Math

REMEMBER THE last math course you took? I do. It's why I write for a living.But I've always regretted letting math put me off pursuing an interest in science.There was a better way. I've just finished reading about it in a remarkable report on improving students' learning across the curriculum while revolutionizing environmental education.Consider, for example, what might be called the "log cabin method" of teaching math, developed by Clay County High School in eastern Kentucky.The school is one of 40 in 12 states, including Maryland, that are rooting the traditional curriculum, from social studies to physics, in the context of their natural surroundings and heritage.

Newly reported Howard County student test scores show a significant gap between black and white children, although average scores systemwide remain far above the national average.Scores for second-, fourth-, sixth- and ninth-graders in the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills -- reading, language and math -- were 23 points above the national average and consistently in the top third in the nation. Second-graders scored in the top fifth nationwide for their language skills.But average scores for African-American students were lower than the county average by 25 points or more -- not as low as in past reports, school board members said, but still evidence that new approaches are needed.

Rushing whiz kids to college early not always bestI read the article "A college scholar at 11" (May 13) with interest and reflected on past articles that have been published almost annually on other bright children who have entered college early.Each year I read about the parents' dilemma on what to do and sympathize because I, too, have been there.My son, Matthew, taught himself to read by the age of 4 and was reading "Hardy Boys" mysteries in kindergarten. He scored 1,240 on the SAT at 12 and was fully capable of college work.

After weeks of haggling and fine-tuning, Baltimore's new school board unanimously adopted a $30 million blueprint last night that sets high standards for management, staff and students for the coming academic year.The lion's share of the board's school-improvement budget, more than $20 million, is designated to improve reading, math skills and teaching and buy new textbooks for grades one through five and seven through nine.A few small projects for high schools were adopted as well, but the board's unanimous vote marked a decision to put its energy and investment in the basics and in the younger grades where it expects to achieve the fastest progress.

Amanda turns 21 this week. But I can't say to her, "Now you are a woman," because she has been one for quite a while. Becoming a grown-up is a gradual process, one determined by actions and attitudes rather than an arbitrary number of ticks on a calendar. Some people never make it. But still, her 21st birthday is a special day.She has given me joy, she has given me insight, she has given me memories. She makes me so proud and so sad, so confident and so worried, so pleased and so frustrated.

Andy Warhol's 15 minutes of fame is not nearly enough to suit David Charles Mayne.Since 1988, Mayne, a math professor at Anne Arundel Community College, has included the names of family, friends and colleagues in the math problems he devises for supplements to a nationally distributed textbook."

THURSDAY NIGHT, the sounds of "Bingo!" will be heard as the Savage Volunteer Fire Company and its Ladies Auxiliary offer the game again. Light refreshments will be provided by Maynard Wines and Donald Redmond, who are on kitchen duty that night.Ladies Auxiliary members Jean Anne Wines and Jan Foster will guide participants in more than 30 games, including early bird play. Come early for good seats.Bingo receipts from the weekly Thursday games help cover the cost of running the fire company.

Half of Howard County's high schools did better and half did worse in terms of their seniors' marks last year on the national Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT), but the overall county average improved.Continuing a trend, county students scored noticeably higher on the math portion of the exam than on the verbal section -- counter to how students generally perform elsewhere in the state and the nation."We definitely have something going on," Leslie Wilson, the county's director of testing, said of the math scores.

WASHINGTON -- Average scores on the Scholastic Assessment Test by 1996 college-bound Maryland high school seniors rose by one point in both test categories -- verbal and mathematics, according to data released yesterday.The rise was slightly less than the national gains of one point for verbal and two for math.An official of the College Board, which administers the nation's main college-entrance exam, said use of Advanced Placement college-level courses by Maryland schools continued to increase, but he criticized Baltimore for lagging behind the rest of the state and other cities in use of the program, which has been credited with increasing scores.

Howard County's Class of 1996 earned higher math and verbal scores on the national Scholastic Assessment Test than did the class of 1995, the county school system announced yesterday.The improvement by Howard students on the SAT topped the average gains posted by last spring's high school graduates in Maryland and in the rest of the country.The SAT is an examination used in the college admissions process, and it is intended to indicate how students will perform academically during their first year of college.

Maryland's testing standards for fourth-grade reading and math are some of the lowest in the country, according to a report released Thursday that ranks the relative difficulty of passing state exams that are required under the federal No Child Left Behind law. In math, the state standards were the sixth lowest in the nation, ranking between Illinois and Alabama. "I think it is deeply concerning that Maryland's academic standards are some of the lowest in the nation because it is a disservice to students who have to compete internationally," said Matthew Joseph, head of Advocates for Children and Youth.

Fourth- through sixth-graders in Baltimore public schools showed double-digit gains in math on state assessment tests, a dramatic improvement city schools officials attribute to a new curriculum, a relatively stable school year and a practice exam given before the test modeled after the state's version. Passing rates for fourth-graders in math rose to 73 percent this year, 11 points higher than 2006. For fifth-graders, 64 percent passed, up 10 percentage points from last year. In sixth grade, 42 percent passed, an 11 percentage point increase.

THIS PAST Wednesday Mayor Martin O'Malley stood behind a lectern at the school headquarters on North Avenue, facing television cameras as he talked about budget crises, bad math and the need for accountability. "The math scores of our first- and second-graders have improved," O'Malley said, "but many of us adults have not improved our own math." O'Malley was referring to those adults who have been abusing city school finances for years and have finally run up a budget deficit of $52 million.

The following table shows what percentage of elementary school pupils scored at a satisfactory level in reading and math in tests administered last spring and in 2001 as part of the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program. This is the last year for these tests, which will be replaced in the spring. Anne Arundel County Read 3rd Math 3rd Read 5th Math 5th School 2002 2001 2002 2001 2002 2001 2002 2001 Maryland Average 30.7 36.5 28.7 37.8 42.1 44.6 39.8 42.6 County Average 36.2 41.3 28.1 42.5 50.7 51.6 43.4 47.8 Annapolis 14.3 26.7 10.3 18.8 19.5 28.6 21.4 26.8 Arnold 45.8 61.9 54.5 71.8 55.6 64.6 67.1 62.4 Belle Grove 29.0 22.2 8.1 30.0 38.5 42.4 17.8 28.6 Belvedere 51.9 58.7 30.5 61.3 49.4 58.0 55.8 62.1 Benfield 64.2 65.6 66.7 71.2 71.2 78.9 73.1 78.4 Bodkin 70.0 76.4 78.3 82.5 71.2 74.8 64.4 85.5 Broadneck 59.2 67.1 40.2 69.6 50.5 72.4 65.8 65.3 Brock Bridge 63.5 54.8 50.6 28.6 46.5 46.3 33.8 41.8 Brooklyn Park 28.6 30.9 22.0 28.8 31.7 27.1 23.6 22.5 Cape St. Claire 40.0 36.3 35.0 50.4 55.8 65.3 50.0 53.7 Central 37.7 31.1 49.3 40.6 44.6 48.8 30.7 45.6 Crofton 44.8 53.9 30.2 53.7 55.8 56.9 53.0 60.2 Crofton Meadows 38.2 51.1 43.0 47.9 57.4 54.2 67.0 61.0 Crofton Woods 51.6 58.7 37.4 63.6 65.5 69.6 60.7 63.3 Davidsonville 58.6 65.3 50.0 76.0 75.2 60.7 63.9 66.1 Deale 12.2 28.9 15.2 34.7 37.8 44.3 39.6 47.0 Eastport 14.6 38.2 6.1 36.1 46.9 45.2 21.1 33.3 Edgewater 17.2 19.0 12.5 39.7 37.7 24.5 49.3 55.3 Ferndale 21.7 42.3 7.7 48.3 48.0 27.3...

COLLEGE PARK - Ashleigh Knox thought she was good at math. She got A's and B's in the subject at a good Howard County high school, and she did well enough on the SATs to get into the University of Maryland in its most competitive year ever. But when she arrived on campus this month, she was told otherwise. After taking a math placement test given to freshmen, Knox was assigned to the lowest level of remedial math. Her only consolation is that there are hundreds more like her. That's because the university - like many others around the country - is confronting a puzzling phenomenon: While the academic credentials of incoming students are on the rise, their math abilities are declining.

Even Drew Drechsler didn't know he was that good at math, not until he took a test his fourth-grade summer that told him he was well beyond the percentages and simple bar graphs of elementary school, and instead should be taking high school algebra. "We thought it was probably a mistake," his mother, Maritza Gonzalez Drechsler, says four years later, knowing now that it was not a mistake. Drew Drechsler is 13, an eighth-grader at Hereford Middle School who passed calculus before reaching puberty.

Principal Steven Meconi, dressed in an astronaut's uniform, climbed onto the roof of Northfield Elementary School. In his hands was the official Star Gazer Night flag, with the title words of Friday night's astronomy show embroidered on it. The flag was symbolic of the PTA's and administration's desire to spur excitement about math and science deep into the minds of about 640 schoolchildren. His antics that morning at the Ellicott City school were representative of one small step for the community's adults and one large step for its children.

AT THE SUMMER Math Camp at Spring Garden Elementary, 60 campers have found that math turns up in the strangest places, from bicycling to karate to fixing teeth. Highlights of the two-week enrichment camp, which features an Olympics theme, were visits by community professionals who explained how their careers depended upon using math. The children were excited when Olympic bicyclist Brian Walton spoke to them. The Hampstead resident rides for the Canadian National Cycling Team, and had earned a place on Canada's Olympic team days before.

MORE THAN 100 parents, teachers, pupils and administrators recently joined national presenter Beth Kobett and her students for a night of practical math applications at Runnymede Elementary School to celebrate the end of Mathematics Month in Maryland. Before the March 30 celebration of math, Kobett had gone to Runnymede to give an hourlong presentation, for parents only, on the way math is being taught in schools across the country. "We live in a country that hasn't had the achievement we've needed compared with other developed countries," said Kobett, who lives in Eldersburg.

"Have you ever really had a teacher? One who saw you as a raw but precious thing, a jewel that, with wisdom, could be polished to a proud shine? If you are lucky enough to find your way to such teachers, you will always find your way back." -- From "Tuesdays with Morrie," Mitch Albom's best-selling book about his weekly sessions with his college mentor. In a swollen Nike shoe box, the hand-written note was still in mint condition. (Does pencil fade?) In 24 years, I had read the note four times.