The Method Behind the Perceived Common Core Madness

Writing for Vox, Libby Nelson explains why the mathematics instruction aligned with the new Common Core state standards is befuddling students, frustrating parents, and becoming the butt of Colbert Report jokes.

The new standards, Nelson writes, require that "elementary school kids not just to know how to subtract, multiply and divide, but to understand what they're doing and why." The Common Core aims to make American students better at applying mathematics in real life, and the theory is that they'll be better able to do so if they understand why mathematical methods—the standard arithmetic algorithms, say—work.

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