Fractions are numbers, too – Part 2

We have a lot to say about CCSSI’s treatment of fractions, which starts tentatively with 1.G.3, but we’ll initially hone in on Grade 3, which is where Common Core begins its big push.  We’ll discuss Common Core’s sequence, and compare or contrast it to our own preferences for how fraction concepts should be introduced, and if we differ, provide a (hopefully justified) rationale for our choices.

3.NF.1 states, ``Understand a fraction 1/b as the quantity formed by 1 part when a whole is partitioned into b equal parts; understand a fraction a/b as the quantity formed by a parts of size 1/b.’’

Fractions are numbers, too – Part 1

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all numbers are created equal...
(Well, Abraham Lincoln or Thomas Jefferson could have written this.) 

On February 8&9, 2013, while much of the northeastern US was getting socked with a blizzard, a symposium was held at Educational Testing Service headquarters in Princeton.  The meeting between ETS and the National Urban League was entitled "Taking Action: Navigating the Common Core State Standards and Assessments," and the purpose was to ``discuss [the] impact of Common Core State Standards on underserved communities’’ and ``consider strategies to succeed with the new standards and assessments.’’

We stumbled across the live-twitter feed by accident, but immediately recognized the meeting's significance, as David Coleman, Joe Willhoft, and Doug Sovde, three Common Core ``biggies’’ were all featured speakers.  For them, it offered an opportunity to ``sell’’ CCSSI to important community groups: in addition to the NUL, representatives of the NAACP, NCLR and SEARAC were also in attendance.