Friday, February 29, 2008

Good Listening
National Math Panel coming

Listen to this piece:

http://kurosawa.tc.columbia.edu/p79343625/

Very informative looks like we may be coming to the end of reform nonsense.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think its coming to an end. This is just more edspeak. The only person on that team with any sense of the issues is Schmidt. The rest of those experts just like to hear themselves talk. A bunch of quackers. There's no reason to be waiting for these idiots to state the obvious. Adopt Singapore, get rid of the consultants, and run your own academic programs. Washington can think for itself, thank you.

dan dempsey said...

Anon at 7:34,

Washington has elected Terry Bergeson three times. OSPI never even reviewed the best math texts in the world written in Basic English - Singapore Math.

Please give me some hope...

Can you find evidence of Washington thinking for itself? I mean successfully.

Cheers,

Dan

Anonymous said...

Dan, the best way to show these fools is to start our own school. I would focus on minorities - they are just as capable and you will be rewarded with results that move people to tears. Washington could do so much better than it has done.
The implementation would have to be done correctly. Singapore or Challenging Math are both excellent curriculum.

Singapore goes from grades 1 -12, more rigorous. Literacy is the key drawback. Challenging Math was initially developed in ELL classrooms in Quebec and kids and parents liked it so much they wanted it in English.

I detect a new tactic coming out of the propagandist camp. They are begging for a balanced discussion and that we are the aggressors. I've got my brass knuckles ready.

We should point out who are the victims of this oppression - its kids. Also, curriculum is a writing process that it must be tested and perfected. Its more of an engineering or a design problem.

The Progressivists portray themselves as innovators and high achievers. They see kids achieving through inspiration, regardless of their background or hardship. They believe that balance is achieved by reverting to the mean. The flaw in their argument is that it applies to individuals and not to the institutions themselves.

The worst disgrace is that the materials, like Core plus and IMP, demand students read at a higher level than they are capable of. This to me, is as much their arrogance, as it is stupidity. How could anyone be so vain and talentless? These are teachers?

So history, judges governments by their accomplishments, not by learning the virtues of their people. Probably just the reverse, the more virtuous the people, the more oppressive the government.