GREENSBORO, N.C.-- Elementary students within the Guilford County Schools (GCS) system are learning math in a whole new way. Middle schools students will also learn how to do math differently via a curriculum called 'Illustrative Mathematics' by Open Up Resources.
It's call Eureka Math. The curriculum is provided by Great Minds which according to GCS is a nonprofit agency.
Guilford County Schools announced in March the new math was coming to K-8 classrooms starting the 2018-2019 school year. According to a release posted on GCS' website from March, Eureka Math is the only open source comprehensive math curriculum aligned to the Common Core State Standards at every grade. Full release here.
When it comes to math, you're always trying to get to "The Answer," but there can be many ways to get there.
Eureka focuses on *how* you get to the answer, not just getting there.
The tricky part is a lot of this math is visual, because many kids learn better that way.
For parents though, it's weird to see so many drawings for a simple math problem.
Some parents may say it's complicated.
On Facebook, Teresa Barber said "Eureka is my new swear word."
Krista Marie Case said "it's awful."
However, Katie Hendrix thinks "It's great! Teach children several ways of doing something."
"We've only been at it a month. Transition is hard, but the research has shown this is the right step to help more kids be successful. We have to remember only 50 percent of kids in Guilford County are proficient and are at grade level in math which isn't acceptable," said Jennifer Arberg, the K-12 Math Director for Guilford County Schoo.
We've also had several comments from parents saying they just changed to Common Core and now they're changing again.
To clarify though, Common Core is a set of standards the schools have to meet, and those are still in place. Eureka is the curriculum, so it's how you hope to meet those standards.
Thursday night GCS is hosting an 'Understanding Eureka Math' meeting for parents who have students in elementary school. The meeting is at: Sternberger Elementary, 518 N. Holden Rd., in Greensboro.
There are others later in October, and at the beginning of November, although the school system hasn't nailed down dates just yet.
Here's an example of a Eureka Math lesson:
Video: More on Eureka Math from Great Minds
