"Results, not methodology, should be the basis of curriculum decisions," was the mantra of John Saxon, the maverick mathematics textbook author and publisher who began fighting failed Progressive math methodologies in 1981. The story of how John's first book on algebra set him on a mission to "turn around American mathematics education," and how he came to develop his embattled program in spite of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics efforts to destroy him and his program, is told in John Saxon's Mathematics Program, A Math Warrior's Almanac--The need for common sense in mathematics education.
Its three chapters, which are excerpts from a biography of John Saxon, describe his budding philosophy, how it evolved into a full belief system, and how his program should be used for greatest impact. It is the result of 14 months of research and writing.
Available in PDF for only $9.00 at http://saxonmathwarrior.com, it offers responses to those who still insist that the Progressives' ideas work, in spite of the 20-year failed history of those ideas.
Once the fee is paid, a user can simply save the PDF and run the pages as wanted for reading or note-taking. You can also e-mail Niki at the following address: nakonia69@saxonmathwarrior.com.
Now is the time to bring John's ideas into policy conversations, especially as recently released national test scores show that American students are still showing dismal knowledge and skills in mathematics.
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12 years ago
2 comments:
Dan,
How about an update on the lawsuits you filed?
T^2
Five districts in your states are in financial trouble. Washington has no FCA legislation and no whistleblower protection for public employees.
I'm afraid you're going to see more school mismanagement and administrator abuse before our education system ever turns itself around. School boards are more concerned about refinancing their bad bonds than they are about curriculum.
Burlington is a case in point. They spend $600 per student just on debt interest. Their spending per student is 30% below the state average, putting it somewhere around 1995 dollars. They'll be insolvent by August 09.
There's no way a bond is going to be passed to bail them out of their situation. If this is the government cure for economic distress (buying bad debt from bankers) than we're cooked. The governement remedy for textbooks is no better than their remedy for the economy.
In this year alone, the Fed as a result of buying bad debt, left all Americans 15% more poor than before. The last bastion, our retirement savings is next, the government will begin taxing withdrawls next year. Obama gave a great speech, but what he said and what the Fed did were two different things. Bankers can go to h..l, my accountant is buying gold.
The US gov is even buying sdrs from the IMF (biggest customer) and as a result pushing the $ down. The game is rigged and taxpayers are losing their savings so wall street can throw a party. What is going to result from this... stay tuned?
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