Afterschooling For Math
Q. My
son is going into the eighth grade. He needs help with math; we moved a few
times when he was younger. We'd like to supplement his regular schooling in
math so that he'll score up to his potential on the PSAT, SAT and ACT coming
up. What can we do for him this summer and next school year?
Sounds like a job for afterschooling – the systematic
supplementation of public school curriculum in a top-quality private school
that operates independently and after school hours.
If by some miracle you live in the Boston area, you
have access to Ground Zero for afterschooling in mathematics – the Russian School of Mathematics.
That private, after-school math center now enrolls more than 700 students from
K-12, including a lot of middle schoolers from some of the ritziest
neighborhoods in the Boston area.
A mom who was fed up with mediocre math instruction
in the public schools began the school out of her home seven years ago with her
two children and a few of their friends, and reportedly is turning students
away now, her school is so popular.
After the need for the service became so apparent,
she went to district officials and proposed that the district pay the kids'
tuition and let them test out of the regular math class in school, if they
choose to attend her school because it meets their academic needs better. But
the school district would have none of that. And so parents have been paying
double for their kids to learn math – once, through their taxes, to the public
schools, and again, through private tuition, to the afterschool, which is what parents
say is doing the better job.
Reportedly, the problem with many
public school math curricula is that they are tied to the benchmarks of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Those in turn are reflected in most statewide math assessments, but mathematicians
and others who are conservative about math education don't like them because
they don't emphasize the basics.
Homework: Why not start an afterschool in your community? For
inspiration, see www.russianschool.com
Copyright 2005 • One in
a series of educational advice columns by Susan Darst Williams, www.DailySusan.com, a writer, wife and mother of four who lives at the base of
Mount Laundry, Neb.
