By Sophie Pappas
For Robbin Edwards, it is time for Zionsville Community Schools to re-evaluate its method of teaching math to middle schoolers.
“We are not griping parents here to attack teachers,” Edwards said at the May ZCS Board of Trustees meeting. “We’re not here to create an ‘us against you.’”
But she was there to present the board with facts and feedback from concerned parents who believe that Aleks, an online math program designed for students in the middle schools, is not educating students as it should.
Edwards told the board that, as a former educator, and the mother of ZCS students, she has seen a large gap in math learning between her children who did not use Aleks during middle school and those who have used it.
“[Parents] are sort of at the back end of this,” she said.
According to Edwards, parents must spend hours of evening time with their children to complete their Aleks math work, using a program that is difficult to navigate.
She noted that the lack of real learning taking place with Aleks hurts students’ self-esteem and lowers their confidence in their math skills by the time they reach high school and are given a traditional paper and pencil to complete math work.
In an online survey that Edwards sent to more than 60 middle-school parents, only three responded with positive comments about Aleks. The other responses were all negative.
One part of Aleks that is frustrating for parents is the idea of completing the pie chart.
According to www.Aleks.com, the pie chart corresponds to what students are learning in their classrooms. Each “slice” of the online pie shows a particular area of the course. The website states that the degree to which each slice is filled by darker color shows the extent to which the student has mastered that area.
Each slice of the pie may be opened to produce a list of concepts on which the student can choose to work.
“The mastery of a pie chart gives students a false positive,” Edwards said, noting that just because the pie chart is completed doesn’t mean the student understands the work.
What the schools say
Middle-school teachers are adamant that using Aleks is simply a tool, rather than a complete curriculum for learning mathematics.
Eighth-grade math teacher, Missy Stringham said that she was “reamed across the coals” by parents after the first year of using Aleks.
“I listen to these concerns,” she said.
Stringham said that she hears what parents say, but is still teaching the same way she was before Aleks was introduced.
“I see [Aleks] as an online refresher,” she said.
ZCS board members empathized with Edwards and the parents’ concerns over Aleks.
“We take you seriously,” said board member Jim Longest. “This is what we’ve signed on to do, and we take it seriously. It’s our job.”
ZCS Superintendent Scott Robison said that their concerns “are valid” and that further research is being done to see how effective or ineffective Aleks is for students of all math and learning levels.
“This is a serious review,” Robison said.
The board will continue to discuss the Aleks math program at the June 9 board meeting.
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