Education News of the Day
Posted on 08. Jun, 2009 by Lindsey.
Planning for their future now: College program reaches out to eligible middle-schoolers
Longer dreams for high-schoolers: More sleep: Puyallup weighs class time
Alternate budget cuts for schools: Rogers High School teachers picket for jobs
40 years of progress: End of an era for N. Thurston
Creative budget cuts shed creative programs: Budget cuts: Crescent High and Middle School bands to play final concert tonight
Support grows for early learning: The Push for Preschool
Continue Reading
Are you as concerned about math as I am?
Posted on 08. Jun, 2009 by Kelly.
I have three children; all have the potential to be very good at whatever they apply themselves to. When they were in kindergarten I believed they could be anything they wanted to be. I still believe that they could be whatever they wanted to be. But they don’t. Somewhere along the line they each decided that they are “no good at math”. When my oldest child was in fourth grade he put his head on the table and said that he was “stupid at math”, I took him to tutors. He has done good work since. But he never regained his confidence. My kids actually do ok to great in math, but, they aren’t “math kids”, they aren’t going to be engineers, or mathematicians or scientists. They just don’t think they are very good at math, and therefore rule those futures out. This breaks my heart. They have the capability; they just don’t believe me when I tell them.
Math at school has been such a mixed experienced. At one school the teachers don’t hand back the exams so the kids don’t know what they have done wrong. Another school told us parents to not have our children memorize the times tables. I tried to help my son with his math and it turns out they don’t have math textbooks anymore, so I went on-line looking for a formula, but it appears they don’t do formulas anymore either. I had to read three pages before I found the formula, and then, I didn’t understand it! And, it was long division. So I gave up. I didn’t help him. I have many regrets. I repeatedly wonder if I should have put them in private school or, if I should have had them tutored every year in math. Somehow I feel like I failed them.
When I talk to the educators they tell me that our test scores are good, our Timms scores are one of the best, and our SAT’s are some of the best in the nation. But, when I talk to employers, they say something else. Microsoft’s Director of Human Resources says that Microsoft only hires 1% of their employees for Washington State who were born in Washington State. Only 1% of our children have the math and science skills that Microsoft needs. This is scary. Who are our children going to work for? Why can’t my children work for Microsoft as engineers? But, the 1% statistic isn’t the scariest thought here. Microsoft is saying that the people they hire from all across the nation and all across the world are saying they don’t want to come here. That Washington States education system is falling so far behind that Microsoft is now losing potential hires.
I know that business is concerned, they have banded together to do a statewide STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) initiative. Right now they are funding pilot programs in a few schools, hopefully they will branch out to a state wide effort.
Parents are concerned, business is concerned, but school districts keep saying we are doing fine and that all we need to do is adopt a new curriculum that better meets the states standards. I don’t buy it anymore.
Right now we have the “math wars” going on in my school district. Parents have picked sides over “reform” and “traditional” math. The school district is saying that “this” curriculum is the very best for “our” students. While the district up the road has picked a different curriculum that is the “best” curriculum for “their” children. How can this be? Really? Are kids that much different 2-10 miles away? Is my school district the only district that is picking the “right” curriculum and the rest are confused? Or is my school district confused and the rest “right? How does a parent even engage in this?
And, while I’m on my soapbox, why, oh why does each school district have to go through the curriculum review process? We pull our very best teachers out of the classroom to be on committees that last for a year, we spend money, we spend time, to pick curriculum why can’t the state do this and just tell the school districts what to do?
Oh yeah….the state does. But school boards are notorious for worrying about “local control”. The state isn’t going to tell “them” what to do. The state can’t possible know what “our” kids need. but what about the poor child who started school in one school district where they do “discovery” math, who moves to a different school district that does “traditional math”, that child is even more confused, and even more behind. What does “local control” have to do with kids learning? Really? We are wasting an enormous amount of time and money on adult concerns.
We are losing the point. We need to refocus. Let’s step back and rethink what we are doing, we need to rethink the curriculum, rethink the teacher training, rethink teacher recruiting, we need to rethink our focus as a community on math. We need to try to bring the STEM program statewide, we need to put the focus on math like we have on reading.
Let’s include parents, community, business and the education stakeholders and rethink math. I’m done arguing about which curriculum is “right”. The problem is so much larger. Curriculum is just one tool in the tool box. We know what needs to be done, it’s a lot of work, but I bet you are willing to help. We need to first decide if we have a problem, then figure out what the problem is, then come up with new and different ways to solve the problem. And we need more then the school district involved, we need business, and math experts, and parents, and community members. No more curriculum adoptions, no more money spent until we know what we are trying to accomplish. Let’s set community goals, let’s throw out all kinds of ways to get to those goals, and let us set an implementation plan to get there.
