National Math Panelist Speaks at a Virgina School Board Meeting

Mr. Vern Williams to PWCS Board 5-21-08

"Well, thanks for allowing me to speak, and it should definitely be less than ten minutes. Before I read the comments, I'd like to mention that I should update my resume. I've been, I believe this is the 36th year that I've been teaching in Fairfax County. I decided to become a teacher when I was in junior high, back then, now they're called middle schools I guess. And the teachers were so fantastic at that time, that I decided I wanted to be like them and have been doing it for 36 years and I've loved every second of it. In fact the first 23 years, I didn't miss a day of school. The first day of school I missed was the week that my mom passed and I have missed very few since then. Now this National Math Panel thing sort of put a dent it that. They had me all over the country for a couple years but just wanted to let you know that I absolutely love teaching and am pretty impressed with what I've heard from you today.

So here is my presentation. During my tenure on a National Mathematics Panel, I heard testimony from many sources, including parents, teachers, textbook publishers, college presidents, mathematicians, technology specialists, and a host of researchers. I also listened to and learned from the other panel members, even though at times, we had varying opinions on many topics. One item that we all seem to agree on from the start was the need for focused, coherent K-8 mathematics curriculum leading up to algebra. (Seattle's choice to continue with EDM and CMP2 indicates disagreement with Mr Williams and the NMAP). We were tasked with determining the critical foundations for success in an authentic algebra course. Skip Fennel, NCTM President, at the time headed up the Conceptual Knowledge & Skills Task Group. He along with Mathematicians and researchers on the panel suggested a list of algebra topics and the critical foundations necessary for learning those topics. As a practicing middle-school Mathematics teacher of 35 years, my input was valued heavily by Skip Fennel's Task Group.(Seattle's current direction in the Strategic Plan indicates that input identical to Mr Williams input is not valued). After two years of peering over many reams of research, the panel reached conclusions that I had always assumed were no brainers. For instance, students need to use and understand the standard algorithms in order to succeed in grasping the critical foundations leading up to and including the topics of algebra. (clearly these were not no brainers for SPS math decision makers, as Dr Ruth Parker espoused an opposite view and she was employed as a consultant by SPS. The SPS adopted defective texts that almost any experienced teacher would have found defective.) This is my own opinion here. If one cannot make use of the division algorithm, it is highly unlikely that they will be able to understand and perform division of polynomials, nor will they be able to solve higher-level equations. Your Mathematics program should require fluency with the standard algorithms for addition and subtraction, multiplication and division. Fluent use of the algorithms not only depends on the automatic recall of number facts but also reinforces it. Your math program should also require that students have proficiency with whole numbers, fractions, and particular aspects of geometry and measurement, which will be found in of course the NMP report. Our students' proficiency with fractions seems to be presently lacking in many classrooms. Your task is to select Mathematics curricula that will allow your teachers to teach the critical foundations of algebra so that students will be prepared for an authentic algebra course, not just an algebra course in name only. You need to adopt focused coherent textbooks that students, parents and teachers all understand and at the very minimum, I suggest that you allow your individual school faculties and their students a choice in textbook and teaching methods.

I served on the Instructional Practices Task Group and one of our main findings was that all encompassing recommendations that instruction should be entirely student centered or teacher directed are not supported by research. If such recommendations exist, they should be rescinded; if they are being considered, they should be avoided. High quality research does not support the exclusive use of either approach. I suggest that you offer Mathematics programs and textbooks that will not force teachers to exclusively use one type of instruction.


During my 35-year teaching career, I have always had the following minimum expectation for even an average textbook. I would assign myself, if I were looking at a textbook and evaluating it; I would assign myself a topic to learn. I would find that topic in the textbook and pretend that I was a student or teacher who had a weak background on that particular topic and I would ask myself these questions: Was the presentation of the topic in the textbook focused and coherent enough for me to adequately learn the material? Were there clearly written non-infested examples? In other words, where the math comes out loud and clear. Were there enough practice problems of varying levels and were they actually related to the topic? At a minimum, a Mathematics textbook should possess the above traits and should also cover the critical foundations found in the National Math Panel Report. And that's it."

Dan's comment is:
..... Using the above criteria established by Mr. Williams the State of Washington, Seattle, and most school districts have failed miserably in the selection of math texts currently in use.

Chairman Johns-

Thank you very much Mr. Williams. Board members, we are going to allow about five minutes or so for questions since the presentation was less than ten. Mr. Latin.

Grant Lattin-

"Mr. Williams, I just want to tell you how much respect I have for a man who has spent 36 years teaching middle school, I just have so much respect for what you have done."

Vern Williams-

Before you continue, I need to tell you that whenever a neighbor or anyone else find out that I teach middle school period, they want to buy me something, just cry for me, anything they can do.

Grant Lattin-

"I have a couple of questions and I really appreciate your insight. Have you, especially with Gifted and Talented students, and you've been teaching them for so many years... It has been my own experience that they're with that group that a textbook is certainly useful but there are many other supplemental materials that a good teacher uses when they're teaching math. Is that an accurate statement?"

Vern Williams-

"Absolutely, absolutely. Many people may peg me as a traditional stand up at the blackboard and feed math to students type of teacher but when you walk into my classroom, you'll find that I teach varying, that I have varying teaching styles depending on the material and of course, the students so there are some gifted students who have impeccable math backgrounds, that I can say go home and play with this problem for a couple of hours and hopefully invent a way of doing it but on the other hand, if I'm teaching someone how to add fractions, I don't want anyone inventing anything. I want to actually teach the concept and then they can take that concept and apply it to some of these high level problems that I do with the gifted kids. But you're right it's a whole different world."

Grand Lattin-

"So if you had a textbook that kind of focused more in one direction, on conceptual things, then you'd probably be supplementing it with some of the more traditional methods and or vice versa, if you had a textbook that leaned to heavily in one direction, then you'd probably be bringing in conceptual, in other words?"

Vern Williams-

"If I had a textbook that leaned more towards conceptual, I would want my students to be already prepared in the basic material so that they will have something that will allow them to handle these concepts. In other words, you can't just do higher level concepts without some kind of arithmetic background because the arithmetic background allows you and helps you to make these mental leaps so I really would not feel safe with a textbook that strictly went towards the conceptual."

Grant Lattin-

"And if you had one, what would you do?"

Vern Williams-

"If I had one, I would sneak under the table and find a textbook that wasn't of that ilk and make sure that my students had the basics and use both of them." ........ It seems that Mr Williams would likely be dismissed if he taught 5th grade in Seattle for insubordination and conspiracy to over-throw the Reform Math empire ... ditto for any similar course of action Mr Williams might use in Bellevue.

Grant Lattin-

"Would you focus on a textbook or there's lots of other materials besides textbooks?"

Vern Williams-

"Well, in spite of what people say about textbooks not controlling the curriculum or really setting the tone for the curriculum, they do. There is no doubt about it, especially for the newer teachers. You look at that textbook as your guide and if the textbook is focusing a certain way, you tend to focus that way. Now, I've been teaching long enough that in fact with some of my classes, I don't even use a textbook but if I had to use a textbook."

Grant Lattin-

"And by the way, I think that's really typical of really good teachers, isn't it?"

Vern Williams-

"I can teach without a textbook whenever, it doesn't matter what the course. But if I had to have a textbook, I want one that I could look at and find some kind of focus. For instance, math teachers in general, there is so much math out there that if I don't teach calculus, and I don't, I'm not going to remember all the calculus that I was taught. So if I want to do some cool concept with a really bright eighth grader and its really more of a calculus concept and I need to go back and revisit that concept, I want a calculus textbook where I can find the concept and it's focused, it's well explained, it's well presented. I don't want a story about giraffes if I'm looking to go back and review a calculus concept and if I were learning it for the first time, I would especially need that focus."

Grant Lattin-

"I have one other question, and I really appreciate your insight as a middle school teacher on this question because it is something that has troubled me quite a bit and that is, in 2005-2006, that was the first year that middle schools were given an SOL in math at grade 7 and I'm looking at the Virginia SOL results and your county which was the best county in the state was a 60% pass rate at 7th grade math and the state pass rate was 44% so I'm wondering, what were we doing wrong that would not allow us to pass at a rate that is a failing rate by any measure. I'm wondering why you think we did so poorly on those SOLs in 7th grade math."

Vern Williams-

"Well it was the first year, and I remember the first couple of years when we administered the SOLs period, how dismal the scores were. And I believe one reason why they were so dismal is that many people thought they were going to go away and that we really didn't need to prepare the students for them if we just wait it out it was going to go away. And I think now, the 6th & 7th grade teachers are going to concentrate a lot more on preparing students for the SOLs at that level. Prior to then, we only had to worry about the SOLs for the 8th graders and I hate to use the word worrying because I think it's a good indication of how the students are doing. I know there are, well let me put it this way, the SOLs I think are probably too low level, but at least there is a floor. All right, at least there IS a floor. I know that a kid can at least do the bare minimum. So all the people who are against the SOLs, at least it reports something. Prior to SOLs, we of course had the POS but the POS didn't at one time, well I'm thinking Fairfax County. Sorry about that; they had a Program of Studies, and prior to the SOLs the Program of Studies was just something that you tested the kids on but the test meant nothing, only the classroom teacher saw it. So, I think because there is a product to achieve now, there is an end result to achieve. I don't care how low level it is, I think teachers are more prone to do some real teaching."
Chairman Johns-

"Thank you Mr. Williams, we appreciate your presentation. We appreciate your comments tonight. We definitely would invite you to come back for our Math Investigations work session. Board members we're out of time."



(Dr. Otaigbe expressed interest in asking a question as well, Chairman Johns asked for board consent and it was given.)
Dr. Otaigbe-

"Thank you. I'd just like to seize this opportunity to thank you for coming to speak to us tonight. I really appreciate it. I think when we talk about success in math, we talk about books, we talk about whether the books are the correct books, but the two elephants in the room, do we have a motivated student and family involvement. I just wanted you to comment on that from your honest feelings. "
Vern Williams-

"I think that in this day and age, we're giving students too much of an excuse not to be motivated. When I was in Elementary and Junior High, I was told by my parents and my teachers, that I had to work five times harder to get the same job as some other people were going to get and that part of your job was to go to school and learn. Whether it's fun, that is a bonus, but that's your job. The Asian students seem to do that and they go to our schools, they have the same teachers, they use the same textbooks, but somehow, that intrinsic motivation is there. And I always tell the Asian parents; it was like that for everyone here when I was growing up. And I think we need to get that back. I don't know exactly how to get it back but I can tell you with my students, I set an example myself; I'm excited about math. I'm motivated. I make sure I take care of them and I expect them to do their job. If you're going to have an exciting math course, part of it has to come from you...... This is virtually impossible to do when school districts like Seattle use a pacing plan to force teachers through defective materials ..... If I give you homework that is going to take an hour, you can't tell me about your soccer game. You have to actually buy into it. And I think if we do more of that instead of giving excuses about our horrible school system is causing you problems that the student has to be a part of buying into the system also."

Chairman Johns-

"Thank you very much Mr. Williams."

HERE is the LINK to SANDRA STOTSKY NMAPanelist