I posted something earlier about Prince William County, Virginia, refuting Pearson's "Evidence of Success" of Investigations. A person in PWC says it better than I did:
"We were told that MI was research proven. Well the research the school board was citing was a document called “Investigations in Number Data and Space: Evidence for Success”. A very diligent parent called every school district in that marketing brochure and most have dropped or are dropping MI. The rest are either heavily funded with large numbers of title 1 schools or very small school districts."
This document is an incredibly important indictment; not only against Investigations but against the marketers selling this snake oil.
A blogger named Black Velvet Bruce Li has been making YouTube videos serving as a documentary of the proceedings of the Prince William County School Board. His latest addresses the above mentioned document.
Those videos are great!! Let the sun shine in!!
ReplyDeleteIt's great to see that the parents did meet the challenge in elevating "their game"
The snake oil salesmen will have to change their "game plan" if they plan to hang around there!
"We're sorry, this video is no longer available."
ReplyDeleteTemporary?
Well, the school board member asked for it ... literally.
In our small town, many parents either shut up and move their kids to private schools (elitists!), or shut up and make up the diffrence at home. (proof of school success!) It would be viewed as extremely incorrect to try and organize a critical mass of objecting parents. With many arguments based on assumptions, it would be very difficult to have constructive discussions. You're unlikely to find balance or middle ground for different assumptions, especially if one side (school) doesn't have to do a darn thing.
We also have parents who are staunch supporters of our schools and see all issues in terms of resources (money). One parent told me: "They are the experts". Isn't that what most arguments come down to? Unfortunately, the experts have my money.
The video is back. Temporary, not a conspiracy.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I see that video of Don Richardson chastising the parents I think: "Who died and made you king?"
ReplyDelete"Who died and made you king?"
ReplyDeleteWhat's his motivation here? Aren't school committee members one step removed from the school? I know that some of our school committee members support our school, but they don't cop that kind of attitude.
The school didn't adopt Investigations, the Board did for the entire county. So the Board members are on the line and being questioned by the parents. His scolding came at the end of a long meeting, and remarks from other Board members indicated that they didn't care for the email campaign that had been mounted by the parents.
ReplyDeleteI am in Loudoun County and while our county adopted math investigations some time ago, I noticed last year and this year, the investigative math homework is becoming less and less. Parents here are reading and listening to what is happening in Prince William County!
ReplyDeleteI'm blown away by the fact that these parents went out and fact-checked.
ReplyDeleteFantastic.
In our small town, many parents either shut up and move their kids to private schools (elitists!), or shut up and make up the difference at home. (proof of school success!)
ReplyDeleteAnd think what a surprise it is for school administrations when a parent pulls his kid out of the district and then spends a lot of time talking out loud about exactly why he did.