At the National Education Summit in November, Governor Bush tells us, "Education is the great equalizer. A math problem doesn’t care whether you were born into privilege or poverty. 

In an article recently posted by Grant Wiggins this point is brought home in a powerful way. A math coach shadows a student for two days and reflects, “I have made a terrible mistake.”

I was thrilled when I recently came across the term generative learning, which describes much of what I believe about education. I like the very sound of the word and all of the implications that go with it.

This phrase describes many students of the 21st century. We are working with learners who are used to their questions being answered immediately. The world is full technology that supports quick, easy answers - found as simply as speaking into our hand-held devices.

I remember distinctly when I decided to pursue more education. I was working as a fifth grade teacher, teaching 3 sections of math each day - and loving it. I was fortunate to have an uncle as a mentor who had taught the youth of Providence and advocated for higher standards of mathematics for all.

As I presented a visual model of a computation as an illustration of the new 2011 frameworks, there sat Erica. "This does not make sense to me. Why are we using this model?" I acknowledge such questions and answer with a question of my own, "Good questions. Just because the standard says to use a particular visual model, why is this better for students? And, how will you know it is better?" and thus our journey begins.

In 2007, a study led by Greg J. Duncan, PhD, of Northwestern University, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of the results of six large-scale longitudinal studies. The findings suggest that an early understanding of math concepts is the most powerful predictor of later school success.