Northridge : School to Give Parents Added Help in Math

Alfred B. Nobel Middle School is about to turn the multiplication tables on parents.

Tonight, during the school’s first-ever Parent Math Night, about 400 mothers and fathers--not their children--will be crunching numbers and figuring percentages.

Nobel initiated the Parent Math Night after switching to new mathematics textbooks this fall. The new texts emphasize problem-solving, teamwork, writing, critical thinking and investigation over the traditional recitation.

But the new books are not what some parents expect from math class.

“It’s not a big, thick book with hundreds of problems,” explained Nobel Assistant Principal Sharon Rose. “It’s a much smaller book and filled with problems that you solve and then explain why you did what you did.”

To acclimate parents to the new math strategy--a component of the school district’s so-called “Los Angeles Systemic Initiative”--Nobel teachers and a representative from the textbook company will show parents how the math works.

Part of that process will include having parents solve sample problems. A possible sample problem could involve percentages, Rose said. The new textbooks teach the formula for percentages and then require students to apply them to the real life situation of bargain shopping.

“The world asks you to apply what you know, not just to repeat what you have learned,” she said.

At the end of the night, Nobel teachers and administrators hope to increase parents’ “comfort levels” to the extent that they can help with homework, she said.

The Parent Math Night will begin at 7 tonight in the library of the school, 9950 Tampa Ave., Northridge. For information, call (818) 349-4200.