My son rang me up the other day to give a heads-up about an All Things Considered (NPR) segment "Common Core Curriculum Brings Big Shifts To Math Instruction." Its 269 seconds nicely encapsulates why our monolithic one-size-fits-all public education model is flawed in theory and in practice.
The segment focuses on Common Core's decision that, to best foster an understanding of place value, a horizontal method ("regrouping") of addition should replace the "vertical" Standard algorithm for second graders (the Standard method doesn't go away, it just gets delayed until fourth grade). The show's guests do an admirable job of jousting the pros and cons of this move given the soundbite nature of the encounter (a more involved treatment appeared in The Grey Lady this past June ("The Faulty Logic of the 'Math Wars'"); reading the appended Comments is a must).
