Dear Sen. ________,
I am deeply concerned that despite the original focus on Internationally Competitive Mathematics in WA Schools, the senate is currently on the way to more of the same weak direction of the math past.
I urge you to put one Algebra EOC in place that assesses most if not all of the Algebra Standards (if it skips the STATS so be it). It matters not when students take this test in their school career but they need to take it sometime.
A Geometry EOC could be taken at the end of grade 10 for those students completing Geometry classes or at the end of year three for those needing to complete Integrated three to cover the Standards in Geometry.
I fear that despite the two years of effort, which all of the members of the SBE MAP expended in attempting to elevate WA school mathematics to something near international levels as the Law directed us to do, this is now collapsing into more insipid mediocrity due to politics.
Sincerely,
Danaher M. Dempsey, Jr.
SBE MAP 2007-2009
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While other developed nations benefit by regularly comparing, or “benchmarking,” their educational performance and practices against each other, the United States largely ignores the world’s useful lessons in improving education. So says Short Sighted: How America’s Lack of Attention to International Education Studies Impedes Improvement, the latest report from the Alliance for Excellent Education.
“U.S. Olympic teams don’t ignore the gains made by their competitors;” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia, “nor can the United States ignore international education gains. In a world where our nation’s ability to continue winning the global economic competition is so closely tied to the educational preparation of our citizens, the United States cannot afford to bury its head in the sand and ignore the innovations in education that occur outside of its borders.”
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Boeing builds in Bangalore while Seattle considers the adoption of Mathematically unsound text books. Without EOCs that test all the standards the state enables continued math confusion as well as economic decline.
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Now write your own letter to one of these folks.
http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Committees/EDU/membersstaff.htm
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