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Scarsdale is going to abandon TRAILBLAZERS it seems. Nothing bad should be said about TRAILBLAZERS, however! TRAILBLAZERS isn't bad! Scarsdale is merely continuing ever onward in its eternal journey of excellence. (My friend is sending the article; I'll have the actual quote shortly.)
In its place, they are considering:
- Everyday Math
- Think Math
- TERC Investigations
- Singapore Math
13 comments:
Any chance they are seriously considering Singapore, or are they just throwing that diplomatic bone out there to placate folks until they can choose TERC?
I wish I knew more about Scarsdale politics. My friend there works a lot, and her kids are now out of K-5, so she's not that in touch with everything going on.
She's sending me the article, so I'll get some sense of things from that.
They ditched AP courses so they could do more constructivist things, which makes me think they're aiming for EM or TERC.
otoh, Primary Mathematics could be attractive to constructivist ed-school types...
Don't know if you ever saw my post on Scarsdale math scores. Their middle school scores were far below ours once they adopted Trailblazers. In the past their scores had been far above ours.
(I'll have to find that link.)
My friend said that the article made it sound as if it's time to buy new stuff so they're looking at new stuff.
Given the rhetoric I've seen coming out of Scarsdale, from the super and from the administration in general, I'd be surprised if Singapore is really in the running.
But you never know.
"... or are they just throwing that diplomatic bone out there to placate folks until they can choose TERC?"
My thoughts exactly. Ice cream, cake, apple pie, asparagus.
"They ditched AP courses so they could do more constructivist things, ..."
No AP? Do they have IB? And parents are yelling and screaming? What percent of kids go to private schools?
I wouldn’t be surprised if many Scarsdale kids take AP tests with the benefits of outside (college-affiliated) courses and plenty of expensive tutoring.
I think many or most Scarsdale kids are shoo-ins to whatever college they wish to attend. Legacy admits and other influential connections are prevalent there. IIRC, the vast majority of students apply early because they’re not worried about financial aid. In fact, I’m sure family donations to the colleges are a factor in many situations.
Scarsdale is a world unto itself.
My school district is next door to Scarsdale. We adopted Think Math this year, and I would love to be a fly on the wall when discussions about these programs are being conducted.
It is indeed a motley mix of math programs.
Some parents are screaming and yelling; I gather there is a tax revolt brewing over the whole thing, with some parents saying they should vote the budget down because of the decision to dump AP.
The marketing document the school published to justify the decision was appalling. When a professor friend of ours read it, he said, "This is a radical document."
I'll find the link again if I can and post.
In place of AP they now have "AT," or "Advanced Topics" courses. The name itself tells you they plan to be interdisciplinary, and the marketing document specifically cites this as an advantage.
Their own teachers, who generally speaking do not have Ph.D.s, will be creating the courses.
Advanced Placement courses are created by real disciplinary specialists (though AP history courses have serious problems of the mile-wide, inch-deep, death march to college variety).
The single best passage in the marketing document is this one:
Why, then, can’t we offer AP and an alternative program simultaneously?
At first glance, the marketplace model is appealing: offer choices on an even playing field, and let the people decide.
A first difficulty with this suggestion is that the question of the best academic program for students is an educational matter where professional expertise,
experience and judgment are key considerations. The faculty, upon research and full reflection, has arrived at the judgment that the SATP promises a better education than the AP. It cannot support the current program if there is an
alternative it judges superior.
Second, as a practical matter, there is no even playing field. The weight of convention alone suggests that the AP designation would continue to draw students away from other advanced courses without that designation, so that SATP would
never get a fair chance. The marketing document asks and answers the question of "Why not offer both AP and AT
We currently have some experience that would tend to confirm this assessment: an excellent science research program at Scarsdale High School does not compete with AP courses for the most excellent students, even though it offers potentially superior opportunities for academic and intellectual distinction.
This is one of the balder statements of unchecked school power I've seen in my day.
Why can't we offer both?
Because nobody wants AT!
Everybody wants AP!
Therefore we have to ram AT courses through on our own say-so.
We do what we do.
Proposal for Advanced Topics Implementation
The Scarsdale Advanced Topics Program (SATP) Q&A
Are AP classes really necessary?
"The weight of convention alone suggests that the AP designation would continue to draw students away from other advanced courses without that designation, so that SATP would never get a fair chance."
Parents are stupid. This is their common theme. Academic turf. Opinion.
They are offering something different and not the same, but better. They are the experts. Experts in what? Their own opinion.
"...with some parents saying they should vote the budget down because of the decision to dump AP."
This should be an easy win. Replacing AP with IB might be feasible, but some schools offer both. Replacing AP with some home-grown, across-the-board pedagogical implementation is just ludicrous.
My AP experience was limited (just the two courses my school offered--English and US History) and a long time ago, but those courses were among the best things to happen to me academically in high school. Aside from the teacher quality (which was good), the US History textbook was fantastic, nuanced and interesting and I wish I had a copy. There's a lot of ground to cover, but you have a whole year, and I don't recall feeling rushed. The test itself was multiple choice, plus the DBQs (document-based questions) where they give you historical materials to analyze. That ought to make constructivists' hearts go pitterpat. I only got 4s on my two tests, but that still gave me two whole courses of college credit, which was very helpful.
Amy
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