If any of you have ideas on how to get OSPI to follow HB 1906 and SB 6534, please tell me.
OSPI is still failing to follow the law.
OSPI's secretly selected IMR criteria panelists likely have not read the two applicable laws.
It is questionable as to whether anyone of the 22 IMR criteria members even read the laws HB 1906 and SB 6534 as they turned out draft #1 filled with lots of Standards Based Baloney but with no Focal Points.....
The NCTM Focal Points are referenced on pg 2 of HB 1906 and pg 2 of SB 6534, most of the rest of the Standards Based baloney in draft #1 is not referenced in either law.
There is still a significant problem with following these two laws as currently IMR criteria draft #2 has a goal that is not mentioned in either of the two laws.....
The goal is how to make the existing defective math programs work via supplementation... How this is in anyway justified by either of the two laws is just flat out NOT POSSIBLE.... Rogue Government off the tracks again.
I can see how the majority of the 22 IMR criteria panelists who made the decisions that stuck their districts with defective math materials would love to redeem these sorry math materials .... but the law makes no provision for doing so with State funds. District budget is another matter.
So why are the 22 in pursuit of a goal outside the boundaries of what the law designated them to do? Because they want to.
No time to even read the laws that govern their actions ... just do whatever..
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BIG RED ALERT!!!... the following is not mentioned in either HB 1906 or SB 6534 ... so how did to identify the necessary supplementation for existing materials to meet state standards become one of the goals .. did the Gov. and the legislature wish to pay for this sorry patch job ??? if so you would think it would be in the LAWS!!!
One of the goals of the Content/Standards Alignment process will be to identify the necessary supplementation for existing materials to meet state standards.
All Right we have finally arrived... at the real matter at hand. Under Dr Bergeson's guiding hand 80% of the students in the State are now saddled with the Connected Math Project materials at the middle school level. CMP and CMP2 have little if any focus on Authentic Algebra as described by NMAP.
Connected Math was far and away the OSPI most aligned text at the middle level no contest over second place.
See page 18
CMP = strongly aligned 63% adequately aligned 15%...
second place
MathThematics = strongly aligned 39% adequately aligned 24%...
Again little if anything other than Standards Based curricula were rated.
Again the criteria is being Standards-Based which is apparently in contradiction to MSSG 2004 and in contradiction to attaining success on the international math stage as well as becoming competent enough to enter a mathematically and academically challenging course of technical study at the university level....
So the job of the IMR is to fix and repair the defective Connected Math program...How can that be???
It is now little wonder that Project Follow Through was not even mentioned as a source resource for although it is the guide to mathematical success ... it runs counter to the prejudices of the profession ... the education hierarchy wants to do what they want to do ... results do not matter..
If PFT had been a recommended source then the two elementary text series that are in use in 66%+ of Washington schools would be exposed as fakes.
Now it is the job of the IMR to fix and repair Everyday Math and TERC/Investigations... Did I miss something here ...wasn't the idea to select texts that would allow our students access to an internationally competitive course of study in math?
Guess not... The idea is to produce a patchwork cover-up for failed decisions from the last decade...
NMAP and the Focal Points both point to greatly restricting the number of topics at each grade level. Everyday Math is a terrible text series in that regard. It does not teach a few topics to mastery but instead does the exact opposite of what is recommended. Take a look at the following Everyday Math Topics and tell me about supplementation.
Little wonder that Dana Center Executive Director Uri Treisman, the big Everyday Math booster is against supplementation there is no room for it. He says so during minute five on the Video linked to his name.
I would greatly appreciate it if OSPI would stop spending Tax dollars to carry out tasks that are not mentioned in the law. Especially as unreasonable an undertaking as the supplementation of bloated defective incoherent materials.
We have exactly the right folks secretly selected by OSPI on the IMR criteria panel..
The majority of these 22 know not enough math content to make the judgments necessary to select internationally competitive materials .... but having been responsible for the incoherent defective math materials selections of the last decade they should have the motivation necessary to attempt turning the sow's ear into the silk purse...
My thoughts are Example Based Instructional Materials should be used as these are used in the successful math nations. For more on this see the 2004 MSSG...from the introduction:
The essence of mathematical learning is the process of understanding each new layer of knowledge and thoroughly mastering that knowledge in order to be able to understand the next layer. ... You can forget that with the OSPI planned patch job!!!!
Standards Aligned is NOT synonymous with likely to achieve positive academic results.
It appears that this IMR criteria document draft#2 has a mistaken belief that Standards-Based equates with effective in bringing about internationally competitive results, certainly data from the last decade in Washington says Standards Based is misguided.
To improve a system requires the intelligent application of relevant data ... like OSPI even cares...
Sincerely,
Danaher M. Dempsey, Jr.
SBE Math Advisory Panelist
BA Mathematics, MEd.
NCLB Highly qualified in Math, Chemistry, and Science
Math Teacher at AI HS Clover Park School District
Speaking of an IMR math panel member, someone should really look at Bellingham's elementary math program - they haven't got one, or at least that is the appearance from parents I've talked to. Their new curriculum director, former art teacher, is leaving back to Portland to be a principal. There might be an opening on the math panel. Maybe OSPI doesn't know.
ReplyDeleteBellingham is going to have to use a lot of caulking to keep their math tub afloat. Rub a dub, dub....
ReplyDeleteKids and parents at their elementary schools were assigned to do their own homework????? I've already forgotten the acronym.
Will B'hams next curriculum director please stand up?
ReplyDeleteTo to one dis lecchour and an ydolastre adopts TERC, Connected Math, and Core Plus. Twas aligned dat wey.
My thoughts,
ReplyDeleteLegislators need to be apprised of this situation. Val Stevens has voiced strong opposition to "fuzzy math". Also, a grassroots campaign involving more people might sway all people involved to take a second look at the effectiveness of the "fuzzy math" programs. Dan, you present many interesting and valid points, but I do not believe they are reaching the right people. Using some of your information with the Oak Harbor School Board helped influence their decision to postpone an adoption of core-plus for the high school math program. Postpone is the key word, as the issue will surface again. If you want help please let me know and I'm sure the Where's the Math group would also be of assistance. Thanks for your work!
T^2
After years of open warfare I've resorted to thieving and thumbing my nose.
ReplyDeleteWhy mathematicallysane is insane?
ReplyDeleteThere are at least two sides to every line, including the so-called "straight line." However, Uri asks - Are straightlines really straight?
For too long, the public has heard primarily from the side above the 'straight line'.
Integrated math has been developed to balance points on each side, including fuzzy points.
For too long, the case for points below the lines have been unfairly characterized as "Fuzzy."
Integrated math has been created to provide an alternative -- and more accurate -- view of lines by making a compelling case that more data points are imperative for straighter lines.
For too long there has been an insidious -- and often unanswered -- campaign to making lines crooked by the failed practices of the past.
Integrated math has been developed to provide a broad array of evidence that even fuzzy data points below the lines have been successful and made lines straighter across the country.
Accordingly, integrated math's mission is to advocate -- broadly and persuasively -- for straight lines.
Mathematicallysane:
Helps lines, both straight and crooked, by building a stronger case for more data points below the line, no matter how fuzzy;
What is Mathematically Sane?
We are a government-funded group of welfare recipients concerned about funding and the future of our textbooks.
We particularly don't care if you are critical of our efforts to write textbooks. If they are bad, it was meant to be. Even the Maharishi blessed our books for a tidy sum.
We are not publicizing our names because then you would see we funded ourselves, and wrote, and evaluated, and implemented, and sold our own textbooks. We even wrote standards, not once, but at least three times, and look what you've paid for - more students dropping out of high school than ever before.
What we did to math, we also did to science.
Write to us we love to hear praises for our textbooks.
Because we don't go many and well, its lonely when your at the top and everyone despises you. I think I need a hug Virginia.
ReplyDeleteSigned, Math Demigod
By Johnny Loot the Carrot God - Quit stalking math reformers? We only want to sell our textbooks...
ReplyDeleteWhen the word stalker is used, different images come to mind: a hunter, a shadower, or possibly a person who follows another person with the intent to harm.
In recent years, a kind of stalking, lurking menace has focused on carrot fields. It is time to confront this presence and "call it out" for what it is. Lets call an end to the carrot wars and just call 'it' government sponsored terrorism.
(Yes but we need carrots to multiply.)
This menace to textbooks has appeared in three guises: the wabbit who uses position or power in an attempt to denigrate our textbooks; field mice who use half-truths, fear, and innuendo to try to control public opinion, school boards, and other agencies that work with mathematics education; and, finally, chickens that lay eggs to bend state and local school systems to their will.
Consider our long-eared cousin who uses position or power to denigrate the field. Buggs works in devious ways, such as becoming a "friendly" critic of journal articles and publications.
Because journals like NCTM's Integrated Math God strive to publish content that is mathematical nonsense, it behooves the journal to pay attention to any wabbit who challenges either the mathematics or the language of an article.
Elmer responds to such criticism by publishing a letter that corrects the mathematics (if needed) or by acknowledging that the wabbit's opinion differs from the Carrot God's.
Over time it has become clear that some critics use their small stature as wabbits to attack any thinking, great or small, that disagrees with their own small mind and even, EVEN challenge the Carrot God's academic integrity with threats like growing their own carrots. (Tsk, Tsk)
One such wabbit recently wrote, "If you do not acknowledge and correct this article as I have suggested, then I will spread the word that this journal lacks all credibility in the field of vegetable growing."
"The journal has been stalked!!"
(with yes, corn to feed chickens)
Outside the carrot world, threats of this nature might be met with more chicken feed. Within the carrot world, however, this is not done. But the journal must not offend itself against such positions or else be publicly stalked.(Loot is outlooting himself.)
Regardless of whether our TP acknowledges this "expert's" position, it may continue to be harassed and maligned by stalkers. We must stop this "corn" stalking while still allowing illegitimate criticism.
Consider stalkers who use half-truths, fear, and imanudol to control public opinion about carrot growing. As an example, look at Web sites written by field mice that continue to use a letter written in 1999 to then Secretary of Education Richard Riley by a group of mathematicians and scientists defaming poor, much maligned, evil carrot curricula developed with National Stupid Foundation grants and federal money.
Don't those mice know that some of those signers (we're not naming names) retracted their statements or wrote letters stating I quote "We're so sorry we didn't know what we were signing."
That dern Metter seems to surface any time there is controversy over carrot curricula.
A small group of field mice continues to gnaw at the Metter in an attempt to thwart changes to carrot curricula and carrot growing.
This has been done in California, Massachusetts, and most recently New York. Why can't we get rid of these mice. They're all over the place, not just in liberal states.
This Metter is not the only example of half-truths and innuendo being used against our stupid, fascist textbooks, even though our fabricated research shows that such textbooks do in fact work when used to grow carrots by inexperienced teachers.
All field mice must work to stop this stalking of our textbooks.
Finally, lets consider chickens that lay eggs, like NSF, who only lays 'blue robins' eggs to coerce state agencies and school systems to implement facets of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) by buying our stupid textbooks.
Although Needs Carrots to Multiply applauds and commends the intent to give every child access to stupid textbooks taught by an inexperienced teacher, the manner of implementation of this law raises some concerns.
States that do not yield to NCLB's underfunded mandate for external tests (WASL), do not define 'inexperienced' teachers in a manner deemed unacceptable, and do not provide a system to allow parental control of the schools, like a channel selector so that children who attend may sacrifice any rights to specific federal funds????
Needs carrots to multiply only wrote the vision, don't blame us for writing books that nobody understands or creating an ignorant non-carrot growing society.
Although Needs carrots to multiply acknowledges the need for changes that will close the carrot gap and offer stupid carrot education especially for children of who will always live in poverty and can never learn carrot algebra thanks to us.
Needs carrots to Multiply cannot condone it, but we all know the manipulation of schools with the possible loss of funding, the acceptance of people to teach with minimal qualifications through alternative certification, and mandates to change curricular standards to meet the expectations of some leaders in the federal government (the people who funded us??? (so we'll continue making more textbooks and your kids will have to sit through more agonizing hours of trying to read more bad writing. But it wasn't me.)
We can put a stop to the stalking and coercion of mathematics education by wabbits, field mice and egg-laying chickens only by barking up a tree and taking a united grand stand for stupid mathematics education that doesn't serve anybody.
Contrary to what you might think, children in Singapore do not look or think at all like children in the US.
The standards and curricula enhanced by the 1989 and 2000 publishing of the NCTM Standards documents have harmed mathematics education is evident in the student scores on the SAT and NAEP???? Singapore doesn't count because they're Asians and Needs carrots to multiply is proud to only serve Americans.
Regardless of what wabbits may say, we have evidence of what is not working. Let us stand together and not allow the lack of progress in the past 15 years to be set aside by a lurking menace, like wabbits and field mice, looking to forever denigrate these non-accomplishments which will never match those of Singapore's.
Is this the ramblings of a fringe lunatic? Yes, Lots aloot you've managed to mangle even your first language.