledge, he said.

"Students with such shallow level knowledge tend to perform poorly when they enter university or the technically oriented workforce," Chow said.

He said the best way for students to learn math is through repetition and practices, and because investigative math severely de-emphasizes algorithmic methods, the investigative approach deprives the students of some essential skills.

"The situation may be liken to a swimmer who learns all the strokes and breathing techniques on dry land and never spend much time in the swimming pool," Chow said.

Despite different opinions on the investigative math approach, Alpine School District spokeswomen Jerrilyn Mortensen, said test scores are up.

According to the Utah Performance Assessment System for Students results, Alpine district math scores are 5 percent higher in elementary algebra and 7 percent higher in geometry than the state average.

Mortensen also said the school doesn't use investigative math approach solely, but rather a balanced approach.

"Teachers were told about three years ago to use whatever methods they thought were best for children," she said.

Mortensen said Alpine School District does promote parents' involvement in their children's education.

"We encourage parents to participate as children learn literacy and math skills," Mortensen said.

Copyright Brigham Young University 9 Oct 2006