Math Coach Talks Parental and Family Involvement in Math Education

Looking for ways to engage parents in math education? Sikeston, Missouri Math coach Kelley Good Branch has some great ideas. 

Good Branch uses Eureka Math² ® and recently wrote about her experience in an op-ed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  She and her colleagues love how the curriculum supports parental and family involvement in math education. 

The Post-Dispatch story discusses the importance of tapping parents as educational partners today. This is especially critical given students' learning gaps due to the education disruption associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.  

According to the most recent Nation’s Report Card, math scores are particularly down across the country. 

How Parents and Families Can Help With Math at Home

Good Branch said the Apply book is one aspect of Eureka Math² she finds particularly helpful in engaging parents and the entire family in math education. Typically, students take this curriculum component home.

The Apply Book provides additional practice for students on the lessons covered in class. It lays out and deepens the understanding of math concepts for students and their families.  

“My colleagues and I are fortunate in that, at our schools in Sikeston, we use a math curriculum that includes a parent-friendly workbook. One of the teachers I work with, Dana Driskell, told me the book helps bridge the gap between learning at school and learning at home,” Good Branch writes in her op-ed. 

Eureka Math² also includes an online family engagement site. At Great Minds®, we believe engaging families is critical across all our content areas. Research shows it leads to a host of better student outcomes.  

Good Branch writes that reading with children can sometimes feel more natural for many parents and caregivers than doing math with them. But she offers great suggestions for those who want to try working on numeracy and math learning with their children.  

These ideas include countdown activities, naming shapes, and working on measurements in the kitchen. Good Branch says parents can sit down at homework time for older students and learn alongside their kids.  

And, she says, ask teachers for ideas on how to help.  

“You’d be surprised, but so many math teachers are just waiting for parents to engage with them on math content,” Good Branch writes. 

We’re glad to partner with Good Branch and her colleagues in Sikeston schools on math instruction, and we can’t wait to see the progress they make the rest of the school year and beyond.