Everyday Math in PS 188

from Niki Hayes:

Two years ago PS 188 in Queens was the highest performing school in the District and City and one of the highest performing schools in the State on the 4th grade math exam. It well should have been as it is in a very high performing district and has a gifted/magnet program in the school.

Not content to leave well enough alone, the new Principal decided, by herself, to change from a mixed curriculum (traditional supplemented by a bit of TERC) to Everyday Mathematics exclusively. It was introduced first to all the gifted/magnet classes. Parents who saw what the children were now wasting their time on expressed their exasperation to each other; the Principal wasn't listening. The results are now in and the school fell to tied-for 6th in the District, and outscored by too many schools in the City and State to count. This is in spite of the children being drilled to exhaustion with test prep! And the school had its lowest percentage of "4" (above grade level) scores of all the reported years.

Of the 5 schools in the District that outscored PS 188, none has a gifted/magnet program and all use a traditional or mixed curriculum as PS 188 used to. None uses Everyday Mathematics.

Seen as an experiment, this demonstrates that Everyday Mathematics is a clear danger to bright, college bound kids!

Melvin Meer
Parent
Queens Community Board 11 Education committee