November meeting, continued

I kept waiting for someone to bring up the math curriculum at last Monday's meeting, and finally a brave parent from the studio audience asked the superintendent what she thought of the recent letters to the editor about the new math. While Dr. Baehr had not seen the letters, she is aware of the debate and said that it was somewhat like the old argument about whether reading should be taught with an all-phonics or all-whole language approach. The answer, of course, is that we need both, and she claims that the same is true of math. You do need to teach the basic facts to give kids the foundation to build on, but you also can gain a lot of benefit from the approach that lets students work in groups, discover new ways of getting at the answers, learn from each other, etc. At least that's the theory; somehow I don't think a lot of parents are convinced. I'm going to try to pull together some of the arguments for the new math to see how they stand up to the criticisms, hopefully by tomorrow.

November meeting and more about math

The November meeting, held Monday night in the Channel 22 studio, was informative, but too short. It was nice to have more of an informal discussion rather than a powerpoint presentation, but almost half of the time was spent discussing safety issues, much of which has been covered at the ongoing Safety Summits. Well, hopefully this information will now get out to more people. We did get quite a few phone calls and emails; in fact, one person emailed about election day safety in the schools, a topic that was not covered at the safety summits. Having been at different schools on election day, I can attest to the fact that in many instances a stranger could stroll into the school, take a wrong turn and roam the hallways at will. Apparently, Tewksbury has taken the step of moving the voting locations out of the schools. Dr. Baehr did say that there is a new rule that the police officers present are there to keep an eye on the schools as well as the ballot box and that the school department will work with the election office to develop a safety plan for election days.

Another positive development from the focus on safety is that schools will take steps to clarify their discipline policies so that if your child is the victim of a bullying incident, for example, then you will know what the typical response is at that school. This reassures parents that a situation will be handled without violating the privacy of the perpetrator. If parents feel that their school has an inadequate response system or that the principal is not responding to their concerns, they should absolutely call Dr. Baehr or Ann Murphy, who is the Interim Assistant Superintendent for Student Services.

While discussing MCAS scores, Dr. Baehr made several points. In Massachusetts, a passing score on MCAS is 220, but a proficient score is 240. The State has ratcheted up the MCAS passing requirement, so that a 220 is now only a 'provisional' passing grade. Any student who receives between 220 and 238 must take and pass certain required courses, depending on their weaknesses. Then there are the added complications from the Feds through No Child Left Behind. Under this law, all (ALL) students must be proficient by 2014; this is measured yearly by checking a school's adequate yearly progress (AYP). Since the school's MCAS performance must increase by a set amount each year, the target keeps getting harder to hit. (MCAS by the way is in the top three hardest standardized state tests in the country). The new rules around English Language Learners (ELLs) dictate that any child in the system for 10 months has to take the MCAS in English; given that Lowell has the largest population of ELL students in the State (1 in 4 Lowell students is an ELL), one can see why our MCAS scores in English Language Arts are fairly flat. The fact is that they have been flat across the state for the last few years. In Math, our results also roughly parallel the state in Gr. 4 and 8. The good news is of course the 10th grade overall MCAS results have made Lowell one of only 3 Urban school districts to have more than 50% of their Sophomores pass MCAS.

Well, I've gone on and on about MCAS, but I think it's important information that doesn't get out there enough, especially when the scores are used as a weapon against the schools more often than not. I'll take up the math question and other stuff tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving!

More on the new math

Another letter to the editor from someone in Needham protesting the new math. This writer claims that since the so-called Investigations program was implemented in Needham five years ago, fourth-grade MCAS scores have gone from 80% proficient/advanced to 56%.

Here is a quote from a New York parent and high school math teacher who spoke at a math forum in May 2005:

When these types of curricula were introduced in District 2 in the 90's, they were already highly controversial. They had been in use in both California and Texas where parents and educators protested their use in great numbers and with varying effect. In numerous cases, the curricula were replaced by more traditional ones. Never had there been such a controversial attempt at math reform. I recall the "new math" of the 70's and how disastrous a reform attempt that was. Even that failed effort generated significantly less negative publicity than this.

I, too, remember the new math of the 70's and while I escaped it, my younger siblings were not so fortunate and were forced to overcome math phobias and undergo remedial math in college.

More from the New York math teacher, parent and spokesperson:

We send our kids to math tutors in record numbers. Intelligent, hard working kids have trouble doing simple math. We who have grown up with an understanding of elementary mathematics find that we can't help our kids; that many of the games they play and homework they do are so convoluted we either can't figure them out or don't see their significance......When we speak to school officials about our frustration we're condescendingly told that we just need to understand what they're doing.

We have heard these same complaints from Lowell parents. Do parents understand the theory behind constructivist math programs? Again, here is how our "guest" describes and cirtiques the theory:

Constructivist mathematics curricula attempt to teach mathematics by having the students "discover" their own methods for solving problems. A great deal of time and energy is spent having students "discover" things such as if you're multiplying 98 x 28 , you could multiply the "friendly number 100" x 28 and from that subtract that extra 2x28. 2x28 can be found by multiplying 2x30 and subtracting 2x2. This is fine for this problem and in fact is how many good mathematicians would perform this computation in their heads. However, it takes too long and it won't work for calculations such as 34 x 67, 286 x 327, or most others one would need to perform. The purpose of a standard algorithm is to easily and quickly solve a whole class of problems. It generalizes. We can do all problems of this type with the standard multiplication algorithm. In the constructivist curricula, a similarly haphazard way of working with fractions is taught, with similarly disastrous results.

Tomorrow, I will search for an opposing position. To read the full transcripts of the above remarks, visit http://www.nychold.com. Click on the 'letters and testimony' link and scroll down to Bruce Winokur's position paper link.

Math Curriculum and November meeting

A CPC parent alerted me to a letter to the editor in Wednesday's Lowell Sun. The letter was from a Westford parent and was a complaint about the new math program that Westford has been piloting. The parent (and it appears one-time candidate for school committee) was objecting to the "constructivist" math programs, which, according to her, "have been proven time and time again to be inadequate and inferior in providing students with the necessary mathematics skills and knowledge needed ......the math facts and basic computation skills that the K-5 students need are crucial and extremely difficult to make up in later years." This parent now has her child in a private school.

It appears that the term constructivist refers to the type of Math that has been introduced into the Lowell Public Schools. A lot of parents feel that their children are not getting the basic math skills that they will need to build on in upper level classes and in college. By searching around on the internet, I have discovered quite a debate going on about this new way of teaching math. Certainly, the theory behind the new math sounds appealing as it seeks to develop critical thinking and a deep understanding of the concepts that underlie the math facts that we are used to learning by rote.

Expect more on this topic at the next CPC meeting on Monday, November 20, 7 pm, when Superintendent Baehr will give her annual "State of the Schools" address. THe meeting will be held in the Channel 22 TV studio at Lowell High (on the third floor, above the library). Feel free to join us in the studio or watch the live broadcast from home. There will be email and telephone connections available to take questions from viewers.

Getting to the how

Back to Dr. Howard's presentation: How do we achieve the goal of proficiency for all students? There wasn't time during the half-day forum for questions or for figuring out the nitty-gritty of what we have to do. According to my notes, we need to 'provide a framework that all can use to realign resources, policies and practices to achieve outcome, use data to drive improvement and to align entire city's structures and systems with the requirements of achieving proficiency.' Sounds great, but it's a tall order.

The model developed by Dr. Howard's group (the Efficacy Institute) is called SDIS (self-directed improvement system) and requires a constant recycling of data from assessment to strategy to execution to new data. Thus, data from what is actually happening in children's lives fuels 'effective effort' which requires a tenacious engagement even and especially after failure, a powerful focus on feedback and ongoing strategy formulation.

What is needed is the aligned efforts of adults to:
*Establish and take responsibility for specific, targeted proficiency outcomes
*Educate community on mission and why it is essential
*Establish data stream and disseminate throughout community
*Establish a structure of operation and responsibilities - hold ourselves responsible

Safety Summits

The school department and school committee are putting on a series of safety summits around the city. These are designed to improve student safety by:
Developing a shared understanding of existing policies and procedures related to student safety, and, identifying promising ideas and opportunities for strengthening policies and procedures.

Through presentations, questions and discussion of scenarios, participants will examine:
District and School responses to:
Staff member or volunteer with a history of arrest(s) and/or convictions
Intruder(s)
Fire or other Hazard, including school evacuation
Dangerous Behavior, including possession of a weapon
Bus safety and behavior
Bullying and Harassment
School and District Complaint Procedures
Other questions and suggestions from participants

Last night, the first summit was held at the Bailey School, specifically for families from the Bailey, Laura Lee, Lincoln, Morey, Washington, Daley, Riverside (BRIDGE) and Rogers Schools.

The next summit will be held on Tuesday, November 14, 7-8:30 pm, at the Pawtucketville Memorial, specifically for families, staff, friends and neighbors of the Bartlett, McAvinnue, Murkland, Pawtucketville Memorial, Stoklosa and Wang Schools.

Please note that there wasn't a lot of time to publicize the first summit. Parents who missed the one at the Bailey can attend one at another school. There will be a total of five, with the remaining three at the McAuliffe on November 28, Lowell High school on Nov. 29, and the REilly School on Monday, December 4. They all run from 7-8:30 pm.

A Campaign for Proficiency

I'm still working through my notes from the Forum on Oct. 14th. To mount a campaign for proficiency, people have to be energized about the mission and have the belief that it can be done. Dr. Howard called upon community leaders to work together and become 'powerful partners for educators committed to high standards for all children.'

Proficiency can be measured (Do they know it; can they use it?). Adult proficiency is defined as a 'demonstrated capacity to move students toward educational proficiency.' In other words, adult proficiency is reflected in student proficiency. In fact, the health of a community can be measured by the success of all children. So, how do we do it? First, we have to talk about one of the biggest obstacles, one that is built into the American belief system. At this point, Dr. Howard said "Some got it. And...."
Many in the audience answered, "Some don't." And, I'm sure that the ones who didn't answer out loud were thinking it. There is an subconscious feeling that people are born with a certain amount of intellect and not much can be done to increase that. However, on Dr. Howard's website, there is this motto: "Smart is something you can get." With enough effort, enough careful analysis of the problem and belief in a solution, enough willpower and enough will to educate all children, it could happen. Here. In Lowell.

The problem with education

Dr. Howard made the following strong statement at the October 14 forum: "we only educate those kids we care about."

He said that public education is underfunded, but lack of money is not the problem. The problem is lack of mobilization by adults and an abdication by community leaders of responsibility for the children in the community. The goal is proficiency and that children should be educated to lead quality lives, filled with meaning as well as accomplishment. The problem is a fundamental lack of belief by adults in the possibility of a quality education for every child.

He appealed to community leaders to (1) build consensus on the mission (proficiency and strong character for every child, (2) Build belief that it can be accomplished and (3) use data analysis to drive change.

Watch the Forum on LTC!

The Mary Bacigalupo Educational Forum was taped by LTC and will air on Channel 10 at the following times:

Saturday & Sunday: 5:00PM
Monday: 6:00AM & 11:00PM
Wednesday: 11:00AM
Friday: 7:00AM

I hope those who missed the forum will try to tune in and see Dr. Howard's dynamic presentation.

Thanks, LTC!