Journal of Economic Perspectives

back issues are free online

The Journal of Economic Perspectives (JEP) attempts to fill a gap between the general interest press and most other academic economics journals. The journal aims to publish articles that will serve several goals: to synthesize and integrate lessons learned from active lines of economic research; to provide economic analysis of public policy issues; to encourage cross-fertilization of ideas among the fields of thinking; to offer readers an accessible source for state-of-the-art economic thinking; to suggest directions for future research; to provide insights and readings for classroom use; and to address issues relating to the economics profession. Articles appearing in the journal are normally solicited by the editors and associate editors. Proposals for topics and authors should be directed to the journal office.

Online issues of the Journal of Economic Perspectives published since 1999 are now publicly accessible at no charge, compliments of the American Economic Association.

Goody.

testing

ok, I'm writing a blog post about a book sold on Amazon: Driven by Data: A Practical Guide to Improve Instruction by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo.

hmmm

Interesting.

the way of proceeding

Thirty-five years ago, the nation's Jesuit high schools were reeling from an identity crisis. Jesuits were leaving both the schools and the Society; social action ministries seemed more relevant than teaching high school. Should the Jesuits continue to run high schools for upper- and middle-class students or focus on serving the poor?

Simultaneously, urban riots slashed enrollments at some inner-city Jesuit schools, and single-sex education seemed to some to be a chauvinistic anachronism. Replacing Jesuits with lay faculty raised tuition. Some of the nation's best Catholic high schools were in danger.

Fast-forward to 2006. The "long black line" of Jesuits is gone, with just a handful of priests and brothers remaining in most of the forty-nine American Jesuit high schools. However, the Society of Jesus is committed to its high schools, because Jesuits now realize that they provide outstanding opportunities for the spiritual formation of young people, says Fr. Ralph Metts, SJ, president of the Jesuit Secondary Education Association (JSEA). AMDG still rules at today's thriving schools. Consider these developments.

• Inner-city Jesuit Cristo Rey high schools, where low-income students work for their tuition, are opening rapidly. Two were added to the network in 2006, with more planned.

• Most of the traditional Jesuit high schools are at capacity, with competitive enrollments. This includes inner-city schools once threatened with closing.

• The schools are raising at least four hundred million dollars in capital campaigns alone to upgrade campuses and enhance endowments/financial aid.

• Jesuit schools all over the country are still academically and athletically elite.

What lies behind this turnaround?

That's what I sought to discover in writing this book.

They Made All the Difference: Life-changing Stories from Jesuit High Schools by Eileen Wirth

Why Students Don't Like School

first review

Am going to get a review up on Amazon -- you all should, too!

Singapore Math and journaling

From Out in Left Field:

"Math problems of the week: 6th grade Connected Math vs. Singapore Math"

My Special Number

1. The first assignment in Connected Mathematics Prime Time: Factors and Multiples

My Special Number

Many people have a number they find interesting. Choose a whole number between 10 and 100 that you especially like.

In your journal
*record your number
*explain why you chose that number
*list three or four mathematical things about your number
*list three or four connections you can make between your number and your world

I hold in my hands: Journal Writing in the Mathematics Classroom (Primary): A resource for teachers by teachers, written by professors from Singapore's National Institute of Education. It begins with 26 pages of instruction on what journal writing is and is not, how to conduct it, how to assess it and student samples. Then there is a collection of sample prompts. Below are a few for your perusal:

Topic: Whole Numbers

Level: Primary 1-6

Add the first twenty numbers 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ... + 20 in two different ways. Explain your working.

Topic: Measurement

Level: Primary 4-6

Your best friend was absent from class when your teacher taught about area and perimeter. Write a letter to him explaining the difference between area and perimeter. Use diagrams as illustrations.

Topic: Whole Numbers

Level: Primary 4-6

How do you prevent getting your understanding of the term "factors" and "multiples" mixed up?

Topic: Whole Numbers

Level: Primary 2-6

2, 8, 4, 16, 20

Which number in the above does not belong to the group? Why?

Topic: Fractions

Level: Primary 4-6

Fandi said, "Multiplying always makes bigger. Dividing always makes smaller."
Hassan said he disagreed, "Only sometimes."

Is Hassan correct? Explain your thinking.

home writing program in place, for now

The precision teaching folks have shown me the way....

• sentence combining
• text reconstruction
• "text reduction" (my term)

the books I'm using:

• Sentence-Combining Workbook by Pam Altman, Mari Caro, Lisa Metge-Egan, Leslie Roberts (looks terrific)
  
• Analyze, Organize, Write by Arthur Whimbey & Elizabeth Lynn Jenkins (is terrific)
  
• Six-Way Paragraphs Middle Level by Walter Pauk
  
• Six-Way Pargraphs in the Content Areas: Advanced Level
  

I may shuffle things around once I'm finished reading William Kerrigan's Writing to the Point. The book's sole review on Amazon explains why:

Kerrigan and Metcalf provide a comprehensive and clear method for writing expository papers. Although geared for a college freshman writing class, using this text at the junior high and high school level could preclude its use in college. I have used this text with my gifted intermediate elementary school students with great success. The students love the straight forward approach to writing, and do not feel that their creativity has been hampered in the least. If you are having difficulty teaching written expression, check out this novel approach!

Buried treasure. The book is out of print; I would never have found it if not for my precision teaching quest, though the precision teaching folks don't seem to have heard of the book, either. I think I found it on a homeschooling listmania Amazon posted to the Why Johnny Can't Write page.

Speaking of which, Why Johnny Can't Write is (almost) an ur-text for writing the same way Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics is for Math.

Amazing.






help for the struggling writer
sentence combining exercise
we're starting a copybook
man-eaters of Kumaon - text reconstruction
expert advice on teaching writing from Joanne Jacobs
eureka
more from Joanne Jacobs
doctor pion on writing a precis and critical reading
first crack at editing exercise
home writing program in place, for now
why kids should do text reconstruction
results of sentence combining exercise

whimbey.com
Arthur Whimbey obit
BGF Performance Systems (carries Whimbey's books)
Tips for Teaching Grammar from the Writing Next Report (pdf file)
Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve the Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Schools (pdf file)

Writing to the Point Fourth Edition Table of Contents
Amazon review Kerrigan & home program
Writing to the Point, first installment
William J. Kerrigan and the sentence
writing and swimming: pp 1 & 2 Kerrigan
writing and swimming: pp 1 & 2 Kerrigan
To the Instructor

math dad writes textbook

Some parents pitch in with homework when kids get bad grades in math. Nicholas Aggor literally wrote the book.

The Riverview engineer was so distressed when sons Samuel, 14, and Joshua, 13, brought home bad marks, he took it upon himself to rewrite their textbooks chapter by chapter.

Four years later, they are in advanced classes and the Ghana native's pet project has become a passion that's produced a math curriculum for grades kindergarten to nine -- 14 books in all. And soon, it may not be just his kids whose grades are improving.

[snip]

[C]urriculum director Paula Daniels said she wants copies by September for parents as a tutoring guide.

[snip]

"There's step-by-step instruction -- if the kids don't get the concept from the teacher, they can just about teach themselves," said Shelley Zulewski, a math teacher at Riverview's Seitz Middle School, where Aggor's books will be the sole text for 10th-grade geometry and a supplement to other grades.

[snip]

The key to his texts, Holloway said, is that children can understand them. Aggor uses marbles, board games, sports and other examples kids understand to explain math concepts.

And he brings together the best of old-fashioned arithmetic and the "new math" concepts that baffle many parents, according to Holloway.

[snip]

"It's all broken down to where it's not all a bunch of mumbo jumbo that kids can't figure out ... It's a meeting of both thoughts of education, the old school of 'just do this and you can balance your checkbook,' and the new way of exploring and understanding it."

[snip]

John Bruwer of Brownstown Township said he gave a copy of Aggor's book to his 13-year-old, Darron, out of desperation last spring. Even though Bruwer is an engineer, he had trouble helping his son with his eighth-grade math homework from Patrick Henry Middle School in the Woodhaven-Brownstown School District.

"Darron would come home from school, just having gone through a chapter, and would really struggle," said Bruwer, a statistical problem-solving coach with Chrysler Corp. "I'd have to really read through it to make sure I could explain it to him.

"(Aggor's book) took the fear away of understanding math," Bruwer said. "He became more relaxed and more self-reliant -- he'll try the examples on his own. Basically, I was cut out of the equation."

Dad's math book makes the grade
via Gadfly

I'd love to take a look at these books. I bet they're good.

Tested

I've just discovered that the first chapter of Linda Persltein's new book Tested is posted online.

I read this chapter over breakfast one morning last week; I couldn't put the book down 'til I'd finished. It's the opening scene in the book, the scene in which the principal of Tyler Heights Elementary School is waiting for the state scores to arrive. The tension is ferocious.

When the envelope finally comes and the principal opens it and sees the scores, I cried.

That doesn't happen too often to me when I'm reading books about education policy.

Maybe it should happen, but it doesn't!

..............................

There's a very nice passage re: Saxon Math later on in the book.

Will post shortly.

calculus textbook recommendation

from anonymous:

You might want to try the Larson 8th ed or the Finney books. Much more "user friendly" [than Foerster] so to speak. I use Larson in my AP Calc (both AB and BC) but supplement from several others. Foerster has a supplement that goes with it called calculus explorations (and one for precal also) that are excellent.

Pre-calculus and Calculus at Key Curriculum Press

Thanks!

Information about Foerster's Calculus book

I'd appreciate any information about Paul A. Foerster's Calculus Concepts and Applications book.

Thanks.


Catherine here - dropping into ec's post

Here's a link to calculus text recommendations at ktm-1. (This may be all of them, but if not I'll try to post the other links later.)

bonus: calculus advice from Rudbeckia Hirta.

Barry's calculus text recommendation.

Vicky S on Warriner's

My old Warriner's (Revised Edition with Supplement, Complete Course, Copyright 1969) is still my single source for writing and grammar. You could plan your whole course of home study from just the contents, although nothing beats having the book. The amazing thing about Warriner's is that in addition to having all the following information, it has hundreds of examples and exercises, all packed into this paperback size hard cover of 800+ pages. Here are the contents followed by some brief excerpts from the preface.

Contents:

Part One: Grammar
Parts of Speech, Parts of a Sentence, Phrase, Clause

Part Two: Usage
Levels of Usage (Standard vs. Substandard English), Agreement, Pronouns, Verbs, Modifiers

Part Three: Composition: Sentence Structure
Sentence Completeness, Coordination/Subordination, Clear Reference, Placement of Modifiers, Parallel Structure (really important!), Unnecessary Shifts in Sentences, Sentence Conciseness, Sentence Variety, Effective Diction, Exercises in Sentence Revision

Part Four: Composition: Paragraphs and Longer Papers
The Effective Paragraph, Expository Writing, Language and Logic, Exercises in Composition, Research Paper, Letter Writing

Part Five: Aids to Good English
Information in the Library, Reference Books, Dictionary, Vocabulary

Part Six: Speaking and Listening
Discussion and Debate, Effective Speech

Part Seven: Mechanics
Capitalization, Punctuation, Manuscript Form, Spelling

Part Eight: A New Look at Grammar
Structural and Transformational Grammars

College Entrance and Other Examinations
Tests of Verbal Aptitude, Composition Tests

Supplement
Making Writing Interesting


From the Preface (citation above):

"The teacher of senior English occupies a difficult but challenging position. Because the course he teaches is in large part a summary of all the English courses that have preceded it, he feels obligated to review, or reteach, everything. Two thoughts impress upon him the magnitude of his responsibilities. The first is the image of the college English instructor lurking in the future of his college-bound students, ready and, it often seems, eager to find weaknesses in their high school preparation. The other is the even more sobering knowledge that for his terminal students the senior English class may be the last chance to master language skills that will help them meet the speaking and writing demands of a lifetime."

About teaching literature vs. teaching writing: "Relatively few college students fail because of inadequate preparation in literature compared to the number who fail because they cannot write."

About expository writing: "In teaching expository writing, a teacher must deal with four kinds of composition problems; the problem of the word; the problem of the sentence; the problem of the paragraph; and the problem of the longer composition."

And "The most important and perhaps most difficult thing to achieve in teaching expository writing is good organization. Organization can be most concretely taught through the paragraph which, in small compass, demands most of the important writing skills."

Interesting to note that author John Warriner taught English in junior and senior highschools and in college. Co-author Francis Griffith had a doctoral degree in education from Columbia University, and was for many years Chairman of English and Speech in a Brooklyn, New York, High School.

WSJ Five Best books on memory

The Wall Street Journal runs a weekly "Five Best Books on" feature, each one written by a different person.

Eric Kandel wrote the Five Best list of books on memory: ($?)


1. Ficciones
By Jorge Luis Borges
Grove, 1962

....one of the most fascinating descriptions of memory in fiction can be found in Jorge Luis Borges's seminal short-story collection, "Ficciones," first published in 1945 in Spanish. Borges, who knew for much of his life that he was slowly going blind from a hereditary disease, had a deep sense of the central and sometimes paradoxical role of memory in human existence. This sense informs much of "Ficciones" but particularly the story "Funes, the Memorious," which concerns a man who suffers a modest head injury after falling off a horse and, as a result, cannot forget anything he has ever experienced, waking or dreaming. But his brain is filled only with detail, crowding out universal principles. He can't create because his head is filled with garbage! We know that an excessively weak memory is a handicap, but, as Borges shows, having too good a memory can be a handicap as well -- the capacity to forget is a blessing.

2. Memories Are Made of This
By Rusiko Bourtchouladze
Columbia, 2002

There are several good introductions to the biology of memory storage for the general reader, but I particularly like Rusiko Bourtchouladze's. A gifted writer who is also a behaviorist, she discusses both of the great themes of memory research.....Bourtchouladze describes the now famous patient called H.M., who underwent brain surgery that left him with a devastating memory loss. H.M. could not store any new information about people, places and objects. The great Canadian psychologist Brenda Milner studied H.M. and, in a classic analysis carried out over two decades, succeeded in localizing this component of memory storage to the medial temporal lobe. Bourtchouladze brings these riveting discoveries to life.

3. Memory and Brain
By Larry R. Squire
Oxford, 1987

"Memory and Brain" is a classic in the biology of memory. In it, Larry R. Squire, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the University of California at San Diego, provides a superb historical overview of the key experiments and insights that have given rise to our current understanding of the problem of memory storage. Squire himself has played a vital role in this history: He pioneered our understanding that memory exists in two major forms: declarative memory (this is the kind of memory that H.M. lost) and procedural memory (for motor and perceptual skills such as riding a bike or hitting a backhand -- this is the memory that H.M. retained).....

4. The Seven Sins Of Memory
By Daniel L. Schacter
Houghton Mifflin, 2001

In "The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers," Harvard professor Daniel L. Schacter shows that declarative memory (the kind involving people, places and objects) is highly fallible and susceptible to distortion and suggestion. The seven "sins" refers to memory's various weaknesses: its transience, absentmindedness, blocking, misattribution, suggestibility, bias and persistence. Schacter .... [reveals memory's] extraordinary vulnerability to influence by authority figures....

5. Memory From A to Z
By Yadin Dudai
Oxford, 2002

Any question that remains unanswered after reading the above works by Bourtchouladze, Squire and Schacter can be answered by Yadin Dudai, a professor at the Weizmann Institute in Israel. ...The book is a handy reference, accessible to the general reader.


In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind by Eric Kandel
Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and the New Biology of the Mind by Eric Kandel
Principles of Neural Science by Eric Kandel
Memory: From Mind to Molecules by Kandel & Squire

Susan S on The Paragraph Book & writing a how-to

I love this -

I've been digging into the Writing Skills book from EPS, also. I have book 2.

It works well with The Paragraph Book. Book 2 is a bit more sophisticated than The Paragraph Book, so it feels more like a book pointed towards remedial upper-middle school, or high school.

It delves into formula, but is not so rigid about following a specific one like The Paragraph book.

The Writing Skills teacher's guide is not so much a book with the answers, but a good overall how-to for teachers and parents. I still like answers (even if there's more than one) when I get a teacher's guide, but this guide is really informative.

Writing Skills is very specific with its target concepts, (like The Paragraph Book,) but covers more ground in a more advanced way.

The Paragraph book looks deceptively simple, but it has revealed some interesting things about my son. For instance, book one is all about writing a simple paragraph about how to do something. They have to write several of these kinds of paragraphs with the formula: FNTF (which means First, Next, Then, Finally...)

My son wrote one on how to put toothpaste on a toothbrush. He wrote as sparingly as he could since he thought it was a stupid exercise. I kept telling him he needed more detail, but he argued that he didn't.

Finally, I had him read to me his paragraph while I tried to follow his directions exactly as though I was an alien. After bursting out laughing at my attempts to follow his directions, he finally got what I was saying.

He seems to have no sense of audience.

eureka

I think I've got it!

I think I've got the answer, or an answer at any rate, to short, sweet writing lessons an afterschooling parent can use to teach writing, rewriting, and revision.

We need editing exercises: we need the equivalent of the copy-editing books Evan-Moor publishes, only for editing proper.

If you can practice punctuation and usage copy editing other people's paragraphs (answer key), why can't you practice writing and rewriting by revising other people's essays?

I think you can.

This idea came to me sometime yesterday, but I was stumped over where to come up with short texts I could have C. edit down from 500 words to 50, mostly because I don't have the stamina to force C. to produce his own short texts.

Then today, talking to Ed about the state ELA test (one word: arrghh) I remembered Walter Pauk's reading comprehension books (you may need to hit refresh a couple of times). I bought a copy of Six-Way Paragraphs: Middle Level last summer. It's a dandy book, but I stopped using it after the first 19 exercises because C. didn't need it.

I hadn't thought about Pauk in a year until Ed said something that sparked a Eureka moment: Pauk's books are a superb source of short, well-written essays that can be revised and rewritten to be even shorter and better written than they already are.

Which is almost always a good thing to do, as Joanne Jacobs, Woodrow Wilson, British writing instructors, and possibly all professional and/or scholarly writers know.



bonus points

Rewriting Pauk's essays on a daily or near-daily basis might produce something like fluency in the rewriting/revision process.

Whether or not fluency results, this is certainly an exercise in analysis and summary. Summarizing is an extraordinarily difficult "skill" that is almost never taught directly as far as I can tell, and yet is so central to nonfiction writing you could make an argument that summarizing is nonfiction writing. (Well, someone could make that argument. Not me. Not today.)

Tomorrow I'm going to have C. cut 50 words from Pauk's essay on stunt people while preserving every essential point.

Then another 25 words the next day.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Stunt People

They are daredevils. They are in great physical shape. They are not movie stars, but they make a lot of money. These brave folks -- stunt people -- are the hidden heroes of many movies.

Stunt people were around long before films. Even Shakespeare probably used them in fight scenes. To be good, a fight scene has to look real. Punches must land on enemies’ jaws. Sword fights must be fought with sharp swords. Several actors are usually in a fight scene. Their moves must be set up so that no one gets hurt. It is almost like planning a dance performance.

If a movie scene is dangerous, stunt people usually fill in for the stars. You may think you see Tom Cruise running along the top of a train. But it is probably his stunt double. Stunt people must resemble the stars they stand in for. Their height and build should be about the same. But when close-ups are needed, the film focuses on the star.

Some stunt people specialize in certain kinds of scenes. For instance, a stunt woman named Jan Davis does all kinds of jumps. She has leapt from plans and even off the top of a waterfall. Each jump required careful planning and expert timing.

Yakima Canutt was a famous cowboy stunt man. Among other stunts, he could jump from a second story window onto a horse’s back. He invented the famous trick of sliding under a moving stagecoach. (Maybe you’ve seen this stunt in TV westerns.) Canutt also figured out a new way to make a punch look real. He was the only stunt man ever to get an Oscar.

277 words
source:
Six-Way Paragraphs: Middle Level
by Walter Pauk
p 30
ISBN-10: 0844221198
ISBN-13: 978-0844221199

Pauk's books

Six-Way Paragraphs: Introductory
ISBN-10: 0809203715
ISBN-13: 978-0809203710
Six-Way Paragraphs: Middle
ISBN-10: 0844221198
ISBN-13: 978-0844221199
Six-Way Paragraphs: Advanced
ISBN-10: 0844221236
ISBN-13: 978-0844221236
Six-Way Paragraphs in the Content Areas: Introductory
ISBN-10: 0809203715
ISBN-13: 978-0809203710
Six-Way Paragraphs in the Content Areas: Middle Level
ISBN-10: 0809203723
ISBN-13: 978-0809203727
Six-Way Paragraphs in the Content Areas: Advanced Level
ISBN-10: 0809203731
ISBN-13: 978-0809203734

I ordered a copy of Six-Way Paragraphs in the Content Areas: Advanced Levels.


Jamestown Education at Glencoe
results with Jamestown (marketing paper)
Six-Way Paragraphs at Jamestown/Glencoe
Six-Way Paragraphs in the Content Areas at Jamestown/Glencoe

BBC.co.uk Skillswise






expert advice on teaching writing from Joanne Jacobs
eureka
more from Joanne Jacobs
doctor pion on writing a precis and critical reading
home writing program in place, for now

great book jacket

here

sample chapter online - haven't looked at it yet

Linda Perlstein's book has arrived!

Tested: One American School Struggles to Make the Grade

Inside a turnaround school. Saxon Math, Open Court, talk of "background knowledge."

It's going to be fascinating.

Elementary Calculus by Jerome Keisler

here

H. Jerome Keisler's home page

help desk - books on handling disruptive behavior

Lessons two comments from anonymous:

Ordered the book IMMEDIATELY! I'm in search of scripted responses to disruptive situations. I'm currently in love with Engelmann's Direct Instruction. I'm teaching the 4 year old to read with his 100 lessons! [ISBN-10: 0671631985 ISBN-13: 978-0671631987]

It's great! There have been a few tough days...learning to rhyme and learning to sound out the word silently and then just saying the word were tough. But after the struggle (literally) the next day was like epiphany for her! She is reading better everyday!

If you know of any great books like Techniqes for managing...

Send your recommendations NOW!

.........................

I'm a teacher also. I'm not using the book for my own kid. I just wanted to point out that I enjoy the scripts and I need some scripts to handle the disruptive students.

Also, I'm a high school teacher. It's my first year. I taught younger kids before this.

Thanks for any input.

This is a big topic for me, because whenever I think about maybe teaching middle school some day I instantly wonder whether I would be able to keep order in a classroom. I know I couldn't do it given what I (don't) know now - would there be anyone who could teach me?

So I'm interested in books on this subject.

The one book I have, which looks terrific though I've read only a couple of chapters, is: Reluctant Disciplinarian: Advice on Classroom Management from a Softy who Became (Eventually) a Successful Classroom Teacher by Gary Rubinstein.

Here's one of my favorite passages:

As part of the training process, future teachers are often sent to observe dynamic teachers. They scribble notes furiously, as these phenomenons silence chatter by merely asking, "Are you respecting y our classmates right now?"

After observing one teacher with excellent classrom control, I asked, "What do you do if they throw paper airplanes?" She answered, immediately, "I don't put up with that kind of nonsense!" In my notebook I jotted, "Don't put up with that kind of nonsense!"

That would be me, I fear.

Here's another terrific passage:

In-service topics range from the utterly useless to the totally useless. One year my colleagues and I spent three hours learning the subtleties of new grade sheets, with advice like, "When you bubble, use a number two pencil, and be sure to erase any stray marks." At my friend's school, teachers recently received "risk management" training. This program could have been called "How to avoid hurting yourself on campus so we don't have to pay your disability income," with advic like, "You can prevent slipping on rainy days by thoroughly drying off your shoes when going indoors."

If a television is posted near the podium, teachers can be sure they are about to endure the least effective in-service imaginable — the video. I resent this medium because it just encourages those teachers who too often elect to "make it a Blockbuster lesson." The video usually depicts a round-table informational meeting with a group of teachers asking the moderator about the in-service topic. The video, with its bad acting and unnatural dialogue, takes the tone of a late-night infomercial.

Sometimes teachers are given an information packet to supplement the video. Once, while watching a video describing the latest standardized tes, I flipped through the booklet and discovered a section titled "Commonly Asked Questions." The questions and answers seemed very familiar. I soon discovered that they had given us the very script from which the teachers on the video were reading. I quickly pointed this out to some of the more obnoxious members of our staff, and they began reading the answers, loudly, along with the video.

ISBN-10: 1877673366
ISBN-13: 978-1877673368

mixed review workbooks

Middle Grades Math Minutes is the one math workbook Christopher doesn't mind doing.


Creative Teaching Press (mixed review workbooks – popular w/parents)
First-Grade Math Minutes: One Hundred Minutes to Better Basic Skills
by Angela Higgs
ISBN-10: 1574718126
ISBN-13: 978-1574718126

Second-Grade Math Minutes: One Hundred Minutes to Better Basic Skills
by Angela Higgs
ISBN-10: 1574718134
ISBN-13: 978-1574718133

Third Grade Math Minutes: One Hundred Minutes to Better Basic Skills
by Alaska Hults
ISBN-10: 1574718142
ISBN-13: 978-1574718140

Fourth-Grade Math Minutes: One Hundred Minutes to Better Basic Skills
by Alaska Hults
ISBN-10: 1574718150
ISBN-13: 978-1574718157

Fifth-Grade Math Minutes: One Hundred Minutes to Better Basic Skills
by Alaska Hults
ISBN-10: 1574718169
ISBN-13: 978-1574718164

Middle-Grade Math Minutes: One Hundred Minutes to Better Basic Skills
by Doug Stoffel
ISBN-10: 1574717235
ISBN-13: 978-1574717235


more mixed review:

Mixed Skills in Math
ISBN: 1-56822-861-9
1568228619


and, from Susan S & instructivist:

edhelper

Costs approximately $25/yr ($40 if you subscribe to high school material as well).

Site will print out mixed review or single-problem worksheets with answers. All subjects.

A lifesaver.


Instructional Fair Workbooks
Skill Builders Word Problems Workbooks (fantastic & cheap $3.95/book)
Skill Builders Workbooks (all)
mixed review workbooks
Spectrum Math workbooks

Spectrum Math workbooks

I'm pretty sure instructivist recommended the Spectrum books. I haven't used them yet, but probably will. Spectrum books have pre- and post-tests for each topic along with lots of word problems. (Other subjects, too.)

Spectrum Math Kindergarten
ISBN-10: 076963690X
ISBN-13: 978-0769636900
Revised updated edition (I’ve never seen the updated editions):
ISBN-10: 0769677916
ISBN-13: 978-0769677910

Spectrum Math Grade 1
ISBN-10: 1561899011
ISBN-13: 978-1561899012

Spectrum Math Grade 2
ISBN-10: 156189902X
ISBN-13: 978-1561899029

Spectrum Math Grade 3
ISBN-10: 1561899038
ISBN-13: 978-1561899036

Spectrum Math Grade 4
ISBN-10: 1561899046
ISBN-13: 978-1561899043

Spectrum Math Grade 5
ISBN-10: 1561899054
ISBN-13: 978-1561899050

Spectrum Math Grade 6
ISBN-10: 1561899062
ISBN-13: 978-1561899067

Spectrum Math Grade 7 by Thomas J. Richards
ISBN-10: 0769636977
ISBN-13: 978-0769636979

Spectrum Math Grade 8, by Thomas J. Richards
ISBN: 1-56189-908-9
ISBN-10: 1561899089
ISBN-13: 978-1561899081
Revised (haven’t looked at this):
ISBN-10: 0769637086
ISBN-13: 978-0769637082

Instructional Fair Workbooks
Skill Builders Word Problems Workbooks (fantastic & cheap $3.95/book)
Skill Builders Workbooks (all)
mixed review workbooks
Spectrum Math workbooks