Why some parents struggle with ‘new math’ and how one school is helping

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (InvestigateTV) — In recent years, you may have stared blankly at your child’s math assignment. You’re not alone.

Experts and educators say it’s likely happening across the country as modern methods of instruction can be almost unrecognizable to the “carry the one” many of us grew up on.

Math resource teachers Suzi Jolevski and Shala Ott are working to help bridge the gap for families at Riverside Elementary in Fairfax County, Virginia. They’re doing so with a specialized class geared toward parents. The school calls it ‘Math Class For Caregivers.’

But the people taking part in one recent lesson were not students. They were parents.

Parent Lyazmin Moreno has two children, one in second grade and the other in fifth. She said she sometimes feels helpless trying to help them with math homework.

“For me, it’s so much easier to, I don’t know, just think about two times two equals four. But they go through all these different steps to get there. And then in a problem, they have to explain how they got to their answer,” Moreno said. “For us, we just write the number, and this is the answer, and you’re done with it.”

Parent Doris Casablanca described a similar disconnect between “old math” and “new math.”

“Because I have my way, but my way is too old,” Casablanca said.

Some parents have shared their frustrations with today’s math instruction on social media. One mother in Texas posted a video comparing how she solved a problem to how her daughter is taught to solve it.

“What is all of this, like when did math be this, and not this?” she said in the video. “Who can follow this?”

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics President Latrenda Knighten said she understands that reaction.

“Initially I do have sympathy for the parent, because a lot of people, you only know how you were taught. And it is different,” Knighten said. Knighten said she was taught “old math” as a child.

“I was taught to memorize things and just to do the facts, you know, formulas, equations,” Knighten said.

Asked whether “carrying the one” is a thing of the past, Knighten laughed and said, “I want to say yes.”

Less memorization, more problem-solving

Knighten said there is less emphasis today on memorization in math, and more focus on problem-solving and critical thinking.

“Think about real life. We don’t go to the grocery store and just spout, you know, just random facts. It’s that type of reasoning that we do in the classroom, those real life applications,” Knighten said. “And so you have a better chance of students actually learning math and seeing why it’s important and why it relates to the things they do, because it’s sense-making.”

Knighten said programs like the one at Riverside Elementary can really make a difference for parents who may be struggling to help their children with math homework. The class aims to break down current teaching methods, including include number lines, equal groups and arrays.

“We just wanted them to feel more comfortable with the kind of math that is happening here,” said Suzi Jolevski, a math resource teacher.

Riverside Elementary Principal LaRonda Peterson said the class was created in response to feedback from families.

“And so talking to my math coaches, I really wanted to make a place that was live and visible for parents to see what are the expectations for math,” Peterson told us. “How can I better support my child at home with math?”

Research links parent attitudes to child anxiety

Some previous studies have shown about 93% of U.S. adults experience some level of math anxiety.

University of Maryland professor of human development Geetha Ramani said researchers are watching for early signs of that anxiety in children.

“We start to worry a little bit about this kind of fear starting very early, these signs of ‘I’m not a math person’ developing really young,” Ramani said.

Ramani said that a parent being vocally frustrated with math could have a trickle-down effect for the child.

Ramani, who works at the University of Maryland’s Early Childhood Interaction Lab, studied the impact of family interactions around math. Her research found negative messaging from parents can trigger the same nervous feeling in children, even as young as four years old.

“Just like reading, math needs practice. It needs encouragement. It needs support. It can be hard. We completely understand that,” Ramani said. “And that’s why we feel having families engage in math at a very young age can be important, even if the parents themselves don’t feel confident doing it.”

Tips for parents

Jolevski said parents can help by asking their children open-ended questions about their math work.

“I think even just, what are you noticing about these numbers? Or what do you think is happening here? What do you already know? So just very broad questions that will help the child, like, zoom in on something that they’re working on,” Jolevski said.

During the class, Moreno worked through a problem with Jolevski and arrived at the correct answer.

“I was able to understand when the teacher actually explained it to me,” Moreno said.

Moreno said the class has been helpful.

“Yeah, it’s very helpful — whole new world,” she said, smiling.

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics recommends parents who are struggling with their children’s math homework should not suffer in silence. The organization suggests:

• Talking to your child’s teacher
• Asking to observe a math lesson
• Taking advantage of family math nights or classes for parents, if the school offers them
• Using older siblings in the home as a resource for younger children struggling with new math methods

Families can find more math resources online, including tips from the National Association For Family, School, and Community Engagement on how to incorporate positive math talk into daily activities at home.