[Note from Laurie Rogers: School is almost out. Many high school graduates will be eager to begin college. Most graduates will test into remedial math, however, and they will have to take one or more non-credit-bearing remedial math classes BEFORE they begin college-level math classes.
Knowledge is power, so I'm republishing with permission an article about remedial math at Spokane Falls Community College. It first appeared (edited) in the Jan. 19, 2011, edition of The Inlander.
The first time I spoke with Clint Thatcher, last fall, he told me that remedial math classes at SFCC had changed -- to something that sounded similar to the failed reform/constructivist approach we see in Spokane Public Schools. I wanted to confirm his story, so I called over to SFCC and talked to a woman in the math department. She seemed surprised that I would be critical of reform math. She said the problem at SFCC wasn't that students hadn't learned math in Spokane Public Schools; it was that they had forgotten it.
I drove to SFCC to look at the new textbook for remedial math. An instructor there loaned me his copy, and after I confirmed Clint's impression of it, that instructor and I chatted about this new approach. The instructor suggested (for example) using a hot air balloon model in place of the number line model. (You put sand in and numbers get bigger, and you take sand out and numbers get smaller.) I asked him where the zero was in his balloon model, where negatives and fractions were. He couldn't say. Why can't students just learn the number line? I asked. He didn't say.
Heads up, folks. Pay attention to what's being taught in any remedial math class -- in K-12 or in college. -- L.R.]
*********************
Why I Quit Teaching Math at SFCC
By Clint Thatcher, retired Air Force bombardier and retired math instructor
The time to quit the best job in the world is right before you get tired of it.
After spending 20 years in the B-52s and retiring from the U.S. Air Force, I spent the last 16 years as a math teacher. I can truly say that teaching mathematics was the greatest and most emotionally gratifying experience of my life. I certainly did not want to quit teaching but I was told to change my traditional approach to teaching math to a group-centered, intuitive and discovery approach. I refused to change my successful method and quit the job I loved so much.
I have been teaching developmental algebra for 12 years at Spokane Falls Community College and have had a 95% success rate with the students. Nine out of ten students that enroll at SFCC are placed into developmental math. It is sad to think that 90% of all entering college students didn’t retain enough algebra skills to pass the math assessment test to be placed into a college-level math class.
By the way, completing the developmental math series does not count toward a degree program and has no bearing on the student’s GPA. Developmental math classes are five-hour courses and cost the same as a college-level class. It takes some students three or four attempts to complete one class.
The dean of Math and Sciences (and a former teacher), stated that only one in three students completed the dev-math series. Failing to complete the series effectively ends the student’s college career. It is apparent that something must be done to change the current outcomes. Money was secured through the Title III program and was used to change the dev-math program at SFCC. The new program replaced the Math 91, 92, 99 series (which implemented the more traditional lecture approach) with Math 93, 94, 98. With a change in numbers also came a change in book and teaching methodology. All teachers had to go through professional training in order to teach the new series.
The new curriculum style is for students to collaborate in groups to find the best way to answer or solve a particular problem. This method reduces -- and for some teachers eliminates -- lecture altogether. It took brilliant men and women decades to formulate the laws of math that we have today. Now they want our students to formulate these same laws in a 50-minute class. This methodology is also the darling of the local and many other school districts, and we wonder why our children are graduating with minimal math skills.
Many of my students would be absolutely lost without a calculator. They have lost the basic skills of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing real numbers. They have essentially zero skills when it comes to dealing with fractions. We have strayed so far away from learning basic math skills that our college-bound students are entering a world that is totally foreign to them. So what does SFCC do? They change the math world to match what the students had in K-12.
I say we must first teach our students time-honored procedural mathematics that produces step-by-step methodology, and then introduce basic-skill problems that use these procedures. When their skill levels reach a certain proficiency, then introduce real-world problems where group collaboration can be of great benefit. The new method is to reverse the process and it is terribly inefficient. Students will not only become frustrated but will learn very little mathematics when it is all said and done.
I am enormously concerned for the future of our students to have the necessary math skills to fulfill the high-tech positions that have made this nation what it was. Oh, it is still a great nation, but we are importing a large portion of our high-tech workers to maintain our high status. We know there is a problem when we are rated 25th out of the top 30 industrial nations in math skills.
A Dec. 4, 2010, article by John Barber in The Spokesman-Review titled “Math ‘reform’ fails our kids” has spurred me to write this article, not only as a concerned teacher, but also to open up the eyes of parents who realize the system is failing their children. Where better, than in Spokane, to start a movement of parents and teachers to change back to the traditional and proven way of teaching mathematics?
Note from Laurie Rogers: If you would like to submit a guest column on public education, please write to me at wlroge@comcast.net. Please limit columns to not more than 1,000 words. Columns might be edited for length, content or grammar. You may remain anonymous to the public, however I must know who you are. All decisions on guest columns are the sole right and responsibility of Laurie Rogers.
This material is copyrighted.
For permission to republish or quote from this article, please write to Clint Thatcher at clint_christhatcher@comcast.net .
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Tutoring desperately needed; please help us
[Updated May 14 to add a reply from the superintendent and a comment from a math teacher]
By Laurie H. Rogers
People have said to me: “Laurie, you sure seem upset about education. Your articles are angry.”
Well, yes, some of them are. My anger springs from a deep well. When you see the deceit in the education establishment, the lies, the arrogance, the selfishness and self-serving behavior, when you realize how our children are being betrayed, when you hear sad and shocking stories from parents, students and teachers, and you fully understand how lacking our children are in math and grammar, when you realize that our children are “graduating” without the skills they need to be successful in their postsecondary lives, when you realize that good teachers are at risk of being fired for “ineffectiveness,” when you go to meetings and hear well-paid administrators dismiss the relevance of a 38.9% student pass rate as they ask taxpayers for more money …
One does get angry.
Yesterday afternoon, I sat with a high school junior – a bright, articulate young lady. A friend of mine suggested I meet with her. On Monday, she and I talked for an hour before she went to work. This student has a dream. She wants to someday own her own business and be her own boss. Listening to her talk, you can see her doing that. You can see her running things, making a difference, being a voice of concern and compassion in her community. As I listened to her, my heart went out to her, and yes, I became angry on her behalf.
This student is having trouble in her pre-calculus class, and she didn’t understand why. She’s always gotten As in her math classes. She carries a 3.6 overall average. She passed all of the math tests given to her and always felt confident about her abilities in math. Up until this year.
This year, the pedal has hit the metal, and she must actually use her math skills for this pre-calc math class. She was startled to discover that she doesn’t have much in the way of procedural skill.
“You should know all of this,” her pre-calc teacher tells the class. His comments confuse her. She always learned what she was told to learn. All indications to her through grades and testing were that she was successfully learning it. Somehow, she got to her pre-calc class without proficiency in skills like long division, multiplication facts, radicals, fractions, negative exponents, the number line, algebra, or proper math vocabulary.
Hearing her teacher say, “You should know all of this,” makes her feel stupid, the student says. It makes her feel unmotivated, and it worries her. The teacher is trying to stuff K-10 math skills into his students while he also tries to get through the pre-calc material. The class struggles to manage. They depend heavily on their counselors, nearly all of whom recently received layoff notices from the district.
The student told me how much her counselor means to her. “[The counselor] keeps me motivated,” she said, adding that she and her classmates were devastated to hear of the layoffs. Meanwhile, they struggle to pass a math class that demands they have skills no one has taught them.
The student fretted about the impact this math class will have on her GPA, which she has fought hard to maintain. She’s a good student, she says, and she hates not doing well. “I don’t care whether they’re right or wrong [about math],” she said. “I just want to go to college. Why wouldn’t they teach us these things?”
Although this student is thoughtful and articulate, she also knows next to nothing in terms of grammar. She couldn’t define for me a preposition, participle or adverb. When she applies to go to college in just more than a year, she will almost certainly test into a low level of remedial math AND into remedial English. These will all be non-credit-bearing classes, and she will have to pay for them.
Two hours after talking with the student, I went to the last meeting for the year for Spokane Public Schools’ Citizens Advisory Committee, where I listened to the superintendent and various administrators talk about cutting money from district programs. One potential source of cuts, they said, are the counselors – those people that the student and her classmates depend on for support and motivation. Another potential area is curriculum improvements.
The administrators talked about various kinds of expenditures. They talked about cutting $54 million since 2002. And yet, the budget has increased substantially over that time. What’s up with that, I asked them. As it was explained to me last night, it’s a money shift. They “cut” programs in one bucket of expenditures, shifting the money elsewhere to a different bucket of expenditures. Therefore, the budget isn’t really “cut” in terms of overall dollars – the money is just spent differently. That’s why the district can cut teachers and counselors, while adding legislated distractions (and giving themselves raises and better benefits, apparently).
At the bottom of this shell game, are the students who don’t have the curriculum or the instruction they need. Why are they in this position? How is it that the community must fight district administrators on behalf of academics? Why do administrators keep getting raises as our students keep failing? How is it that we’ve handed over our wallets to people who obstinately refuse to provide our children with the academic skills they need? How did we get to this ridiculous place? More important, how do we get out of here?
[Added May 14: A math teacher who is a friend of mine told me that, of 60 pre-calculus students in his district (another large district that does reform math), NONE could pass an 8th-grade algebra assessment that was purely basic algebra procedures. Most had 3.6 and above GPAs. The story is equally sad in reform districts across the state.]
It seems that we’re going to have to help these students ourselves. They’re staring at a bleak future. They need help now, right now. There isn’t a moment to lose. The junior I spoke with must pick up at least six years of math skills in just over a year. It isn’t good enough to help her and her classmates with homework. It isn’t enough to sit down with them a day a week or even two days a week. It isn’t enough to just show them the math skills – they must learn them to mastery. They must go back to somewhere around fourth grade and pick up the skills the district administration refused to give them.
Despite all of its bleating for community help, the district appears disinclined to accommodate this tutoring in basic math and basic grammar. I’ve asked repeatedly to be allowed to begin free tutoring programs in math at various schools, including the school my daughter's at now. I’ve been turned down repeatedly, or had impossible restrictions placed on me. Now, I’m not even getting the courtesy of a reply from the superintendent. [Updated May 14: The superintendent replied today. She said no.]
We will have to find a different way to get this done.
I’m looking for a few good people to help get these kids the math and grammar skills they need. If you’re interested in tutoring, or in financially or practically supporting this tutoring, please write to me at wlroge@comcast.net . Provide your name, contact information, and what you’re willing to do. You can help anonymously, if need be.
We’ll need textbooks (I can buy them secondhand locally and online), paper, pencils, erasers, and most of all, a place to tutor (church, community center, etc.).
Folks, please get angry about where these students are. Then, turn that anger into action. We can’t save 28,000 students. But, working together, we can help save some of them. We also can work on systemic change and on properly informing the community. Together, we can turn things around for our children and grandchildren and help them earn the future they envision.
Thank you all for caring, and while you’re up, perhaps you could ask the Spokane school board to stop the district superintendent’s contract from automatically rolling over this month.
Please note: The information in this post is copyrighted. The proper citation is
Rogers, L. (May 2011). "Tutoring desperately needed; please help us." Retrieved (date) from the Betrayed Web site: http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com/
By Laurie H. Rogers
People have said to me: “Laurie, you sure seem upset about education. Your articles are angry.”
Well, yes, some of them are. My anger springs from a deep well. When you see the deceit in the education establishment, the lies, the arrogance, the selfishness and self-serving behavior, when you realize how our children are being betrayed, when you hear sad and shocking stories from parents, students and teachers, and you fully understand how lacking our children are in math and grammar, when you realize that our children are “graduating” without the skills they need to be successful in their postsecondary lives, when you realize that good teachers are at risk of being fired for “ineffectiveness,” when you go to meetings and hear well-paid administrators dismiss the relevance of a 38.9% student pass rate as they ask taxpayers for more money …
One does get angry.
Yesterday afternoon, I sat with a high school junior – a bright, articulate young lady. A friend of mine suggested I meet with her. On Monday, she and I talked for an hour before she went to work. This student has a dream. She wants to someday own her own business and be her own boss. Listening to her talk, you can see her doing that. You can see her running things, making a difference, being a voice of concern and compassion in her community. As I listened to her, my heart went out to her, and yes, I became angry on her behalf.
This student is having trouble in her pre-calculus class, and she didn’t understand why. She’s always gotten As in her math classes. She carries a 3.6 overall average. She passed all of the math tests given to her and always felt confident about her abilities in math. Up until this year.
This year, the pedal has hit the metal, and she must actually use her math skills for this pre-calc math class. She was startled to discover that she doesn’t have much in the way of procedural skill.
“You should know all of this,” her pre-calc teacher tells the class. His comments confuse her. She always learned what she was told to learn. All indications to her through grades and testing were that she was successfully learning it. Somehow, she got to her pre-calc class without proficiency in skills like long division, multiplication facts, radicals, fractions, negative exponents, the number line, algebra, or proper math vocabulary.
Hearing her teacher say, “You should know all of this,” makes her feel stupid, the student says. It makes her feel unmotivated, and it worries her. The teacher is trying to stuff K-10 math skills into his students while he also tries to get through the pre-calc material. The class struggles to manage. They depend heavily on their counselors, nearly all of whom recently received layoff notices from the district.
The student told me how much her counselor means to her. “[The counselor] keeps me motivated,” she said, adding that she and her classmates were devastated to hear of the layoffs. Meanwhile, they struggle to pass a math class that demands they have skills no one has taught them.
The student fretted about the impact this math class will have on her GPA, which she has fought hard to maintain. She’s a good student, she says, and she hates not doing well. “I don’t care whether they’re right or wrong [about math],” she said. “I just want to go to college. Why wouldn’t they teach us these things?”
Although this student is thoughtful and articulate, she also knows next to nothing in terms of grammar. She couldn’t define for me a preposition, participle or adverb. When she applies to go to college in just more than a year, she will almost certainly test into a low level of remedial math AND into remedial English. These will all be non-credit-bearing classes, and she will have to pay for them.
Two hours after talking with the student, I went to the last meeting for the year for Spokane Public Schools’ Citizens Advisory Committee, where I listened to the superintendent and various administrators talk about cutting money from district programs. One potential source of cuts, they said, are the counselors – those people that the student and her classmates depend on for support and motivation. Another potential area is curriculum improvements.
The administrators talked about various kinds of expenditures. They talked about cutting $54 million since 2002. And yet, the budget has increased substantially over that time. What’s up with that, I asked them. As it was explained to me last night, it’s a money shift. They “cut” programs in one bucket of expenditures, shifting the money elsewhere to a different bucket of expenditures. Therefore, the budget isn’t really “cut” in terms of overall dollars – the money is just spent differently. That’s why the district can cut teachers and counselors, while adding legislated distractions (and giving themselves raises and better benefits, apparently).
At the bottom of this shell game, are the students who don’t have the curriculum or the instruction they need. Why are they in this position? How is it that the community must fight district administrators on behalf of academics? Why do administrators keep getting raises as our students keep failing? How is it that we’ve handed over our wallets to people who obstinately refuse to provide our children with the academic skills they need? How did we get to this ridiculous place? More important, how do we get out of here?
[Added May 14: A math teacher who is a friend of mine told me that, of 60 pre-calculus students in his district (another large district that does reform math), NONE could pass an 8th-grade algebra assessment that was purely basic algebra procedures. Most had 3.6 and above GPAs. The story is equally sad in reform districts across the state.]
It seems that we’re going to have to help these students ourselves. They’re staring at a bleak future. They need help now, right now. There isn’t a moment to lose. The junior I spoke with must pick up at least six years of math skills in just over a year. It isn’t good enough to help her and her classmates with homework. It isn’t enough to sit down with them a day a week or even two days a week. It isn’t enough to just show them the math skills – they must learn them to mastery. They must go back to somewhere around fourth grade and pick up the skills the district administration refused to give them.
Despite all of its bleating for community help, the district appears disinclined to accommodate this tutoring in basic math and basic grammar. I’ve asked repeatedly to be allowed to begin free tutoring programs in math at various schools, including the school my daughter's at now. I’ve been turned down repeatedly, or had impossible restrictions placed on me. Now, I’m not even getting the courtesy of a reply from the superintendent. [Updated May 14: The superintendent replied today. She said no.]
We will have to find a different way to get this done.
I’m looking for a few good people to help get these kids the math and grammar skills they need. If you’re interested in tutoring, or in financially or practically supporting this tutoring, please write to me at wlroge@comcast.net . Provide your name, contact information, and what you’re willing to do. You can help anonymously, if need be.
We’ll need textbooks (I can buy them secondhand locally and online), paper, pencils, erasers, and most of all, a place to tutor (church, community center, etc.).
Folks, please get angry about where these students are. Then, turn that anger into action. We can’t save 28,000 students. But, working together, we can help save some of them. We also can work on systemic change and on properly informing the community. Together, we can turn things around for our children and grandchildren and help them earn the future they envision.
Thank you all for caring, and while you’re up, perhaps you could ask the Spokane school board to stop the district superintendent’s contract from automatically rolling over this month.
Please note: The information in this post is copyrighted. The proper citation is
Rogers, L. (May 2011). "Tutoring desperately needed; please help us." Retrieved (date) from the Betrayed Web site: http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com/
Monday, May 2, 2011
Good golly, our schools desperately need new leadership
[Updated May 10, 2011, to clarify language regarding the board vote.]
By Laurie H. Rogers
When our school administrators speak to the public, we often hear one or more of the following:
All school employees should be assessed based on achievable, measurable goals. Considering the heavy boot our administrators place on district employees, it seems fair that upper-level administrators be assessed partly on student outcomes. (If they were, most would be fired.) Our superintendent's own evaluation is done by the school board. Our board directors use a “summative evaluation” form for her that is so general and vague, their evaluation must be based largely on opinion.
Nancy Stowell, Spokane superintendent, seems happy about the district’s “improved” graduation rates. But here are missing pieces she neglects to mention.
Students don't have to pass a state math test to graduate from high school. They don't need to know much grammar, pass a state science test or know how to write in cursive. Sure, they’re allowed to leave, but college remedial rates consistently indicate serious and widespread gaps in knowledge – particularly in basic mathematics and grammar.
Additionally, her “improved” numbers don’t include families that chose to transfer out. Full-time enrollment in SPS dropped by about 2,650 (net) from 2003 to May 2010. A 2008 district survey indicated that about 33% of those who left did it mostly because of the curriculum. (The survey excludes students who went to a private school.) The district didn’t publicly release the survey; I heard about it and asked for a copy.
Increased expense for unproved programs
Taxpayers pay for scads of district and community programs devoted to reducing dropout rates and increasing on-time graduation rates. As district expenditures skyrocket, parents are still staring at students’ low pass rates, high dropout rates, high rates of college remediation, and low levels of basic skills.
“First of all, we do get out lots of teachers. We do it very quietly because the litigation is so expensive. So, we don’t litigate. We try to talk to teachers. We give them the data that we have. We look at the information our principals have collected. We look at that person over time, and then Staci works to move them out. You know, the conversation that, “You know, things aren’t going very well here for you.” (Laughter from the group.) “This might not be the profession that you want for the rest of your life.” (Continued chuckling from the group.) Over the years, we have lost not only teachers through that process, removed them, but we’ve also removed principals through that same process.”
At its April 27 meeting, the Spokane school board voted 4-1 to have the option to increase district class sizes by up to three students. Along with adjustments for declines in enrollment, this vote reportedly also could result in the elimination of 90 full-time teaching positions. How would this help students, parents and teachers? Well, it wouldn’t.
On the district Web site, Dr. Stowell explains the need for cuts: “Over the past 10 years, facing enrollment decline and state funding challenges, our district has already made tens of millions of dollars in cuts to programs and support staff, leaving us with no easy ‘fixes’ outside of the classroom to solve this budget challenge.”
Rogers, L. (April 2011). "Good golly, our schools desperately need new leadership." Retrieved (date) from the Betrayed Web site: http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com/
A version of this article was published May 2, 2011, on EducationNews.org at: http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/opinions_on_education/155271.html
By Laurie H. Rogers
When our school administrators speak to the public, we often hear one or more of the following:
- Blaming of others – Typical targets include teachers, parents, students, poverty, and a (fake) lack of money.
- Deceitful presentation of student outcomes – They’ll speak glowingly of some stray statistic that supposedly shows them in a slightly more positive light, but which also depends on the public not knowing the entire truth of it.
- Astonishing ignorance or accidental honesty. Sometimes the truth comes out of them – in shocking or comical ways.
- Requests for more money, on the heels of low student achievement. As pass rates go down, the expense per student continues to increase.
- New policy that will serve their ulterior purpose, but which will make life more difficult for students, parents and teachers.
Blaming of Others
Spokane Public Schools' Citizens Advisory Committee is a parent group that is actually run by the district. At the monthly CAC meetings, administrators do most of the talking, and an administrator writes a summary.
(No one takes actual minutes, which would have to include parent questions and concerns.)
(No one takes actual minutes, which would have to include parent questions and concerns.)
At the April 11 CAC meeting, district administrators were enthused over new, “prescriptive” evaluations for teachers and principals. These evaluations will entail four tiers - like standards-based grading - and will be based partly on student outcomes. Such assessments would be valuable tools if:
- Teachers had the freedom to teach and supplement as they deem necessary
- Teachers weren’t constantly pulled out of classrooms for non-academic activities
- Teachers’ professional development contained real content
- The district’s choice of instructional materials were sufficient and dependable
- Principals had the freedom to allot money, modify curriculum, and hire and fire as they see fit.
Alas, this is Spokane Public Schools, and teachers and principals will be assessed on student outcomes over which they have little control.
At the CAC meeting, I asked: Do these new evaluations mean that teachers will gain academic freedom? I received three different answers from the same administrator.- Staci Vesneske said teachers might be awarded that freedom if they hit the top tier of the evaluation system. (Answer #1)
- I asked, What if they need that freedom in order to hit the top tier? She said teachers already have academic freedom. (Answer #2)
- I persisted: Will teachers gain academic freedom? She said it will all come down to collective bargaining. (Answer #3)
All school employees should be assessed based on achievable, measurable goals. Considering the heavy boot our administrators place on district employees, it seems fair that upper-level administrators be assessed partly on student outcomes. (If they were, most would be fired.) Our superintendent's own evaluation is done by the school board. Our board directors use a “summative evaluation” form for her that is so general and vague, their evaluation must be based largely on opinion.
Self-serving statistics
Nancy Stowell, Spokane superintendent, seems happy about the district’s “improved” graduation rates. But here are missing pieces she neglects to mention.
Students don't have to pass a state math test to graduate from high school. They don't need to know much grammar, pass a state science test or know how to write in cursive. Sure, they’re allowed to leave, but college remedial rates consistently indicate serious and widespread gaps in knowledge – particularly in basic mathematics and grammar.
Additionally, her “improved” numbers don’t include families that chose to transfer out. Full-time enrollment in SPS dropped by about 2,650 (net) from 2003 to May 2010. A 2008 district survey indicated that about 33% of those who left did it mostly because of the curriculum. (The survey excludes students who went to a private school.) The district didn’t publicly release the survey; I heard about it and asked for a copy.
Increased expense for unproved programs
Taxpayers pay for scads of district and community programs devoted to reducing dropout rates and increasing on-time graduation rates. As district expenditures skyrocket, parents are still staring at students’ low pass rates, high dropout rates, high rates of college remediation, and low levels of basic skills.
Dr. Stowell praised the district for obtaining a multi-million-dollar grant for Rogers High School, which suffers from particularly low graduation rates. (Please note the illogic of awarding grants to failing programs because they are failing. Failure thus results in more money.) Dr. Stowell said the grant will pay for longer school days, extra teacher pay, a homework center, and – you knew it was coming – a pilot evaluation for teachers.
Astonishing comments
Dr. Stowell said the federal Race to the Top initiative “required” that 50% of a teacher’s evaluation be “based on student growth.”
- Weird. The state always said the percentage of teachers' evaluation that would be based on student outcomes would be just a small part of the total assessment. Fifty percent doesn’t seem small.
- But Dr. Stowell said Washington State isn’t “going in that direction,” anyway, so she’s trying to work in the 50% herself, by bargaining with the teachers union.
Here’s an April 11 quotation from Dr. Stowell on removing teachers:
Dr. Stowell then asked CAC members to push legislators for help in removing people.
Unhelpful district policy
At its April 27 meeting, the Spokane school board voted 4-1 to have the option to increase district class sizes by up to three students. Along with adjustments for declines in enrollment, this vote reportedly also could result in the elimination of 90 full-time teaching positions. How would this help students, parents and teachers? Well, it wouldn’t.
On the district Web site, Dr. Stowell explains the need for cuts: “Over the past 10 years, facing enrollment decline and state funding challenges, our district has already made tens of millions of dollars in cuts to programs and support staff, leaving us with no easy ‘fixes’ outside of the classroom to solve this budget challenge.”
The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Web site says:
- Overall expenditures for Spokane Public Schools increased, from $252 million in 2004-2005 to $298 million in 2009-2010.
- Per-student expenditures increased, from $8,158 in 2004-2005 to $10,406 in 2009-2010.
- Enrollment decreased, from 30,923 in 2004-2005 to 28,712 in 2009-2010.
- The district’s on-time graduation rate decreased, from 85.1% in 2004-2005 to 62.1% in 2009-2010.
Regardless of how the Spokane superintendent is assessed, the student data cannot be seen as “success.” Her contract will roll over in June unless the school board says “No.” Dear parents and teachers: Please ask the school board to say “No.”
Please note: The information in this post is copyrighted. The proper citation is
Rogers, L. (April 2011). "Good golly, our schools desperately need new leadership." Retrieved (date) from the Betrayed Web site: http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com/
A version of this article was published May 2, 2011, on EducationNews.org at: http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/opinions_on_education/155271.html
Monday, April 18, 2011
Attendees at Tea Party Rally asked for help
Note from Laurie Rogers: I've been criticized for speaking at an April 16, 2011, Spokane Tea Party Tax Day Rally. The Tea Party, one person said in all seriousness, is a "homophobic, xenophobic, reactionary populist neo-nationalistic group" and so my well-intended message will be tarnished. The person told me: "If you play with tar, you get black" and "If you sleep with the do, you get fleas."
Wow. Setting aside his unjust determination of "guilt by association," this also is what passes for public discourse nowadays. Our current president told an entire political party, and the near-half of the country that belongs to it, to "move to the back of the bus." Our local newspaper -- which has not said a word about the April 16 Tea Party Rally -- reports today that conservativism might lead to teen suicide ("Local politics play role, teen suicide study finds," Spokesman-Review).
People in power and most of our media will continue to divide the country because it serves their purpose. I will talk to anyone who listens. I want the children to be able to learn what they need to know, and I do not want my voice to be removed by the folks in power. That's my entire message. I have always been treated with absolute respect by people associated with the Spokane Tea Party. They listen, ask questions, and tend to express support. Certain others in the world could set down their condescension for a minute and take a lesson.
I respect, support and encourage the people's efforts to have a voice in the spending of their money and in the running of their country. If fighting for the children and speaking up for my country label me as a problem, that's the choice of those who label me. It's already happened to me, and I am not afraid of it.
- Laurie Rogers
*******************
Laurie Rogers's April 16, 2011, speech to attendees at the Spokane Tea Party Rally
Thank you for that wonderful introduction. Good afternoon, everyone. It’s a fine day to fight for liberty.
I’m here today because I’m scared – for our children and our country. There’s a thief at the door. His friends are at the window. They have the exits covered, and they’re about to cut the phone line. These thieves aren’t after the car or the jewelry. They’re after something much more precious: Our children’s education. And we, the people – are literally the last line of defense. Welcome to public education.
Public education is in dire straits. So much so that it threatens our great country.
You know that our students are struggling. What you might not know is WHY. Our children are not being taught what they need to know in mathematics, grammar, civics, or other critical subjects. They aren’t being prepared to follow their dreams, or to take over the reins of this country. Our children, this community, our country are in jeopardy.
I respect and admire the teachers and staff who do their best to battle the bureaucracy. But it’s the thieves in education who have the connections, the money, and the decision-making power. They have many friends – in the district, in Olympia, and in Washington, DC. It’s their own desires that drive them – not our children’s best interests.
Do it for the kids, they say, every time a bond or levy comes up for renewal. For the kids, they say, as they refuse to allow teachers to teach sufficient arithmetic or grammar. This isn’t just a local problem. It’s national. And it isn’t just a difference of opinion. Their agenda is deliberate and purposeful.
You know Spokane has a dropout problem. You’ve read that the graduation rate suddenly improved. What you might not know is that our high school graduates don’t need to pass a state math test or state science test to graduate. They don’t need to know much grammar or ANY civics. Many high school students get As in Honors Math, and then test into arithmetic in college. Of those who take those college remedial math classes, almost half will fail or withdraw early.
Our kids simply don’t have the skills they need to go to college, begin a trade, start a business, get a fulfilling job, join the Armed Forces, or even fill out a job application.
District administrators say they need more time. Our kids don’t have more time. Spokane’s pass rate on last year’s 10th-grade math test was just 38.9%. Students needed just 56.9% to pass. 61% of our 10th graders couldn’t pass a basic-skills math test on which the passing score was less than 57%. District employees called that student data --- "irrelevant." Get angry, folks! I’m angry.
What will happen to our children? How will this country continue to absorb an entire generation of people who don’t have basic academic skills? Our children are being left behind. America is being left behind. This is not a game. There are real and long-term consequences for all of us.
Meanwhile, the U.S. secretary of education – Arne Duncan – is moving in, taking over all of public education, as he says, "from cradle through career." He talks about the importance of local control, even as he works diligently to replace it with federal control. He wants to shove a federal agenda down your throat: national standards, national tests, and a national curriculum. Have you ever tried to deal with the district on behalf of your child? Wait until you have to deal with the U.S. Department of Education. And if you think the WASL was bad, wait until the feds are running the tests.
Sec. Duncan also wants a federal role in alternatives to public education, including homeschooling, private schools, and faith-based schools.
Forget that pesky 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which makes education a state responsibility. Forget the U.S. Code, which prohibits the Department of Education from directing policy or curriculum (20 USC 3403). Sec. Duncan and his allies are pressing forward, whether we like it or not. Proper process and the law don’t seem to matter anymore. States’ rights, the people’s vote – just get in the way.
This federal education agenda will cost us billions of dollars. It won’t make our children internationally competitive, but it will remove our voice. Once our voice is gone, it will be hell getting it back.
Ironically, we taxpayers are forced to pay these thieves to break into our house, steal our voice, our vote, and our children’s future.
We still have to pay district administrators – as they fail to educate our children, as they ignore us, as they wait for the feds to tell them what to do, as they cut teachers and programs, while giving themselves raises. Last year, some of the Spokane levy – which was supposed to fund enrichment programs – helped pay for administrative raises. I tried to find out how much of the levy went for those raises. No one could tell me. Apparently, they "don’t break it down that way." Can you believe that?
A year ago, in January 2010, the Department of Education estimated that $664 billion would be spent in 2010 on K-12 education, from all sources (federal, state, local and other). $664 billion. That was $28 billion more than the entire Department of Defense spent the year prior. $636 billion for the DoD. $664 billion for K-12 education. And look what we got for it. Our kids are failing, dropping out, not prepared for college.
Public education doesn’t need more money. It needs to spend the money it gets better. We desperately need financial transparency and accountability for administrators.
Where did our money go? The Department of Education was criticized this year for being wasteful and redundant. In some states, taxpayers paid for things like iPads - for kindergartners. Gov. Gregoire "diverted" $208 million that was supposed to fund education jobs. She just took it for the General Fund. In Spokane, many administrators get more than $100,000 each in base salary. The superintendent gets about $220,000. Where is their accountability for student outcomes?
Folks, where does the buck stop in public education? Shouldn’t district decision-makers be held accountable for the results of their policies? How will we hold them accountable when the boss is the federal government?
These are our children. This is our money. Federal, state, local – it’s all our money, and it’s being wasted on failed approaches and self-serving bureaucrats. But I believe in we, the people. I believe in your children, and I believe in this great Republic. We must all rise up and take back the classroom and our country from the people who are stealing them. You are not helpless. There are things you can do to save your children and grandchildren.
Join me on my blog, “Betrayed.” Read my book “Betrayed” and other books like it. Join us at our next organizational meeting Tuesday, April 19 at 6 p.m. at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. Run for the school board. Get your legislators talking about education. Come talk with me. Together, we the people can turn around public education, send these thieves packing, and get our children and our country back on track.
In Liberty. And for our children. Thank you.
Please note: The information in this post is copyrighted. The proper citation is
Rogers, L. (April 2011). "Attendees at Tea Party Rally asked for help." Retrieved (date) from the Betrayed Web site: http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com/
This speech was posted April 20, 2011, at EducationNews.org at http://www.educationnews.org/political/154315.html
Wow. Setting aside his unjust determination of "guilt by association," this also is what passes for public discourse nowadays. Our current president told an entire political party, and the near-half of the country that belongs to it, to "move to the back of the bus." Our local newspaper -- which has not said a word about the April 16 Tea Party Rally -- reports today that conservativism might lead to teen suicide ("Local politics play role, teen suicide study finds," Spokesman-Review).
People in power and most of our media will continue to divide the country because it serves their purpose. I will talk to anyone who listens. I want the children to be able to learn what they need to know, and I do not want my voice to be removed by the folks in power. That's my entire message. I have always been treated with absolute respect by people associated with the Spokane Tea Party. They listen, ask questions, and tend to express support. Certain others in the world could set down their condescension for a minute and take a lesson.
I respect, support and encourage the people's efforts to have a voice in the spending of their money and in the running of their country. If fighting for the children and speaking up for my country label me as a problem, that's the choice of those who label me. It's already happened to me, and I am not afraid of it.
- Laurie Rogers
*******************
Laurie Rogers's April 16, 2011, speech to attendees at the Spokane Tea Party Rally
Thank you for that wonderful introduction. Good afternoon, everyone. It’s a fine day to fight for liberty.
I’m here today because I’m scared – for our children and our country. There’s a thief at the door. His friends are at the window. They have the exits covered, and they’re about to cut the phone line. These thieves aren’t after the car or the jewelry. They’re after something much more precious: Our children’s education. And we, the people – are literally the last line of defense. Welcome to public education.
Public education is in dire straits. So much so that it threatens our great country.
You know that our students are struggling. What you might not know is WHY. Our children are not being taught what they need to know in mathematics, grammar, civics, or other critical subjects. They aren’t being prepared to follow their dreams, or to take over the reins of this country. Our children, this community, our country are in jeopardy.
I respect and admire the teachers and staff who do their best to battle the bureaucracy. But it’s the thieves in education who have the connections, the money, and the decision-making power. They have many friends – in the district, in Olympia, and in Washington, DC. It’s their own desires that drive them – not our children’s best interests.
Do it for the kids, they say, every time a bond or levy comes up for renewal. For the kids, they say, as they refuse to allow teachers to teach sufficient arithmetic or grammar. This isn’t just a local problem. It’s national. And it isn’t just a difference of opinion. Their agenda is deliberate and purposeful.
You know Spokane has a dropout problem. You’ve read that the graduation rate suddenly improved. What you might not know is that our high school graduates don’t need to pass a state math test or state science test to graduate. They don’t need to know much grammar or ANY civics. Many high school students get As in Honors Math, and then test into arithmetic in college. Of those who take those college remedial math classes, almost half will fail or withdraw early.
Our kids simply don’t have the skills they need to go to college, begin a trade, start a business, get a fulfilling job, join the Armed Forces, or even fill out a job application.
District administrators say they need more time. Our kids don’t have more time. Spokane’s pass rate on last year’s 10th-grade math test was just 38.9%. Students needed just 56.9% to pass. 61% of our 10th graders couldn’t pass a basic-skills math test on which the passing score was less than 57%. District employees called that student data --- "irrelevant." Get angry, folks! I’m angry.
What will happen to our children? How will this country continue to absorb an entire generation of people who don’t have basic academic skills? Our children are being left behind. America is being left behind. This is not a game. There are real and long-term consequences for all of us.
Meanwhile, the U.S. secretary of education – Arne Duncan – is moving in, taking over all of public education, as he says, "from cradle through career." He talks about the importance of local control, even as he works diligently to replace it with federal control. He wants to shove a federal agenda down your throat: national standards, national tests, and a national curriculum. Have you ever tried to deal with the district on behalf of your child? Wait until you have to deal with the U.S. Department of Education. And if you think the WASL was bad, wait until the feds are running the tests.
Sec. Duncan also wants a federal role in alternatives to public education, including homeschooling, private schools, and faith-based schools.
Forget that pesky 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which makes education a state responsibility. Forget the U.S. Code, which prohibits the Department of Education from directing policy or curriculum (20 USC 3403). Sec. Duncan and his allies are pressing forward, whether we like it or not. Proper process and the law don’t seem to matter anymore. States’ rights, the people’s vote – just get in the way.
This federal education agenda will cost us billions of dollars. It won’t make our children internationally competitive, but it will remove our voice. Once our voice is gone, it will be hell getting it back.
Ironically, we taxpayers are forced to pay these thieves to break into our house, steal our voice, our vote, and our children’s future.
We still have to pay district administrators – as they fail to educate our children, as they ignore us, as they wait for the feds to tell them what to do, as they cut teachers and programs, while giving themselves raises. Last year, some of the Spokane levy – which was supposed to fund enrichment programs – helped pay for administrative raises. I tried to find out how much of the levy went for those raises. No one could tell me. Apparently, they "don’t break it down that way." Can you believe that?
A year ago, in January 2010, the Department of Education estimated that $664 billion would be spent in 2010 on K-12 education, from all sources (federal, state, local and other). $664 billion. That was $28 billion more than the entire Department of Defense spent the year prior. $636 billion for the DoD. $664 billion for K-12 education. And look what we got for it. Our kids are failing, dropping out, not prepared for college.
Public education doesn’t need more money. It needs to spend the money it gets better. We desperately need financial transparency and accountability for administrators.
Where did our money go? The Department of Education was criticized this year for being wasteful and redundant. In some states, taxpayers paid for things like iPads - for kindergartners. Gov. Gregoire "diverted" $208 million that was supposed to fund education jobs. She just took it for the General Fund. In Spokane, many administrators get more than $100,000 each in base salary. The superintendent gets about $220,000. Where is their accountability for student outcomes?
Folks, where does the buck stop in public education? Shouldn’t district decision-makers be held accountable for the results of their policies? How will we hold them accountable when the boss is the federal government?
These are our children. This is our money. Federal, state, local – it’s all our money, and it’s being wasted on failed approaches and self-serving bureaucrats. But I believe in we, the people. I believe in your children, and I believe in this great Republic. We must all rise up and take back the classroom and our country from the people who are stealing them. You are not helpless. There are things you can do to save your children and grandchildren.
Join me on my blog, “Betrayed.” Read my book “Betrayed” and other books like it. Join us at our next organizational meeting Tuesday, April 19 at 6 p.m. at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. Run for the school board. Get your legislators talking about education. Come talk with me. Together, we the people can turn around public education, send these thieves packing, and get our children and our country back on track.
In Liberty. And for our children. Thank you.
Please note: The information in this post is copyrighted. The proper citation is
Rogers, L. (April 2011). "Attendees at Tea Party Rally asked for help." Retrieved (date) from the Betrayed Web site: http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com/
This speech was posted April 20, 2011, at EducationNews.org at http://www.educationnews.org/political/154315.html
Friday, April 8, 2011
College placement hindered by in-state tuition, weak K-12 system
By Laurie H. Rogers
From the April 1, 2011, Seattle Times: Why straight-A's may not get you into UW this year:
“In the face of continuing state budget cuts, academic leaders at the University of Washington in February made a painful decision to cut the number of Washington students the school will admit this fall and increase the number of out-of-state and international students, who pay nearly three times as much in tuition and fees.”
The phenomenon of in-state students ceding their college seat to international students is important, yet old news. We math advocates have been worrying about it for years.
International and out-of-state students are increasingly welcomed on campuses because they pay higher tuitions (which many pay up front). However, international students also tend to have substantially better academic skills. (Their “A” in “Honors Math” and in “Honors English” can actually be trusted.)
Meanwhile, up to a third of our students are dropping out. In Spokane, just 38.9% of our 10th-graders passed the 2010 state math test. Most of our graduates require substantial remediation in math before they can even begin college courses. They’re years behind in English. Rest assured that university recruiters are aware. International students are picking up the slack – on campuses, in the business community, and in STEM fields.
You’d think the situation would alarm our K-12 public school board directors and administrators, and motivate them to change how they do business. Instead, we keep hearing them say: “Not all kids need to go to college. Many careers don’t require college degrees. Our graduation rates are way up. We're so proud of ourselves. Everything's fine.”
I used to think district leaders cared about what my child needs in math, grammar, civics, and history. I thought they cared whether she graduates from high school “college ready.” I thought they’d want her to become a freethinker, to do her best, to excel academically, to be an individual, follow her dreams, stand up for what’s right, respect her teachers and her parents, and help take over the reins of the country.
I believed those things for longer than I should have. For three years, I simply couldn’t believe what I was seeing in front of me. I kept thinking, “I need to bring them more research, more data, more parents, more professionals. I need to make better arguments.” I tried to figure out which magical combination of words would ring true with them.
In March 2011, a Spokane board director told me that an approach to K-12 mathematics “whose end goal is merely learning efficient ways to get correct answers is inadequate virtually by definition.” Actually, that’s exactly the point of mathematics, to learn efficient ways to get correct answers. Math is a useful tool and a “gatekeeper” subject. Students need to learn how to use it. It doesn’t need to be a dog-and-pony show.
But in public education, everything is a dog-and-pony show. What parents and taxpayers want, or what students need, appears to matter little to the leadership. Basic academic skills, efficiency, effectiveness, proficiency, and sufficiency aren’t the goals. Thriftiness (spending taxpayer dollars wisely and not wasting them on non-academic desires) perennially takes a back seat to “Oooo!! Cool!! How do we get some of that?” And all the while, our children aren't able to learn what they need to know.
You’d think district decision-makers would melt from shame at the weak results of their policies and approaches. Instead, most appear to have concluded that teachers and parents are the problem. They stare us down, challenge the relevance of our experiences, and assure us that everything’s fine. They aren’t assessed on student outcomes. They aren’t fired for weak results. Last year in Spokane, most of them got raises – funded by the levy.
Don’t believe me? I don’t blame you. It’s hard to believe. I’m shocked by it, every day. You’d think devastation and deceit like this would be front-page news. You’d think heads would roll. You certainly wouldn’t expect to see raises, praise, and contract renewals.
Here’s what I recommend to all parents and interested community members. Ask your local administrators and board directors: “What is the school district’s mission? What’s the end goal?” Then, pursue the conversation logically. Ask how they plan to achieve their mission and end goal. Ask how they know when they’ve done it. Ask what they mean by “excellence” and “college readiness.” Ask to see their research and statistical support for their approaches. (And I encourage you to read their “research.” It will definitely open your eyes.) Ask for explanations of the low pass rates, high student exit rates (by dropout or by transfer), and high remedial rates.
I expect them to have proper support for their decisions – beyond “everyone knows” and “research shows.” I expect them to argue their case.
At last, I finally understand. My argument is destined to fail. The district I want to see, the district the students need, the district I’m fighting for … isn’t the district they’re building. I want academics, facts, efficient procedures, logical process, respect for teachers and parents, a deep breadth of knowledge, and eventual college-or-trade readiness. They want more taxpayer money, a tightly controlled message, and district-wide adherence to their agenda. For students, they want collaboration, consensus, and compromise, to be well-behaved and dependent members of a group, to share group values and group process, and to sacrifice one’s own needs for the “good of all.”
I see now that:
To get schools like that, many parents will have to leave the public system altogether.
From the April 1, 2011, Seattle Times: Why straight-A's may not get you into UW this year:
“In the face of continuing state budget cuts, academic leaders at the University of Washington in February made a painful decision to cut the number of Washington students the school will admit this fall and increase the number of out-of-state and international students, who pay nearly three times as much in tuition and fees.”
The phenomenon of in-state students ceding their college seat to international students is important, yet old news. We math advocates have been worrying about it for years.
International and out-of-state students are increasingly welcomed on campuses because they pay higher tuitions (which many pay up front). However, international students also tend to have substantially better academic skills. (Their “A” in “Honors Math” and in “Honors English” can actually be trusted.)
Meanwhile, up to a third of our students are dropping out. In Spokane, just 38.9% of our 10th-graders passed the 2010 state math test. Most of our graduates require substantial remediation in math before they can even begin college courses. They’re years behind in English. Rest assured that university recruiters are aware. International students are picking up the slack – on campuses, in the business community, and in STEM fields.
You’d think the situation would alarm our K-12 public school board directors and administrators, and motivate them to change how they do business. Instead, we keep hearing them say: “Not all kids need to go to college. Many careers don’t require college degrees. Our graduation rates are way up. We're so proud of ourselves. Everything's fine.”
I used to think district leaders cared about what my child needs in math, grammar, civics, and history. I thought they cared whether she graduates from high school “college ready.” I thought they’d want her to become a freethinker, to do her best, to excel academically, to be an individual, follow her dreams, stand up for what’s right, respect her teachers and her parents, and help take over the reins of the country.
I believed those things for longer than I should have. For three years, I simply couldn’t believe what I was seeing in front of me. I kept thinking, “I need to bring them more research, more data, more parents, more professionals. I need to make better arguments.” I tried to figure out which magical combination of words would ring true with them.
In March 2011, a Spokane board director told me that an approach to K-12 mathematics “whose end goal is merely learning efficient ways to get correct answers is inadequate virtually by definition.” Actually, that’s exactly the point of mathematics, to learn efficient ways to get correct answers. Math is a useful tool and a “gatekeeper” subject. Students need to learn how to use it. It doesn’t need to be a dog-and-pony show.
But in public education, everything is a dog-and-pony show. What parents and taxpayers want, or what students need, appears to matter little to the leadership. Basic academic skills, efficiency, effectiveness, proficiency, and sufficiency aren’t the goals. Thriftiness (spending taxpayer dollars wisely and not wasting them on non-academic desires) perennially takes a back seat to “Oooo!! Cool!! How do we get some of that?” And all the while, our children aren't able to learn what they need to know.
You’d think district decision-makers would melt from shame at the weak results of their policies and approaches. Instead, most appear to have concluded that teachers and parents are the problem. They stare us down, challenge the relevance of our experiences, and assure us that everything’s fine. They aren’t assessed on student outcomes. They aren’t fired for weak results. Last year in Spokane, most of them got raises – funded by the levy.
Don’t believe me? I don’t blame you. It’s hard to believe. I’m shocked by it, every day. You’d think devastation and deceit like this would be front-page news. You’d think heads would roll. You certainly wouldn’t expect to see raises, praise, and contract renewals.
Here’s what I recommend to all parents and interested community members. Ask your local administrators and board directors: “What is the school district’s mission? What’s the end goal?” Then, pursue the conversation logically. Ask how they plan to achieve their mission and end goal. Ask how they know when they’ve done it. Ask what they mean by “excellence” and “college readiness.” Ask to see their research and statistical support for their approaches. (And I encourage you to read their “research.” It will definitely open your eyes.) Ask for explanations of the low pass rates, high student exit rates (by dropout or by transfer), and high remedial rates.
I expect them to have proper support for their decisions – beyond “everyone knows” and “research shows.” I expect them to argue their case.
- But when I questioned certain central-office decision-makers and board directors, I saw: A lack of supporting data; an absence of scientifically conducted research; illogical argumentation; efforts to divert away from the topic at hand; and much blaming of others.
- When I persisted, I saw: Defensiveness; denial; condescension; challenging of me; and questioning of my “agenda,” my background, my experience and my intentions.
- It wasn’t long before I saw: Arrogance, rudeness, anger, personal attacks, and a sudden (and apparently permanent) determination that I am the problem.
At last, I finally understand. My argument is destined to fail. The district I want to see, the district the students need, the district I’m fighting for … isn’t the district they’re building. I want academics, facts, efficient procedures, logical process, respect for teachers and parents, a deep breadth of knowledge, and eventual college-or-trade readiness. They want more taxpayer money, a tightly controlled message, and district-wide adherence to their agenda. For students, they want collaboration, consensus, and compromise, to be well-behaved and dependent members of a group, to share group values and group process, and to sacrifice one’s own needs for the “good of all.”
I see now that:
- No student data will convince them. They look at Spokane’s 38.9% pass rate on the 2010 state math test, at students' high rates of remediation in math in college, and high numbers of student dropouts and transfers, and they wave it all away as insufficient, biased, fake and irrelevant.
- No student feedback will convince them. Students practically beg for clarity, instructions, explanations and structure. Administrators reject that, claiming that students don’t know what they’re saying.
- No parent feedback will convince them. Parents tell stories of their children struggling, failing, and becoming dispirited. Administrators respond with variations of, “struggling is good, we need more money, poverty is to blame, we need better teachers, we need to feed these kids, fix their teeth and provide clothing, we need to sympathize and empathize and show them we care.”
- No professional feedback will convince them. For decades, STEM professionals have called for a more “instructional” approach to mathematics. Administrators say mathematicians and engineers know math but don’t know how to teach it to children, don’t know how to communicate, and are stuck in old ways of thinking.
- No community feedback will convince them. At recent community forums in Spokane, the public clearly called for a more traditional approach to K-12 math. But district emails indicate that administrators flooded our forums so they could argue for the district’s approach. They’re now preparing to hold their own forums so they can present the “truth.”
To get schools like that, many parents will have to leave the public system altogether.
Please note: The information in this post is copyrighted. The proper citation is
Rogers, L. (April 2011). "College placement hindered by in-state tuition, weak K-12 system." Retrieved (date) from the Betrayed Web site: http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com/
This article also was published April 9, 2011, by educationnews.org at: http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/insights_on_education/153495.html
Rogers, L. (April 2011). "College placement hindered by in-state tuition, weak K-12 system." Retrieved (date) from the Betrayed Web site: http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com/
This article also was published April 9, 2011, by educationnews.org at: http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/insights_on_education/153495.html
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Vern Williams: My "teaching philosophy"
By Vern Williams, math teacher
(Originally published on the Math Reasoning Web site . Republished here with permission from the author, Vern Williams.)
A very short story by Vern Williams. One night I walked into the 4 3/8 dimension and actually believed the following:
Vern Williams is a math teacher at Longfellow Middle School, Fairfax, VA. In addition to teaching Honors Math to students in the Gifted Talented Center program, he teaches algebra/geometry in a one-year, two-credit course he developed. He also offers math reasoning courses and math enrichment during the summer months and during the school year. He was named to the National Mathematics Advisory Panel in 2006. On March 27, 2011, he published a brief commentary for the New York Times titled "Let us Teach!"
For more about Vern Williams, see his Web site:
http://www.mathreasoning.com/index.html
Note from Laurie Rogers: If you would like to submit a guest column on public education, please write to me at wlroge@comcast.net. Please limit columns to not more than 1,000 words. Columns might be edited for length, content or grammar. You may remain anonymous to the public, however I must know who you are. All decisions on guest columns are the sole right and responsibility of Laurie Rogers.
(Originally published on the Math Reasoning Web site . Republished here with permission from the author, Vern Williams.)
A very short story by Vern Williams. One night I walked into the 4 3/8 dimension and actually believed the following:
- We should write about math but never do math.
- Correcting students' papers using red ink is a threat to children's self esteem and that red pens should be banned from all public schools.
- Howard Gardner was right about his multiple intelligence theory (I think that he claims about nine at the moment) and that schools should value bodily-kinesthetic ability and the intelligence of self as much as mathematical and linguistic ability.
- The war on intellectual excellence is a great thing. It will make us all equal.
- Teachers Unions are actually concerned about students.
- Advanced courses and gifted programs should be banned because they are elitist and unfair. Since everyone is gifted in their own way (see Howard Gardner), why have special gifted programs?
- There are no bored students in US public schools.
- We can teach thinking even when there is no content to think about.
- We should treat members of politically protected minority groups as victims.
- We should never view our students as individuals but as members of racial and ethnic groups.
- We should buy into the latest educational fad even if it's based on political correctness and has nothing to do with learning or common sense.
- There is no money wasted on administration, specialists, and useless programs. In fact, we should have more of each.
- I should join the NCTM.
- I should join the NEA.
- I should feel guilty because I teach smart kids.
- I should feel really guilty because I enjoy teaching smart kids.
I now offer an excerpt from a final reflection that I wrote for a graduate course that I took at George Mason University in 2004 titled Strategies and Models for Teaching the Gifted.
All of the models that I encountered in this course were either made up, i.e. Gardner and Sternberg, or the creator took an obvious set of routine teaching strategies and turned them into complex systems complete with special language, charts (If I see one more chart, I really will scream!!) and theories. An excellent example would be my second lesson plan on Spherical Geometry. I know that the lesson is perfect for GT students. How do I know? I taught it. It took me fifteen minutes to write for you and three to four hours to relate it to the models and strategies. In addition, I had to add to the lesson to make it fit some of the models and yet, the parts that I added, I would never teach. Imagine if I were creating the lesson from scratch and attempted to use one or more of the models as a framework. I would go out of my mind. I could plan and write the lesson in a half hour using common sense or five hours using a model. There is one curriculum model that needs to be included in every college GT course, "The Common Sense Approach." Bruner and Van Tassel Baska had the two common sense models, but again, they made them complicated.
OK, I need to offer some solutions. I already mentioned one, use an excellent textbook written for very bright students. I always use the following as a guide when I teach gifted students. Am I teaching content to them in a way that I cannot teach it to average students? If the answer is no, then you are not teaching a GT curriculum regardless of the model or strategy being used. Am I teaching very advanced, new, and difficult material that cannot be taught to average students in a reasonable time period? If the answer is no, a model won't cure this, only an in depth knowledge of content and an excellent textbook will. Do I find the material challenging and interesting? If I don't, they won't. Do I recognize and appreciate their brilliance and their advanced quirky sense of humor? If the answer is no, do you really think that a complex curriculum model will help?
Here is the perfect college GT curriculum course.
Offer a series of GT courses that are discipline specific. Specify and in some cases have students learn the content that is appropriate for gifted students in various grades. Have a selection of excellent textbooks such as Unified Math that offer rigorous content for GT students. The class should study, analyze, and discuss them. Have students observe GT students in action, or if logistics are a problem, have panels of GT students visit the class to discuss topics, content, and teaching methods that really challenge and interest them. Have a visiting panel of adults who were enrolled in gifted programs. Wouldn't you love to hear their suggestions for the perfect GT course? Don't smother the class with complex fog such as June Maker's book. That book would cripple a true GT learner. I'm a strong proponent of divergent thinking but I also like for things to make sense.
Here are some important observations and requests of their teachers from many of my GT students over the years.
- Don't review last year's material for the first two months of school.
- Give us a few hard problems instead of a bunch of easy ones.
- Stop assigning so many projects especially when routine content is involved.
- Recognize our creativity and higher level thinking skills. Stop judging us only on the ability to follow directions.
- Don't take it personally when your lesson doesn't interest us.
- Find new, difficult, strange, and exciting content and teach it to us. We will make the mental leaps and provide our own extensions. Just teach us some real content.
- Please provide us with teachers who truly know their content and who love their subject area.
- Please appreciate and relate to our sense of humor.
- Allow us to challenge our teachers as long as there is no disrespect intended.
- Provide us with teachers who have the confidence to accept our academic challenges and treat them as a positive.
- Please note that some of us love learning but hate school. Try to understand why or just ask us.
- Please take us out of groups of four. When two of the four of us cooperate and do all of the work, it's not cooperative learning.
- Allow us to help you teach and offer clever alternative solutions but please, you be the teacher. Don't be the guide on the side. Teach us!
- Know when going off on a tangent is a good thing.
- Know your content well enough so that if we ask an intriguing question, you might change your lesson plan on the spot.
- Don't make us waste our time reading in English class while the teacher is checking e-mail. We read all the time outside of school and we would much rather spend our time analyzing, debating, and learning.
- Please provide us with teachers who are not jealous of our exceptional intellect.
- Provide us with teachers who enjoy teaching GT students including the quirky disorganized but brilliant ones who most teachers write off.
Oh, I could go on and on with their comments but you did say something about spending three hours. I could spend three days just discussing their comments. Let me just say that discussing those 18 points would be the best GT course that money could buy. No Gardner, no Sternberg, just the real world of teaching intellectually gifted students.
You will note that most of the models [in the graduate course] have three major themes:
- The teacher should not be the center of the universe.
- There should be an overreaching theme or concept.
- The lesson should be interdisciplinary and real world applications should be involved.
First of all, the teacher should be the sage on the stage. GT students are capable of learning and doing an incredible amount on their own. They learn about their world faster than 99% of all students in their age group. They expect their teacher to provide them with something that perhaps they can't learn or do on their own. Our job is to stand in front of them and offer our wisdom, experiences, and our in depth knowledge of content. Yes, when they are in my classroom, I am the center of their universe because I actually have something to offer them.
As for themes, concepts, and applications and connections, they must occur naturally. GT students have complained about teachers rigging lessons to make them connect to other disciplines. When I use a piece of vocabulary that the students learned in another subject area, the smiles are everywhere. Wow, you really are part of the real world. If it had been contrived, you would never get that neat reaction.
I would like to end my reflection with a comment and then a lesson that happened purely by accident.
My comment concerns you. The most important thing that I learned from EDCI 623 was the comment that you made concerning how one of your daughter's teachers could not relate to the GT class because of a large intelligence disconnect. I had never considered the importance of at least being intellectually in the same ballpark with your GT students until you made that comment. After giving it a lot of thought, I think that it is profoundly important. At many schools, GT students are in a constant war with their teachers. Now this would be a perfect piece of research for someone like Gardner to pursue instead of wasting his time inventing intelligences.
I leave you with an example of how GT students learn.
At times, I would use vocabulary in my first period class that the students had not been exposed to. For instance, tyro and ilk were unknown to them. After a while, they assumed that I started making words up, so they would check them in a dictionary that was kept on one of my bookshelves. I would of course define the word before they looked it up and I was always correct. They were impressed that a math teacher knew vocabulary. Two students asked if they could take the first five minutes of each class to present one SAT type word and discuss its origins with the class. I agreed and the result was amazing. The students were enthused, I was enthused, and we learned some very nifty words. At the end of the grading period, the two students wrote a vocabulary quiz based on the selected words and of course I was asked to take it along with the class. I am proud to announce that I tied for fifth out of thirty-one on the quiz. Oh yes, the top six scorers were listed on the board. The students received extra credit and I could brag about tying with a student who reads twenty-four hours a day.
I mention this piece of learning to reinforce the notion that the best learning occurs when it's not contrived or related to some obscure theme. This lesson occurred purely by accident starting with words spoken by their center of the universe, their teacher.
Vern Williams is a math teacher at Longfellow Middle School, Fairfax, VA. In addition to teaching Honors Math to students in the Gifted Talented Center program, he teaches algebra/geometry in a one-year, two-credit course he developed. He also offers math reasoning courses and math enrichment during the summer months and during the school year. He was named to the National Mathematics Advisory Panel in 2006. On March 27, 2011, he published a brief commentary for the New York Times titled "Let us Teach!"
For more about Vern Williams, see his Web site:
http://www.mathreasoning.com/index.html
Note from Laurie Rogers: If you would like to submit a guest column on public education, please write to me at wlroge@comcast.net. Please limit columns to not more than 1,000 words. Columns might be edited for length, content or grammar. You may remain anonymous to the public, however I must know who you are. All decisions on guest columns are the sole right and responsibility of Laurie Rogers.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
District not replacing math materials for two more years
By Laurie H. Rogers
After more than 20 years of absolute commitment to a “reform” approach to K-12 mathematics, our nation has a serious math problem. Students suffer from high remediation rates in math in college, low pass rates on state math tests, low levels of math skills, high student anxiety toward mathematics, and high dropout rates.
Properly conducted research clearly indicates serious problems with the K-8 math programs used in Spokane Public Schools (Investigations in Number, Data, and Space and Connected Mathematics Project (CMP). Public feedback at our community forums indicates widespread discontent with the district’s approach to math. You’d think all of that would be enough to convince Spokane administrators and board directors to replace the district’s much-criticized K-8 math programs.
Think again.
For four years and seven weeks, I’ve been asking administrators to replace these awful math materials. Since Nov. 8, 2010, I’ve been asking if they plan to do it. I want their answer “on the record” – delivered in public or in writing. Longtime district administrator Karin Short has repeatedly refused to deliver an answer in writing. And, rather than direct the superintendent to have her staff comply with this citizen request, board president Sue Chapin appears to find fault with my request for a written answer.
That’s where things stood for 153 days, until March 14. On that day, I finally got my answer in public. The answer is no. They don't plan to replace these materials – not for at least two years and not because the public asked them to. What they're waiting for is the "common" curriculum.
On March 14, at a Spokane Public Schools Citizens Advisory Committee meeting, district administrators discussed how they plan to fix the middle schools. Administrative “solutions” to the middle-school problem include adopting new methods for assessing teachers, and hiring an unnamed “expert.” The math materials weren’t mentioned.
So, at that meeting, I again asked Tammy Campbell, executive director of instructional programs, if the district planned to replace Connected Mathematics (CMP). She said CMP wouldn’t be replaced for at least two more years. Two years from now, she said, the national initiatives for the Common Core State Standards, common tests, and common curricula will necessitate changes and the district doesn’t want to spend money now or drag teachers through multiple changes.
Thus, we can already see how federal control results in local paralysis. I’ll also note here that it’s questionable whether the Common Core initiatives ultimately will bring the changes in math that the children actually require.
Meanwhile, I noted to Campbell on March 14 that research indicates that CMP is a weak program. She said other districts (Lake Washington, Bellevue, Issaquah, and Federal Way) use CMP and do well with it. This argument is weak. Statistically, these district comparisons are neither valid nor reliable.
I get a clear sense that in Spokane, as in many districts across the country, public education is all about the adults – about what they like, about what they want to do, about what kind of money they want to spend or not spend, and about where they want to go with things.
It isn’t about the students’ academic needs at all.
Please note: The information in this post is copyrighted. The proper citation is
Rogers, L. (March 2011). "District not replacing math materials for two more years." Retrieved (date) from the Betrayed Web site: http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com/
This article was published March 27, 2011, on educationnews.org at this address: http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/152347.html
After more than 20 years of absolute commitment to a “reform” approach to K-12 mathematics, our nation has a serious math problem. Students suffer from high remediation rates in math in college, low pass rates on state math tests, low levels of math skills, high student anxiety toward mathematics, and high dropout rates.
Properly conducted research clearly indicates serious problems with the K-8 math programs used in Spokane Public Schools (Investigations in Number, Data, and Space and Connected Mathematics Project (CMP). Public feedback at our community forums indicates widespread discontent with the district’s approach to math. You’d think all of that would be enough to convince Spokane administrators and board directors to replace the district’s much-criticized K-8 math programs.
Think again.
For four years and seven weeks, I’ve been asking administrators to replace these awful math materials. Since Nov. 8, 2010, I’ve been asking if they plan to do it. I want their answer “on the record” – delivered in public or in writing. Longtime district administrator Karin Short has repeatedly refused to deliver an answer in writing. And, rather than direct the superintendent to have her staff comply with this citizen request, board president Sue Chapin appears to find fault with my request for a written answer.
That’s where things stood for 153 days, until March 14. On that day, I finally got my answer in public. The answer is no. They don't plan to replace these materials – not for at least two years and not because the public asked them to. What they're waiting for is the "common" curriculum.
On March 14, at a Spokane Public Schools Citizens Advisory Committee meeting, district administrators discussed how they plan to fix the middle schools. Administrative “solutions” to the middle-school problem include adopting new methods for assessing teachers, and hiring an unnamed “expert.” The math materials weren’t mentioned.
So, at that meeting, I again asked Tammy Campbell, executive director of instructional programs, if the district planned to replace Connected Mathematics (CMP). She said CMP wouldn’t be replaced for at least two more years. Two years from now, she said, the national initiatives for the Common Core State Standards, common tests, and common curricula will necessitate changes and the district doesn’t want to spend money now or drag teachers through multiple changes.
Thus, we can already see how federal control results in local paralysis. I’ll also note here that it’s questionable whether the Common Core initiatives ultimately will bring the changes in math that the children actually require.
Meanwhile, I noted to Campbell on March 14 that research indicates that CMP is a weak program. She said other districts (Lake Washington, Bellevue, Issaquah, and Federal Way) use CMP and do well with it. This argument is weak. Statistically, these district comparisons are neither valid nor reliable.
- Comparison districts should have similar types of student populations. The four districts Campbell chose are not similar to Spokane in this way.
- Students in comparison districts should have a similar background in mathematics. Spokane uses Investigations in Number, Data, and Space to prepare its K-5 students for middle-school math. Bellevue, however, uses Math Expressions, and Lake Washington uses enVisionMATH -- both have a more-traditional structure. Federal Way uses a mix of traditional and reform programs.
- We don’t know much about these other districts’ students or math programs.
- When did the districts adopt their math programs? How were those programs implemented, used, modified or supplemented? We don’t know.
- How many students in those districts received outside supplementation or tutoring in math? How many came from other districts, programs, states or countries? We don’t know.
- Campbell said these four other districts are “doing well” with CMP.
- Federal Way no longer uses CMP. It finally replaced CMP with programs that use a more-traditional structure.
- In 2010, Bellevue's 10th-grade pass rate in math was 67.7%. Issaquah's was 70.6%. Lake Washington had a 61.3% pass rate in 8th grade and a 66% pass rate in 10th grade. Next to Spokane's 48.5% pass rate in 8th grade and 38.9% pass rate in 10th grade, the other districts looked better, but let's not get carried away. The math tests were on "basic skills." Students needed just 56.9% to pass the 10th-grade test, and just 55% to pass the 8th-grade test.
- Are OK with allowing our children and grandchildren to suffer for at least two more years with obviously failing math programs – quite possibly the two worst programs in the country. In a child’s math life, this is a massive, devastating amount of time.
- Are willing to let our children and grandchildren flounder and fail while they continue to chug down our tax money and wait for other people to tell them what to do.
- Appear to not understand what good research looks like.
- Appear to not understand logic. If CMP and Investigations are as good as Campbell claimed on March 14, why is the district talking about replacing them in two years? And, if they aren’t as good as she claimed, why would she not change them now in order to help the students?
- Cling to the idea that reform math programs are better than traditional programs, and that if the teachers would just DO the reform programs properly, everything would be fine.
- Really want the Common Core State Standards, tests and curriculum. What does that tell you about where these federal initiatives are likely to take us?
I get a clear sense that in Spokane, as in many districts across the country, public education is all about the adults – about what they like, about what they want to do, about what kind of money they want to spend or not spend, and about where they want to go with things.
It isn’t about the students’ academic needs at all.
Please note: The information in this post is copyrighted. The proper citation is
Rogers, L. (March 2011). "District not replacing math materials for two more years." Retrieved (date) from the Betrayed Web site: http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com/
This article was published March 27, 2011, on educationnews.org at this address: http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/152347.html
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