Some parents at North Beach Elementary School are wondering, "where's the math?" in curriculum being considered for district-wide adoption by the Seattle School District.

The district's goal is to streamline its math curriculum in hopes of boosting academic achievement and less than stellar state test scores. The idea is students moving from one grade to another and one school to another will have similar experiences.

Schools in Seattle have had a lot of autonomy in teaching the subject, with techniques and curriculum varying among grade levels. Most parents and educators have agreed; a comprehensive curriculum will help synchronize math instruction.

The debate is over what is the best way to teach it.

Investigations in Number, Data, and Space and Everyday Mathematics are two "reform math" programs being considered for elementary grades. Many schools within the district already use them, some along with more traditional curriculum.

M.J. McDermott and Linh-Co Nguyen, members of the North Beach Parent Teacher Association, say the reform programs favored by the district are low-rigor and don't efficiently teach basic math skills. While reform isn't all bad, they said, students should have a balanced curriculum that uses standard algorithms for learning skills like multiplication tables and long division.

"Kids aren't learning or using any real math skills anymore," said McDermott. "Kids are learning how to take the (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) instead of actual stuff."

The reform approach, sometimes called "discovery math," began to gain popularity in the mid-1980s. Curriculum began to shift from teaching repetitious "drill and kill" methods to a more activities based form of mathematics where students are encouraged to discover formulas themselves.

McDermott became a member of Where's the Math?, a group that backs traditional math curriculum, after hearing about Seattle's math adoption process and choices. She was shocked by what she called "weak" content.

The parents pointed to a unit on Siberian Tigers in a third-grade Investigations workbook. Students draw pictures of various habitats for the animal and are asked questions like "would a tiger hunt a bear?" or "would a bear hunt a tiger?" Part of the problem suggests the teacher pantomime a tigers' behavior.

Another Investigations unit asks students to draw a timeline of important events in the life of Dr. Seuss. Students name as many books by the author as they can and discuss as a class. Nguyen, a certified teacher, said these types of problems are more like social studies, not math.

"It's not good enough," she said. "There's no rigor. It's an OK activity, but it's really not teaching any math skills."

The worry is that if students aren't learning basic skills early on, how will they survive once they get to higher levels of math, McDermott said. And there haven't been any studies in Washington indicating the reform teaching approach is effective, she said. Critics point to last year's low Washington Assessment of Student Learning math scores as a sign that it's not.

Many reform math problems involve activities, such as cutting out shapes and fitting them into circles to find area. Terms like volume and surface area are given names like "filling" and "wrapping." It's supposed to keep students engaged in not only the "how," but the "why," of math.

Some of the methods are wonderful teaching tools, but are also time-consuming, inefficient and leave more room for error, said McDermott.

She used Investigations' "cluster method" for double-digit multiplication as an example. Instead of the standard method of placing one set of numbers on top of the other and multiplying and carrying, students are asked to solve a problem using estimation and reasoning skills.

Another issue is many parents aren't familiar with reform math techniques, McDermott said, making it difficult to help their children with homework. Nguyen and McDermott believe that's partly why tutoring businesses like Sylvan Learning Center are booming.

Tutoring revenue in the state has increased by 340 percent in the last 10 years_, according to Where's the Math?

North Beach uses Saxon, a more traditional math curriculum. The school seems to have had success with the program. It's math Washington Assessment of Student Learning scores are impressive, with 92 percent of third-graders meeting state standards last year, and 81 percent of fourth-graders and 77 percent of fifth-grade students passing.

But schools that use reform math aren't exactly in the gutter.

To increase curriculum alignment, Loyal Heights Elementary adopted Investigations last year because many teachers were already using it and seeing good results, said the school's principal, Clover Codd. More than 80 percent of the schools' third through fifth graders are passing the state math test.

Part of the reason students are doing well, said Codd, is a belief that "there's no such thing as a program that teaches math."

"No math program does everything you want it to," she said. "Teachers teach math, the program doesn't teach math."

Codd, who said she's "passionate" about reform math, dismisses units like the ones on Dr. Seuss and Siberian Tigers. Her teachers wouldn't use those, she said.

"That's not what reform math is all about - there are a lot of myths out there," said Codd, noting there are many meaningful and challenging units within Investigations.

It's the teacher's obligation to pick out what units are appropriate for students, and add to others, with perhaps some traditional supplemental material to make them more robust.

"That's the teaching and learning process," Codd said. "You'll see rigorous curriculum being taught here. There's a heavy emphasis on conceptual understanding, but we realize that our students also need to learn basic skills."

To accomplish that, her teaching staff strives to create a balance between reform and traditional math.

"You can't leave one without the other," Codd said. "I don't think there's anyone in reform math that doesn't agree there should be a balance."

But Carol Atkinson, a second-grade teacher at North Beach, said she sees little focus on skills like borrowing and carrying with reform math, mostly because the programs rely heavily on calculators.

"(Reform) math...requires students to discover concepts and facts through the use of manipulatives, but with far less focus or teacher guidance than you find in Saxon," she said. "This might be similar to teaching a child the alphabet and then giving (the student) a book and telling (them) to figure out a way to read it."

School Board member Sally Soriano said reform math programs work for some students, but she's received more comments from parents who feel that curriculum is failing than from those who support it.

Middle schools switched to the Connected Mathematics 2 program last spring. The district is awaiting the outcome of several bills in the Legislature, which could change the state's standards for teaching and assessing math, before deciding on programs for elementary and high school.

Atkinson said she'd be "horrified" if she were required to teach any of the "pure" reform math programs she's familiar with because she's seen her students improve not only their test scores, but their math self-esteem, with Saxon.

"I think the discovery emperor has no clothes, and we at North Beach see this clearly," said Atkinson.

Rebekah Schilperoort may be reached at 783.1244 or rebekahs@robinsonnews.com