"We have lost our ambition, our imagination, and our willingness to do the things that built the Golden Gate Bridge" - Barack Obama (aka President Malaise)
Pitch in with the Prince William Young Republicans and help defeat Obama in 2012!
PWCS: Where Rules Don’t Matter
By Greg L | 4 February 2009 | Prince William County | 27 Comments
This includes footage from the meeting of the Prince William County School Board meeting of January 21st, 2009 where members of the public and the board discussed a potential “opt-in” program that would allow traditional math instruction in addition to the county curriculum based on TERC “Math Investigations”. School staff showed up in droves as a result of an email campaign waged by school staff using taxpayer resources, a violation of PWCS Regulation 245-1. None of the board members recognized this violation of county policy, and one board member actually endorsed it.
Should our School Board expect that teachers and school staff comply with county policies that the board established? Can the schools demand students comply with policies while they themselves violate county policies while attacking parents as uninformed and incompetent when it comes to how their own children are educated? County residents might want to provide some direction to their elected representatives on these questions.
Tonight there’s another meeting of the School Board at 7:00PM. If you want to address your elected representatives, you need to email the clerk at pwcsclerk@pwcs.edu before noon today, or add your name to the list of speakers by 6:30PM.
I hope readers enjoy the little introduction to this video. Some seemed to experience a bit confusion over who made the last video, which this intro might help prevent in the future.
UPDATE: Tonight’s meeting was vastly better than the last one, and I must say the Board has taken some strongly positive steps to get things under control. No deluge of staff was there to lobby the board, there were no snarky comments from board members during Board Matters, the meeting was civil, and when I raised several issues I uncovered staff members came and got additional information from me even before I left. I get the impression the board members heard loud and clear the message that parents were sending. Let’s make sure we as citizens don’t ignore our own oversight responsibilities and allow problems to fester again. Ultimately, we’re the ones responsible when things go awry and if we don’t keep an eye on our public officials, no one else is going to step up and assume the responsibilities we should be bearing.
The opinions expressed here are solely the views of the author, and not representative of the position of any organization, political party, doughnut shop, knitting guild, or waste recycling facility, but may be correctly attributed to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. If anything in the above article has offended you, please click here to receive an immediate apology.
You can follow the discussion through the Comments feed. You can also pingback or trackback from your own site.
27 Comments
Views: 1243
Loading ...
In this Age of Obama, there are two sets of rules–those perceived at the moment as most convenient, and those that everybody else must live by.
Sorry, but it’s nothing to do with Obama. Let’s focus on the school board and the wrongdoing therein.
They are mostly registered republicans anyway..
“Age of Obama”, give me a break. The Age of Bush was very bad for America.
sceptical, get a clue. We in Virginia are not registered by party. We are simply registered as voters.
I happen to believe that Milt Johns “gets it,” but unfortunately, he has some buffoons on the school board…and we, as voters are the ones who put them there…buffoons who believe that because of their lofty position, THEY know best and that parents should shut-up and let them educate children as THEY know best.
…but the issue is much larger than Math Investigations. Schools today at all levels are more like indoctrination centers rather than institutions preparing children to become productive citizens who will be prepared for a career and make wise personal decisions as adults.
We are currently in an economic crisis because too many people have borrowed too much money that they can’t pay back, living beyond their means in buying homes they can’t afford, cars they can’t afford, furniture they can’t afford, and credit card balances that are simply overwhelming. When they can’t pay back their debt, banks fail. Is it perhaps time to trade sex education and cultural diversity programs for a training on financial responsibility and the perils of irresponsibility?
Oh, and by the way, be careful of the pre-Kindergarten initiative; that will only give government even EARLIER control over the minds of our children.
Seems to me the emails you are referring to are not political. Just because teachers believe in a program and want to support it does not make it a political issue, it makes it an educational issue. If the teachers were communicating through the schools email system to lobby for a candidate then that would be different, but they are talking about a program they believe is best for our children is a different story. If a teacher from Marsteller Middle emails a teacher from Saunders Middle about an English lesson or to discuss how well written a text book is, is that a violation of policy?
Greg please see my post under fiscal implosion in MP
thanks
ok; members of the Rebublican party. Point is, focus on the math and give parents a choice to get out of this dangerous program.
Greg,
Officer Prinz should be first fired from MP.
I know the anti latin sentiment here but the police beating a woman for a traffic stop..COME ON!
[Ed note: You are full of baloney. As soon as I found out about this, the following post went up http://www.bvbl.net/index.php/2009/02/05/ready-fire-aim-the-park-whallops-a-legal-immigrant/ ]
“Anti-latin sentiment”?
Scribimus indocti doctique poemata passim
Fire all of them at the next election. One would think that O’Tagbi of all people would understand that the freshmen comin’ into Universities are lacking the proper mathematical background to grasp university calculus.
Grant Lattin (Occoquan District) is a known wacko, if you don’t agree with the neo-facist Lattin, then all bets are off, you will be attacked personally. He is nothing more than a grown up bully who continually resorts to juvenile attacks when anyone speaks up and disagrees with him. I believe he is a danger to the citizens of Prince William County. BTW, surprise, surprise, he doesn’t always tell the truth when speaking to members of the community, or at least he confuses what is in his fictionalized mind with the truth.
FOIA, you sound like one of the Hirsute Harpies of Haymarket and their associates. Full of sound and fury, signifying nada. Zilch. Zippo. I’m not offering this in defense of Lattin, just pointing out that what you are accusing him of being (neo-Fascist, liar, confused reality), is not substantiated by any facts that you have offered. That technique of character assassination and name-calling is an attribute of the owners of and most of the regulars on the anti-blog. Have you got any facts to support your characterizations of Mr. Lattin?
And if you’re going to imitate their tactics, at least spell your pejoratives correctly.
Sad thing about the school board is that while there are a couple of out-spoken members, the others quietly “straddle the fence,” refusing to take a stand in opposition, for fear either of losing support by a segment of their voting constituents or, heaven-forbid, alienating one of those daring enough to at least take a stand.
I think several of them have been quite clear about how they feel. I have heard Milt Johns, Mrs. Covingten and Mr. Trenum come right out and say they are for a traditional program. Mr. Otagbie has also seemed to lean that way. Mr. Lattin and Mr. Richardson seem to be the only two are obviously against it. That leaves Mrs. Ramirez and Mrs. Lucas as straddling the fence.
I can’t understand the sentiment to get rid of the whole board. I think the only reason this issue is up before the board is because 3 members were courageous to bring it up. I am sure the staff certainly did not want the issue debated so without the board we wouldn’t even have a chance at even having a discussion. Maybe some of them straddle because they originally voted for it. I know Mr. Trenum was new last year but how many others are from the original school board that voted for this besides Lattin and Richardson?
At the time when the board voted for it I would guess one of two things to have happened, either they were sold on the idea of helping students who were not achieving under the traditional program and failed to recognize the difference between the ideal and the reality of implementation, OR…they thought that the program would be used in a truly blended fashion with traditional math instruction.
Either way, people have a right, after seeing that something isn’t working as planned, to make alterations. I would hope that school board officials would not hold back for fear of appearing to have made a mistake. Nobody has a crystal ball, most of us just try to make the most effective decisions that we can at the time, given the information that we have.
It’s time for the school board to use their newly received information and make the appropriate changes.
Unfortunately TERC IS a political issue. The program arose out of a misplaced feminist concept of creating a “new” math primarily to help young girls who traditionally have a hard time with mathematics. The idea was to make the math more verbal, an area where girls excel. Unfortunately, like most leftist programs Investigations did not solve the problem it was intended to but only made it much worse because now even the parents are too confused to help their children, and as usual it created a whole new set of unanticipated problems, namely a ridiculously complicated curricula which shortchanges ALL of our kids.
DumbO, our first illegal alien president, way to go idiots!
The curriculum is valuable for children who do not catch on easily in traditional ways, and particularly helpful for special ed children. The assumption many times in education is that if it works for the children who aren’t already acquiring the skills in traditional ways, that it will also work for traditional learners. That’s a fallacy that is just now being addressed in schools, and is not an issue specific to math.
I won’t get into the problems that contribute to the gap between girls and boys in math acheivement, I will reserve that for Virtucon, but please know that this program was not adopted in Prince William to address any achievement gaps for girls. The public schools are concerned with addressing acheivement gaps that impact their accreditation. The subcategories that affect accreditation in Virginia are LEP (limited English proficiency), ethnic groups, students with disabilities, and students from economic disadvantage.
Please also note that “feminist” and “leftist” are not the same. They are not interchangeable. Feminists believe in equal treatment, equal opportunities and equal rights for ALL people, everywhere. Sarah Palin and I belong to this group, along with most men and women who read and post on conservative blogs. You will find that many Radical Feminists, to whom you refer here, do not share that universal desire for equality. There are actually four different categories of feminism (not just the two I’ve listed here!)
Although Math Investigations has some serious problems based on faulty implementation, it does have a use for many students, particularly when used to supplement traditional teaching methods. To sum the problem up to a “leftist”, misguided shortcoming is not fair or accurate. The National Science Foundation was one of the major supporters of this program during the developmental stages.
There’s no conspiracy here nor is there a need for a total overhaul of the math program. Parents need choice so as to make the best decisions for their children, and hopefully PWCS is looking to provide that very soon. Additionally, teachers need the flexibility to incorporate various methods based on the needs of each individual student and in cooperation with parents. They also must be willing to do so. Most are. More will be when they see the climate of the school system change for the better, with a desirable balance between parents and educators.
Not to nit pick, KFD, but the very groups you indicate were supposed to be helped by Investigations actually performed worse under the program. LEP, ESOL, ED all down. The only groups with scores rising are blacks. Whites were unchanged. Every other groups saw drops in both pass and pass advanced scores under Investigations.
The reform movement was started, in part, to make mathematics education more female. That was many many years ago and the objective of evening the playing field between boys and girls isn’t an overriding concern anymore, but the movement itself, to an extent, came about out of a desire to equalize math education.
I’d also have to say that, in my opinion, the board was rolled by a math department intent on getting reform math into the county by whatever means necessary when the program was proposed and adopted. It’s been demonstrated how adherence to the VAC was disregarded when the criteria the textbook review committee looked at were developed, it’s been demonstrated how the review process was biased from the beginning, it’s been demonstrated how the review criteria disregarded alignment with state standards, and it’s been demonstrated how the information about the program provided to the board was biased.
I have to hope that the board has done it’s homework now and doesn’t continue to get rolled. At the math work session the September Betty Covington asked the math dept whether a teacher with 20 years of experience who’d turned out highly successful student in the past and questioned whether the Investigations lessons were sufficient and wanted to use the material she knew would help her students, would be allowed to use that material. The answer she got back from the math dept was why would she want to select alternate material - why would that teacher want to deny her students this opportunity.
The board got rolled at the September math session under the guise of balance. I’ve looked at the pacing guides and the Investigations materials and the planning calendars. There is no balance, no blending of approaches - there’s just Investigations. I hope they’ve really done their homework because the math department will continue to say that they’ll provided a blended, balanced program knowing full well that they intend to change nothing.
Cause if the board members haven’t done their homework and aren’t prepared to challenge the math department when they fail to answer questions then the board will get rolled again.
That’s why you and I have to work hard to make sure that the appropriate changes are made next time it’s time to vote, and that in the meantime we continue to work to remind PWCS that they are ultimately accountable to parents, and that they do not and should not answer to ANY department within the school at the expense of parents.
I think you and I have very similar bottom line views of the situation, and I don’t think you are nit picking at all! I hope to meet you at a school board meeting very soon:)
I’m behind you 100% KFD - I think you’re a pretty smart cookie!
Wow, an honest, accurate, balanced discussion. I think Satan must be freezing his a** off down there
Seriously though, these are great points that the math department wants to hide and the board needs to know.
Greg, why don’t you email them a copy of the previous comments?
The board meeting agenda is up for the work session. Make sure you all let the board know what you think..
https://66.23.136.19/attachments/192614af-5789-43ff-9794-bd542cea2853.pdf
From Stafford county:
“The Stafford County School Board is soliciting comments regarding the elementary Everyday Mathematics program. Should you wish to share your comments you may email them to publicinformation@staffordschools.net or present them at a school board public hearing on February 24, 2009, at 7 p.m.”
From Prince William County:
” This small group of parents has now started an email campaign via their blog and forum and like the other information they have put out there, their recruitment is based on misinformation. Your efforts are greatly needed to dilute this with positive parents speaking and writing to the Board. As you know, happy people don’t generally write to the Board, but at this time, happy people do need to express themselves also.”
Interesting that Stafford requests that people come give their opinion on constructivist math with no conditions that only people with favorable opinions speak but Prince William only wants people that will speak in favor of it and “dilute” the parents who are opposed.
I think it is the Math Department not the school board that is out of control.
You should probably have spelled out that “from Prince William County” was actually from a senior member of the math team contravening County electronic media rules.
I think you are right; out of control and desperate to stop us proving them wrong. Best interests of the kids..HA!
Seems our school board is a bunch of lemmings poised to get rolled, yet again, by our math department. The operative phrase of the day to facilitate rolling the board is blended. Expect to be hearing quite a bit over the next few days about how PWCS needs a blended approach to mathematics and how a blended approach will give all of our students the best mathematics program possible.
One small problem with that. We’re supposed to be doing a blended approach now. That’s what the board and math department have been touting for the past year. So if we’re doing a blend now, are we going to be doing a super thick blend after the meeting Tuesday?
It’s probably worth considering just how blended our current curriculum is. Guess what? As this article demonstrates - our current blend is about 10% other material and 90% unadulterated Investigations. http://pwceducationreform.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/where-did-i-put-that-blend/ . And all that blending - that’s just to make Investigations meet SOL standards. It’s not in any of the areas of difference between a classical and reform approach to mathematics education.
Another small problem with the whole blended mantra. Our own staff, in multiple communications and documents has stated that a blend is a very very bad thing.
From documents on the PWCS web site written by PWCS staff… “When the sessions in Investigations are treated as separate activities to be selected or rejected, this careful continuity is lost, and student learning is jeopardized.”
From a February 2006 memo from Pam Gauch to Dr Walts regarding Investigations…. “Research shows that student achievement will be better with the sole use of a traditional program or the sole use of a reform program than if both are used together.”
From documents on the PWCS web site written by PWCS staff ……“Research on program implementation cites inadequate fidelity of implementation as a major reason for program failure”.
Either they were lying then or their just faking the blended thing now knowing that no one on the school board will ever take the time to actually question them on how they’ll achieve this blend and what lessons they’ll blend.
Just for kicks consider this - Investigations is based on a philosophy which believes that learning math facts and standardized processes like the standard algorithms to the point of mastery undermines the development of number sense and reasoning among children - that practice - not just one or two questions but practice over and over again - stops students from thinking about what they’re doing and instead encourages them to automatically execute operations without thought. The philosophy states that such mindless repetition isn’t necessary in today’s technologically advanced society because of the calculator (and that’s directly from their source materials).
Classical mathematics is based on the opposite philosophy - that learning math facts and standardized processes to the point of automatic execution enables students to contemplate more abstract concepts because they aren’t having to work to figure out basic mathematics operations.
How do you blend those two approaches when what they are based on is so far apart? Seriously, how do yo do it? That’s what the math department says they’re going to do, but how?
Remove Investigations lessons on computation and replace them with lessons from classical texts when multi-digit operations are introduced (that would be grade 2 for addition and subtraction and grade 3 for multiplication and division) or just insert a bunch of worksheets and call it a blend? Or do you promise to blend more effectively in the future and work with those schools which seem to be having difficulty blending and provide answers that are sufficient to placate our board but don’t pass muster with informed parents because you know full well that the board will believe whatever you say and that parents will never succeed in exposing you?
Which do you think is likely to happen on Tuesday?
Because this blend we’ve been hearing so much about - it’s not possible. You have to choose one approach or another - you have to follow the Investigations way or the classical way. Sure you can supplement with other materials and call it a blend, but that just marketing and has no basis in fact.
The fact is that you will either be following Investigations approach and limiting exposure to standard processes and operations or you’ll be following a classical approach and teaching standard processes and operations to the point of automaticity. It’s an either or choice.
The opt in for classical math would have allowed parents to enroll their students in a classical mathematics class while maintaining the integrity of the Investigations program. We would have two tracks - one classical and one reform.
But our school board, our lovely school board, is about to rolled under the guise of a blend.
Let’s get real. This school board is dominated by Republicans. You can goof around about not registering by party in Virginia, but there is only one member who is a Democrat and one who can make a reasonable claim to being an Independent. But come on, Lucas, Trenum, Johns, Lattin? The Republicans call all the shots and somehow people like Freedom still see some vast liberal conspiracy at work. What an echo chamber.