Convoluted Common Core Math Leaves Parents Baffled

So ignore it and teach your kids the right way.

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.