Policy

Convoluted Common Core Math Leaves Parents Baffled

So ignore it and teach your kids the right way.

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Most U.S. public school students are learning math very differently than their parents did, due to Common Core State Standards, national K-12 math and reading benchmarks that have been adopted by 43 states and the District of Columbia.

The changes have confused many parents — particularly at the elementary level — leaving them flustered by a basic parental duty: Helping with homework.

"Almost every parent comes in and says, 'This is not how I learned math,'?" said Melissa Palermo, an energetic fourth-grade teacher who coaches other teachers in math at the Nathaniel Hawthorne school here.