Let us hear it for the Prince William County grassroots versus the Publishers of bogus material accompanied by questionable claims.
Just when the folks at Mathematica research show Investigations is easily out performed by Saxon and Math Expressions along comes this.
Here is a fascinating debunking of publisher claims, a dynamite read that features deceit, distortion and falsity. It should be titled: Investigations Confidential by the PWCS Parents.
This is a study that debunks Pearson Publishing's "Evidence of Success" of Investigations. It can be downloaded here:
http://mysite.verizon.net/resu7qv4/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/MI_Success_Stories_Debunked_26Feb09.pdf
Enjoy
Key Markers Relating to Organizational Health
12 years ago
2 comments:
This is excellent. I am so glad intelligent people are finally taking note.
Math reform and standards reform go arm in arm. It is not that I'm against standards, its the way its being implemented and negatively impacting schools and students.
To improve a system you must refine it, not settle for something somewhere vaguely in the middle. If you want a race car, you don't start with a wagon and go push it off a hill.
Textbooks must have their own standard and THEN States can adopt the textbook with that standard and the assessments k-12 that go along with that standard.
One vision, one track, one standard, one textbook, one curriculum. Its the only way to make everyone accountable. I will admit that 3 years of kindergarten is a strong start for children - but think of the excess money that could be spent on better nutrition and smaller classrooms if you weren't putting all our efforts into getting the curriculum right. Mind-boggling.
Throw out the reform math with F-22 and I won't miss either one. Never saw it in Iraq, never saw it in US even. Mind-boggling.
The current facade (alignments and such) is deliberately deceptive and there has to be accountability.
All we need is a vision statement concerning math curriculum prepared by the NEA and that will squash reform like a bug.
This is a continuation of that William Webster thing that started in Austin.
Here's a report from 1999:
http://www.wmich.edu/evalctr/rsi/identification_six_drivers.html
A Report on the Identification and Validation of Indicators of Six Drivers for Educational Systemic Reform
By
Craig Russon and Jerry Horn
The Evaluation Center
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, MI 48008-5178
For
The Rural Systemic Initiatives Evaluation Study
(A project funded by the National Science Foundation)
August 1999
Here's the gist of their argument?
The study approaches the challenge from the unique perspectives of rural communities. The project will help math and science educators build upon the inherent strengths of rural schools and better understand the factors inherent in rural schools and communities that support or serve as barriers to systemic reform.
An extensive review was conducted of the systemic reform, evaluation of systemic reform, and rural education literature (Appendix 1). The purpose of the literature review was twofold: (1) to identify indicators for consideration in the Delphi procedure and (2) to serve as the basis for a background paper on rural systemic reform (Russon & Horn, 1999). From these sources, and with input from the project's Resource Advisory Team, 172 indicators were identified. The list of indicators was reviewed and duplicates were omitted. The final list contained 123 indicators."
When I read this article from 10 years ago, I started feeling sorry for these throwbacks. The world moves on without them and they're still laying down the foundation for reforming communities. Complete hacks. In Iran they would be cut two feet shorter.
Post a Comment