kitchen table math, the sequel: how many parents want constructivist schools?

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

how many parents want constructivist schools?

I just noticed this line from Linda Seebach's column:

Parents' groups chose among the models, and DI turned out to be far more popular with parents than it was among professional educators.

The persistence of the "reform" meme amongst progressive educators always captures people's attention. After all, ed schools have been more or less in charge of our public schools -- of their rhetoric at any rate -- for a good 50 to 100 years now, and yet education professors, administrators, and ed school graduates everywhere continue to see themselves as a beleagered minority, still fighting after all these years to bring culture to the masses.

Long after the sun has set on the British empire, the civilizing mission of our schools of education remains undimmed.

Why is this?

Different people have different explanations. I'm fond of Hirsch's take, that being that constructivism is in conflict with reality. Reality never wins, but otoh reality can't lose, either:

The history of American education since the 1930s has been the stubborn persistence of illusion in the face of reality. Illusion has not been defeated. But since reality cannot be defeated either, and since it determines what actually happens in the world, the result has been educational decline.


Reading Linda's observation, it occurs to me that the explanation may also be much simpler: parents can't stand this stuff.

Because I live in a blue town and state, and because all parents, including me, have absorbed developmentalist notions of allowing children to develop at their own pace, etc., the idea that parents can't stand this stuff hasn't been my first explanation for why progressive educators continue to see themselves as humble reformers instead of the ruling class they actually are.

I always assume, without giving it much thought, that I'm the minority.

But that's stupid.

I'm never the minority!

If I can't stand this stuff, probably the majority of folks out there can't stand this stuff, either.

It may be just that simple.


how many parents would choose TRAILBLAZERS?

Recently, asking myself how many parents would choose Math Trailblazers if given a chocie, I've been thinking the number may be somewhere in the neighborhood of 30%.

(And let me say again that Trailblazers has its fans, at least one of whom, my friend Kris, knows more about math than I do. I wouldn't take TRAILBLAZERS away by fiat any more than I would impose it by fiat in the first place.)

So back to population guesses.

I'm thinking 30% is the ballpark figure because of a news story I read about a district in CA that, after a long battle, offered parents a choice between, iirc, Everyday Math and a direct instruction curriculum, Saxon perhaps. (If and when I remember the link, I'll post.)

Seventy percent of parents chose Saxon.

Another data point: here in Irvington, when the 4-5 school offered a "projects class" in which all of the subject matter was to be taught via integrated projects, approximately 25% to 30% of parents signed up their kids.

Some of these parents signed up their kids so that they could be guaranteed of being in the same class with a particular friend, so it's hard to say how many of these parents were choosing the project method as opposed to a particular classmate.

As well, although I was too new to the school to know it at the time, the project class had terrific teachers so I imagine there may have been parents who chose it for the teachers as much as the projects.

In any case, I'm thinking perhaps 30% of Irvington parents -- perhaps 30% of parents everywhere -- know what a progressive education is and want a progressive education for their children.


they are an embattled minority!

All of which makes me think that progressive educators are correct: they are the embattled miniority they think they are.

Yes they have the schools and the laws and the money and the unions and the school boards and every single feature story on education that ever appeared on the cover of NEWSWEEK on their side.

But nobody likes them!

Possibly.

7 comments:

KDeRosa said...

I've been meaning to ost this blurb.

One of the most interesting aspects of FT that is rarely discussed in the technical reports is the way schools selected the models they would implement. The model a school adopted was not selected by teachers, administrators, or central office educrats. Parents selected the model. Large assemblies were held where the sponsors of the various models pitched their model to groups of parents comprising a Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) for the school. Administrators were usually present at these meetings and tried to influence parents' decisions. Using this selection process, the Direct Instruction model was the most popular model among schools; DI was implemented in more sites during FT than any other model.

Catherine Johnson said...

Fantastic.

Thanks.

Catherine Johnson said...

It's funny, the way you miss things.

I'm positive I've read Grossen's overview before.

But I didn't pick up on the parent choice.

Barry Garelick said...

I've told this tale before; I apologize for those of you who've heard it.

My daughter's elementary school allowed some people from Huntington (a tutoring/learning center) to give a seminar/sales pitch one evening every fall, entitled "Helping your kids study". My wife and I attended one and quickly realized it was a sales pitch for their services. That didn't bother me too much because Huntington gets good results.

What bothered me was a reaction from the moms when the woman giving the pitch said "Your children are having trouble with math because schools don't teach math facts anymore. Kids are no longer required to spend time memorizing them, and this makes things difficult. At Huntington, we make sure they know them..." etc

The moms in the room took note of this and there was a palpable collective sigh of relief, like "Oh, so THAT'S why!" Knowing that the solution was to pay good money in addition to our high taxes, in order to make sure their kids got a good education seemed to mollify them. There was no observable reaction that went: "Well why ISN'T the school teaching our kids the math facts?"

Our area is affluent (we aren't, by the way)and I'm afraid this type of thinking is prevalent except for hot spots that I read about in which parents mount protests. But I think there's more of the "Oh, we can just hire a tutor" mentality than there is "What the hell are you doing with my child in school all day?"

Anonymous said...

But I think there's more of the "Oh, we can just hire a tutor" mentality than there is "What the hell are you doing with my child in school all day?"

My area is not so affluent and this is the exact same response from most parents.

I remember sitting in my son's classroom a year ago during parent's night while the teacher explained that with the new curriculum we would be "emphasizing problem-solving and de-emphasizing computation." No one questioned her about how that was going to work seeing as it's difficult to do one without the other. We all just sat there like sheeple.

Catherine Johnson said...

My daughter's elementary school allowed some people from Huntington (a tutoring/learning center) to give a seminar/sales pitch one evening every fall, entitled "Helping your kids study". My wife and I attended one and quickly realized it was a sales pitch for their services. That didn't bother me too much because Huntington gets good results.

I find this bizarre.

They invite the Huntington people into the school to give a sales pitch???

That wouldn't fly here.

The K-5 parents are in an uproar over the tutoring situation, and the school is putting out the line that "Westchester parents hire tutors when they don't need them."

Irvington schools have sent home newsletters to parents telling them to teach their kids the math facts. The assumption is that the mom will do it and should do it.

We have the highest property taxes in the country & they're telling moms to teach the math facts.

Catherine Johnson said...

I have to get onto the train to take a photo of the "Connecticut" ad.

Apparently there's an ad on the train for a condo development in CT that says "You live in Irvington; you're paying the 5th highest property taxes of any town in America" -- something like that.

I have to get a photo.