Did you read the comment about how the formulaic method is 'good' because it'll help you add hex numbers more easily? Makes me wonder about the usefulness of THAT across the general public.

I was maybe in 4th or 5th grade when I memorized the 'times table' up to 12x9. I still have pretty damned good recall of all those products and OFTEN use them in daily life. Fractions and division are nice to have in your head when you go grocery shopping, too.

I seem to remember a 'phase' that 'math education' went through some decades back with "The New Math," at the end of which it seemed that none of the graduates could do ANY 'math in their heads' at all.

This is 'progress'? Doesn't look it to me... and as some of the commenters on the link mentioned... "where's the data to show this method is better?" Welcome to MMGW for Math.

And one more, I guess I would fail this without knowing it was coming: http://www.salina.com/1895test/

I'm really more displeased with the specific examples used in many of the common core specific questions, especially the ones that relate to our government and how we need to just do whatever our president or our government wants. It seems the theme is "Just go with the flow". The example of the father that was arrested because he wanted to talk more than two minutes about not wanting his daughter to be reading sexual explicit trash especially at such a young age is a perfect example of how Common Core seems to be more of pushing an agenda than teaching our kids to make them more competitive in the world. Competitive, hmmm, that seems to be a argumentative concept too these days.

The more I see of this crap the more my blood boils. Is it to alienate kids from their parent's ways? I remember being helped with homework and helping my kids with homework. And being on both ends of that equation, I know there is nothing a kid likes better than rolling their eyes and telling the parent "you don't know anything". So common core is a conservative nightmare all rolled into one: brainwashing, dumbing down, dividing, confounding, convoluted, useless, expensive government program. yay.

Good grief!
I always believed I sucked at math. But compared to the illustrated method, I'd be a veritable Einstein.

Why not break it down even simpler? 14+4=(1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1)+(1+1+1+1)=18. Now that's what I'd call a formula. Why did God give most of us 10 fingers and 10 toes? Obviously so we could figure out the sum of 14+4 without using any additional extremities. Notice the religious agenda underscoring my explanation of the solution?

I can personally attest to all of these points. Which is why I'm in favor of homeschooling...Or at the very least much smaller class sizes and the ability to remove the terribly disruptive ones who act as an agent to constantly interfere with the learning of other students. I'm also in favor of smaller classes being rostered with students at the same ed level. They can earn being bumped up or down to other classrooms. If you always have mixed levels then the higher ones get dragged down or the low ones get buried. This way the higher ones can just keep getting more and more advanced (which is what we should all want for our kids...be as smart as possible, read like crazy and learn endlessly), and the other levels can be contained and concentrated on working on the weak points.. I could go on and on... however the main focus now is endless daily testing and score numbers. Our kids are not test scores.

Yes!!!

It's all part of dumbing down education - a real crime. Privatize education!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Evil with an agenda. That's who.

I used my scientific calculator and it came up with the same answer as the answer in the example, it showed 18. Do I get a scholarship now? The "Bring Down and Carry" method is even easier to understand, over that "formula (?)" method. Who comes up with this stuff?

Harry, I have a mother-in-law who teaches kindergarten. She has to deal with this stuff every day and she was the first to tell my wife and I it's ridiculous. To force children to go through all of these nonsensical steps (or to tell teachers they have to do the same) goes contrary to the methods she's used for a decade to good effect. And she's taught in schools where 50% of the students she had didn't speak English.

The problem with our children's learning is not the teachers' approach, it starts with the lack of parental involvement. The kids whose parents volunteer at the school are all top tier students - either by intellect or by hard work. The students who are disruptive in class are the ones whose parents don't give a thought to their child's education, expecting the public school system to do it all. My mother-in-law has horror stories every semester about the one kid in class who really causes problems for everyone else, yet she can't discipline the child and is frequently told by the administrators that SHE is the problem - despite video evidence to the contrary.

Common Core can't fix the problems with education. No teaching method can. When we return primary responsibility for education back to the PARENTS, we'll see test scores rise and better-educated youth.

for most children, these steps are hurting. for some, it may help. It's as if you need to learn a whole other set skills in order to learn the math. how is that helpful? Your last statement comes off pretty insulting

Blarman:
Essentially, the written out explanation is correct. Remember, it's an explanation for
adults to teach to a child.
I can't see the photographs well enough to comment.
Maybe you should review single digit and tens digits numbers.
Harry M

If they're using ten frames...fill in the second ten frame with the 4 that's being added instead of using 3 ten frames for the problem...or, aka, count on your fingers. Once you've mastered the idea of ten frames and counting on your fingers you can do it in your head and never any need for these 27 steps and sub steps in the first place. "Keep them confused and they will follow." (or "arrest their parents who ask questions at board meetings and they will shut up." AHHHHHH!)