Accelerated Reader
Hearing from Teachers—Accelerated Math
A new math teacher at my school mentioned, during an area meeting, the program Accelerated Math as a good program (the more I smirked, though I tried not to, the more he praised this program!) to use as a remedial type program for kids who were having trouble with math. This was at the middle/high school level. I assume it's of the same caliber as Accelerated Reading, but I'm not sure if it works the same way. Any comments?
Response: Our district, especially at the high school level, seems to be placing tremendous faith in this program. When our middle school began using it, I requested going to the first training. As a CGI facilitator, I wanted to see what was happening at the secondary levels. I was not at all impressed. Very much like AR, designed to provide individualized practice but has become the instructional focus. One thing I remember is a particular question that was shared with us in which children were expected to read a problem and then identify THE way to solve the problem. I spoke up and said that I could see (and have seen) children solve this problem type with several different approaches and did not like the single strategy focus. It seemed to me that the program may help teachers individualize BUT cannot replace good teaching and so often becomes the INSTRUCTION. I don't like it at all, it is misused and overrated and cannot replace meaningful instruction.
Response: I am not familiar with Accelerated Math, but I have come to be very suspicious of ANY program that uses any words that suggest speed or achievement in its title. I have two computers in my classroom. One is a "teacher" computer and one is a "student" computer. The "student" computer has Jump Start and Accelerated Reader installed. I don't plan to use either one. I emailed the district technology person to ask if the district had any software that would help students write stories or use graphics, specifically Kid Pix or something like Children's Writers Workshop or Dreamweaver. He emailed me back that he didn't know of any, but if I came across them he would be glad to install them on my computers. Makes me nuts.
Response: I have been using Accelerated Math for 3 years now. I use it as supllemental math material for my class. I like the program. It also gives automatic feed back to you. You don't have to manually grade the paper if you have a canner that goes with your program it will make your life a little easier.
Response: Hi, Thanks for sharing this information. It just confirms what I suspected. I will save it in case it comes up again. Actually, what prompted this discussion at the area meeting was some teachers' frustration with the many math levels of the kids in their classrooms, particularly kids who are so frustrated that, according to one teacher (who I generally respect), shouldn't be taking that level math. She went so far as saying that there are some kids who just won't be able to do certain levels of math. My belief is that, as teachers, we need to figure out how to teach every child in our classrooms, how to differentiate for those children, and how to identify progress with each individual child.
October 2003
Related Information:
Accelerated Reader (Elementary)
Accelerated Reader (Middle)
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