sparx maths

[SomersetBrie]

I'm a parent of a Y10 who has recently started using sparx maths with school.
I am wondering what other parents/teachers think of it.
DS is good at maths but is struggling with the homework style in general and the difficulty in getting 100%.
I assumed it was a him problem (he has plenty of those!) but I came across some very negative comments online about sparx (mainly from students) and just wondered what others thought.
I thought it sounded great from the email we got from school, but getting more questions in your areas of difficulty and minimal help with these areas has been very frustrating for him.

I appreciate your explanations, it's worth a bit of sparx pain if it did mean that DS got better results.
I guess like everything, it would be best if this was not the only style homework used, but knowing DC school, it will be, this seems to be how they roll with stuff.
Hopefully maybe Y11 will be different.

Surely at that point you or him e-mail the teacher explain you can't work out how to do it or what it wants (our more usual issue with on-line apps) ?

That's our approach anyway so they know it's an issue and sometimes it's a mistake with the app.

Even googling not terrible as long as why is understood - honestly mathswatch videos pervious app DC school used weren't always great or clear with explanations.

I have tried explaining the concept of simply helping the teacher than she tried her best and can they teacher please explain question 4d to dd but dd's almost certainly autistic brain said "no, I would rather have a melt down please". Because the computer would say that she's not completed her homework therefore she has not completed her homework and so the teacher will think she's not completed her homework and you have to complete homework or else you'll get a detention and detentions are bad and dd does not get detentions because dd follows rules and not completing homework is not following the rules and fuck me I'm exhausted just thinking about her her brain works.

So there's absolutely a reason for Sparx to allow a teacher to mark a HW complete even if they have not hit the 100% @OakleyStreetisnotinChelsea

Do the Maths teachers not care at all about this impact of the system? Since his school started using Sparx he can't bear the subject any more. He finds it boring and says the homework is too repetitive and takes too long.

Maths is too important for this to be happening. I don't understand why Maths teachers are not more concerned about this. It has certainly been the impact I have seen - top set Maths students saying they don't want to study Maths any more.

DD3 has compulsory homework, XP boost and Target homeworks. She can't cope with leaving work undone but the three parts combined take a long time, even though she's good. She says that if you do your homework fast, the programme just gives you more and harder questions.

@OakleyStreetisnotinChelsea sympathy I had very small amount of that from my DC and it's really hard to deal with.

However I can't understand why that teacher, department and SENCO can't allow adjustments for a child being distressed by the app and how they are using it.

Joining in with the Sparx haters! Teachers, please listen to this really important feedback you are getting, so many people can't be wrong.

My year 9 DS has always loved maths, it has very clearly been his 'thing' since he was maybe in Reception. He has been given extra work since early in primary school, which he has asked for. So he enjoys and is used to being pushed.

Now, he can't stand the homework, which is Sparx and nothing else. Boring, repetitive, frustrating. I think possibly because he is able, he is getting questions about concepts he has not yet been taught and that don't correspond with what he is doing in school. This isn't a stretch that encourages him to develop his learning (probably because of the 100% correct thing), it just makes him hate the subject and avoid the homework until the night before it is due in.

This is really sad for me to see! I honestly feel like Sparx has taken the joy out of maths for him.

Maths teacher here - I HATE it with a passion.

My daughter is year 8 and has been doing it since the start of year 7. I knew I hated it before she had to start using it, but now I’ve seen it in action as a parent I hate it even more! She’s a decent student but her love of maths is just disappearing and she says it’s boring.

I set a worksheet of questions split into 3:

section 1: stuff we were doing a couple of weeks ago (can they remember it?)

section 2: stuff we’ve done this week, getting progressively harder

section 3: puzzle type / problem solving questions.

First two sections are compulsory, third is not.

Other teachers in my school use Sparx and the relief I got from my year 9s when I told them I won’t be using it! 😊

Downloading Microsoft Mathsolver app has been invaluable for this as it explains step by step how it can be solved.

I truly hate Sparx Maths. The frustration and anger it causes my child have irreparably damaged the passion he had for the subject.

He came home yesterday announcing the school have now signed up to Sparx reader. I am appalled.

From the welcome email I gather the gist of it is the students are forced to choose one book from a selection of only four titles, none of which take their interests into account, half of which are pre-19th century (???) - so unlike the wonderful wealth of choice they would have picking a book from a paper book library,

Next, they are forced to spend their reading time trying to read the Sparx reader book on a laptop (or even worse, a mobile phone), despite several studies recently revealing that paper-based reading results in better information retention and comprehension outcomes that on-screen reading.

They are then presented with a series of questions every few sections that apparently’check they are reading carefully’ (??!!) - the whole goal of which is to earn something ridiculous called ‘Gold Reader’ status - where the prize is???…

… you’ve guessed it - being ‘allowed’ to choose their own paper book to read from any library!!!!!!

I am resentful that reading time my son would usually spend on far more engaging titles of his choice, freely selected from our local library or purchased himself, will now be partially wasted on this ridiculous Sparx scheme simply because it was a freebie offered to all schools that had already purchased Sparx Maths.

I honestly don’t understand how Sparx can make children who love maths hate it, it’s just a worksheet online basically. Surely if you love maths you want to get 100%.

Ugh, more Sparx haters here, so long, so boring, just absolutely rubbish.

I think because it is neither quick to complete and therefore gives satisfaction from that, nor challenging in a thought provoking, working through a problem to find a solution satisfying kind of way. It’s just boring, and also time consuming.

And maybe also that because it’s online you can’t see the entirety of the task before you begin so lose autonomy over which bits to do in which order.

Do you mean the Sparx is rubbish or the thread is?

You can do the questions in any order you want, and you can see the whole task and all the parts.

It's less boring in some ways that other online programmes - I think if you are only comparing it to other online programes, it's OK; it's not a fair comparison to compare it to teachers who have time to set and mark loads of worksheets, when some schools they don't have time for that, nor the paper or books, so it's only an uploaded worksheet that is then copied out.

I think it's a shame when schools only use Sparx, especially for the higher sets, as I don't think it does longer problem solving questions well.

But for lower and intermediate levels, it's quite good, and much less repetitive than other programmes in that at least the question types are more varied.

I think schools could change how it's used, and get rid of a lot of the complaints. It doesn't have to take ages - usually about 40 min I find with the pupils I support - that depends on what is set. They don't have to get 100% - schools can decide what to do about that, what they will accept, what happens if 90% is done, etc. It doesn't have to cover topics they haven't done - that's up to the teachers/school for the most part. The school can change the levels, the amount, the topics, the consequences for not doing it, etc, and they can add additional or other homework as well on paper if they wanted to.

I think one problem is that academies often use it, and set it from on high, which means that schools using it don't have much control about anything, and it's often a recent change with the academy so there are lots of other changes at the same time, and it doesn't get implemented that well.

My son hated it when first started using it but he is use to it now and tbh it isn't that bad, I sit down with him and help him with it some weeks.

Is there a setting that lets you see all the questions without clicking on each one individually @MapleSyrupWaffles or do you just mean that you can see there’s 1A, 1B, 1C etc?

@AFingerofFudge oh sorry, that Sparx is rubbish! Completely agree with some on this thread!

No, you have to click on each question, but once you are in the topic, that doesn't take long, so you get an idea of what is to come - you don't have to answer each question, just click on them to look at them, and then decide. And you can see the topic title, so you know what it's about, and you can see how many sections have been set that week. If I'm supporting a pupil, they often click through them to find ones that they think they might find hard. And they choose to start sometimes with the mixed topics sections, because they think those will be harder as they haven't been doing them recently - although I often find that they are not all that mixed, and include a heavy dose of whatever the current topics are as well! Usually the very last one is truly mixed, though. I find the mixed topic sections do really help the lower or intermediate users, as they have to keep remembering how to do things like fractions, that they otherwise keep forgetting! They don't always like it much, but it's been good for their maths, and some have made a lot of progress as a result. I would certainly want to supplement it with other things for the higher level pupils, especially as they get nearer to GCSE, but if the teacher has time for that, it should happen as well. I think the problem is when these online programmes are used with nothing else - I support students who use a variety of different ones, and some of the others may be less annoying, but also teach less. One of my students was doing some Dr Frost work the other day, 20 questions that basically cycled through three types of question, all the same, no words or attempts to present it differently or anything. He liked it as he didn't have to think after the first few. But he also doesn't remember it now!

A GCSE 9 is well below 100%. You can love maths and be on any grade from 4-9.

My DS gets a lot of satisfaction in class from "almost" solving the most complex questions - especially if no one else gets as far as him. That's better than 100%.

My dc in Y7 gets on with it fine. I love the fact that I can check it and nudge him along. Overall I am pretty happy with it. It is the subject we have the least resistance with homework wise.

I feel mixed about it. DD1 Y10 struggled with some questions and I hated the fact you had to do it 100%, if she was struggling and couldn't do something I feel it should give you an option to try a few times and then say you don't understand and get help from the teacher. Her current teacher isn't using it, which she is much happier about.

I hate the bookwork checks, I don't really get the purpose of them, if you've got the questions right move on.

DD2 Y8 likes it though, so far she can do most of it, if she gets something wrong it's often because she hasn't read the question right so that's a good lesson in itself. The teacher says it learns her ability so moves with her. I like the fact that I can sit with her whilst she works through it and I can see where she is going wrong.

I also completely get for something like maths it must save the teacher so much time.

My personal experiences with it are kind of resolved now as the teacher is fine if the kids do 70-80% of the work. It reads on the sparx dashboard as late (which annoys me as I hate when things aren't complete) but the school is clearly casting a human eye over it now and accepting that the kids have made an effort.
My DS gives up a bit too quickly when he hits about 80% but this is better than the repetitive angst of trying to hit 100%.

My Y8 DS doesn't love it but doesn't hate it. I usually type the answers on the pc for him for the bookwork check as I'm quick at typing and that's the bit he finds boring. I actually think sparx is helpful and effective at teaching most of the time. Especially as DS has ADHD and struggles to concentrate in class. He's usually on level 4 questions and has had some igcse questions so it's a good confidence boost for him too which he needs.

I hate Educake though, absolutely pointless. Doesn't seem to teach him anything or support his learning.