kitchen table math, the sequel: parentalcation: the bomb or just bombing?

Friday, February 9, 2007

parentalcation: the bomb or just bombing?

parentalcation: The Bomb or just Bombing?

Why you can't trust schools. They will play with stats, take credit for their students successes, and claim cosmetic changes are curriculum changes.
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14 comments:

Catherine Johnson said...

wow!

Rory!

That's one of the most succinct statements of edu-horror I've ever seen!

You can be a writer in your next career.

February 9, 2007 at 6:20 AM
LynnG said...

Has any of the MSM noticed this data? How can they ignore the dropouts of low achievers? When the media only carry the perspective of the schools, they become part of the problem.

February 9, 2007 at 6:38 AM
TurbineGuy said...

lynng,

Funny you say that. I emailed the author of the article and clued her in to the details.

If she does her job, she will investigate.

Thank you Catherine, I am blushing.

February 9, 2007 at 7:42 AM
Anonymous said...

well, I had my meeting with the school district and the rec dept today on the fact that they co-opted (plagiarized) my description of my class:

The upshot:

1. Somebody made a mistake and it won't happen again, but really, there are only so many words you can use to describe a math class.

2. To placate parents, they will be offering enrichment programs in all areas.

3. The teachers make their own curriculum for these classes. The district does not check or approve what the teachers teach even though they represent the district when they give the classes.

4. EM is great. Our scores are great. Our kids are doing fine. We don't understand what you are talking about. EM has updated and now includes standard algorithims. (I don't believe this is true, btw)

5. The curriculum director implied that she had seen Singapore math and it doesn't meet our state standards because it doesn't cover everything the state requires.

So, to sum up: let's follow everyone down the yellow brick road to flipping burgers at Mc Donalds.

BTW, one of the teachers at OCC said this after a math test (and I'm sure he got it from someone else): "Repeat after me, do you want fries with that?" When the students asked why they had to say that, he told them because that's where they're going to end up working.

And so it goes.

Anne Dwyer

February 9, 2007 at 7:58 AM
SteveH said...

I'm sorry Anne. You got the full treatment, even after you've been ripped off. It's astounding.

"EM is great. Our scores are great."

Our local paper talked about the "high rigor" at our K-8 schools becuase the standardized test scores are so much better than other parts of the state. "High rigor". That's what it said. Forget the fact that these tests are trivial and that high rigor is relative to other poor schools.

Nothing will change unless parents get really pissed off as a group, and it's really hard to get to that point. Nobody wants to go first. It takes guts.


"Repeat after me, do you want fries with that? When the students asked why they had to say that, he told them because that's where they're going to end up working."

If it gets to the point where he says that to the whole class, then it's clearly the school's fault. Schools don't like holding kids back in the early grades because it looks too much like it's their fault. They let them slide along without mastering basic skills. Then they blame the students for failure later on. It's really astounding.

February 9, 2007 at 8:40 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

Thank you Catherine, I am blushing.

You're very welcome.

You may already know this, but in case you don't: it is unbelievably difficult to do what you did there.

February 9, 2007 at 8:44 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

Somebody made a mistake and it won't happen again, but really, there are only so many words you can use to describe a math class.

ding! ding! ding!

That was my prediction.

This is pretty much the essence of academic seriousness, by the way.

"There are only so many words in the English language."

February 9, 2007 at 8:45 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

BTW, one of the teachers at OCC said this after a math test (and I'm sure he got it from someone else): "Repeat after me, do you want fries with that?" When the students asked why they had to say that, he told them because that's where they're going to end up working.

what?

He said this to a class?

Was it an EM class?

February 9, 2007 at 8:46 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

Anne

I'm sorry, too.

HOWEVER, what I'm finding is that these kinds of events, in which parents are simply rolled over and treated with disdain, have consequences.

Ed thinks so, too.

Individual parents get rolled over here on a daily basis; how many Hey, kids! I just got rolled over again! posts have I written in the past 2 years?

We were rolled over again last week (I'll post the email Ed wrote - it's a classic. More math woe, naturally).

pause: I was kind of stunned by our latest defeat. Given the level of trouble we've caused, given the bond vote, given the fact that the district seems to have decided to try to deal with us - is this the moment to roll over us on our kid's math education?

otoh, I found it kind of reassuring.

No parent is getting "special treatment;" that's for sure.

Anyway, back on topic.

Ed says that while it's obviously true that each individual parent gets squelched, it's equally true that these events are cumulative.

I don't think you necessarily have to "be the first"; I don't think you even necessarily have to HAVE a "first."

I think the bond vote is important for all of us to look at.

What is critically important to perceive about the vote is that there was no organized opposition to the bond.

Ed says that, historically, it almost never happens that a grass roots sentiment wells up and prevails in the voting booth.

The pro-field group was highly organized, highly visible, and highly important - it included the principal of the high school, who signed Team Irvington's ad and openly sided with one group of parents against another.

And yet the bond lost.

A core truth is this: if the district is treating you this way, they're treating everyone this way.

What goes around comes around.

February 9, 2007 at 9:18 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

AND: everyone living in districts where citizens vote on bonds and budgets should be pointing at Irvington.

Is Math TRAILBLAZERS worth losing a bond vote?

When you put it that way, and that is the correct way to put it, you've changed the conversation.

February 9, 2007 at 9:20 AM
ChrisA said...

The local newspaper had an article about how the school district will be going to the voters to increase the mill levy. I wrote the reporter and explained that I would be voting against an increase since I'm already spending that money and more so that my children can get a decent math education.

That includes donating money to the local middle school for alternative math texts, where the former Marine, current principal is doing his best to circumvent the system.

As I expected, no response was received.

February 9, 2007 at 10:44 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

Chris -

They don't reply to letters, but they know who wrote them.

Ed wrote an op-ed about Irvington schools after the field vote which he sent to the JOURNAL NEWS.

They didn't acknowledge receipt & didn't publish it (not that we know of, anyway. People have told us it was forwarded around the district as an article someone pulled from the paper. I can't find it on the website, however, and that would be a breach of standard editorial policy.)

A month later a JOURNAL NEWS reporter called for an interview.

Writing letters to smaller papers is worth the effort.

February 9, 2007 at 12:38 PM
LynnG said...

5. The curriculum director implied that she had seen Singapore math and it doesn't meet our state standards because it doesn't cover everything the state requires.

I've had conversations like this with the CD. She one upped you guys -- she told me that "they use Everyday math in Singapore."

It was all I could do to keep from snorting.

February 9, 2007 at 1:38 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

She one upped you guys -- she told me that "they use Everyday math in Singapore."

Actually, they may....

I've got to find that post.

February 9, 2007 at 4:51 PM

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