Numeracy Act signed into law; bill getting mixed reactions - WAFF
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - A plan some lawmakers are calling essential to bring up student math scores now has our governor’s signature.
Governor Ivey signed the Numeracy Act into law Tuesday.
It allocates over $90 million to hire math coaches to try to boost the state’s lagging test scores
”It’s not just one plus one is two. Now it’s one plus this over here, divide this by here take this over here and now it’s two. And I’m just like ok,” Brooke Willis said.
Brooke Willis has six children in Morgan County Schools.
Like many other parents, her children struggle to grasp new math concepts, and she feels helpless.
“Honestly there’s been some nights where we’re trying to help and I can’t. I even text teachers and say, ‘I’m sorry, it’s 9 o’clock at night, but I have been trying to do this math and I’m not understanding, so I’m going to teach her the way I know, and if she gets counted off I understand but this is the only way I can help her,’” she explained.
Senator Arthur Orr, a sponsor of the numeracy act, tells WAFF the bill will use instructional math coaches, assessments and interventions to try to turn around test scores.
Orr says it was created with the help of teachers to address learning gaps early on; gaps Huntsville City Schools Teacher Michelle Cunningham sees every day.
“I get kids in eighth grade that can’t multiply, are still counting on their fingers,” Cunningham said.
She is thrilled to hear the bill passed.
“Some of our kids get to high school and decide to drop out because they don’t have the skills and they feel inadequate and we never want that. I think that this should push a lot of our kids to just want to graduate, want to do more, maybe want to go to college,” Cunningham said.
But others feel the Numeracy Act won’t bring Alabama students up from ranking dead last in national math scores.
“This is K-5 math. It’s addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. This should not be so difficult to teach. It’s because the standards are bad. Before common core we didn’t need coaches to go in and teach teachers, who’ve already gone to college, to learn how to teach elementary school math,” Becky Gerritson, executive director of the Alabama Eagle Forum said.
Becky Gerritson, who advocates for policy changes in education believes common core standards are still being taught, even if the state doesn’t call it that.
A press release from the governor’s office states Alabama did away with common core math in 2019, and that this bill gets rid of those standards once and for all.
This new law will be implemented in stages, going to low-performing schools around the state first.
Senator Orr says coaches should start working with those teachers in the fall of 2023.
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source: https://www.waff.com/2022/04/06/numeracy-act-signed-into-law-bill-getting-mixed-reactions/
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