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Thursday, August 02, 2007Math Standards
By Howard Stephenson
Utah State Senator, District 8 Tomorrow the State School Board will approve or deny sub par math standards for Utah's schools. The House and Senate Education Chairs (Senator Dayton, Representative Hughes and I) have asked the board to reject new standards that are anything less than world class. For anyone who may be interested, we sent this E-mail to the Board and attached this PDF document.
posted by The Senate Site at 6:05 PM | Link
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17 Comments:
This is grandstanding! I hope the State Board rejects your disgusting letter and stands up to your heavy-handed threats. It is clear that the only math you care about is 38-15-1. The fact that two of you live in my city makes this all the more disturbing.
Dr. Milgram, firestarting mercenary idealogue in chief, takes this worn-out act from state to state. I wonder - did we as taxpayers fund this latest crusade, or was it the Conservative Caucus? If people actually believe his schtick, will we then pay him to fix the supposed crisis?
Let's work with our state staff to design standards that are best for the kids, not just those for which far-right, out-of-state activists are trying to force down our throats.
I'd rather have a word class education system.
Meaningless rhetoric.
1) Email campaigns (and this email was the first in a deluge) are more effective when they don't begin the night before an early meeting.
2) Did I really just read what I though I read? "... if the standards are adopted by the Board in their present form, we will seek to convince the legislature to set the standards statutorily..." "It is our hope that we can avoid legislation regarding these standards. Therefore, we highly recommend the state board improve the math standards, so that the legislature can avoid the need to act."
3) Given the preceding two statements (just quoted), I thought it was the height of arrogance to close with this: "We appreciate this opportunity for our respective elected bodies to work together..."
I'm a bit incensed at the moment--so I'll refrain from saying more for the time being.
Craig and Tom are correct.
These legislators have no business telling the board and USOE staff how to run education. Education should be left to the experts like teachers and administrators. Legislators and -- gasp -- even parents should not be telling those trained in education how to run education.
"World class" math standards are overrated anyway. If other states and countries want high standards geared to attract engineering and scientific jobs, that's their business.
The board should stick to its standards, even if they aren't "world class".
Nugent,
Your sarcasm overlooks the glaring presuppositions in Sen. Stephenson's arrogant and belittling letter.
Who doesn't want "world class" math standards? Tough to argue with that. But why should math war General Milgram get a free pass to establish what is and isn't "world class" just because he enjoys throwing hand grenades?
This is nothing more than the "Not A, therefore B" logical fallacy wrapped up in a pompous package.
I have to disagree with F. Ted Nugent's comment that "Education should be left to the experts like teachers and administrators." I have, over the years, been appalled by the shallowness of mathematical understanding displayed by some of my children's math teachers. I have watched in frustration as a couple of my children have experienced exactly what Dr. Millgram described in the PDF document:
"Students will simply learn long
lists of factoids, and will never develop anything approaching mathematical proficiency."
A friend of mine is on a work assignment in England for a few years. My friend's son is receiving a much stronger education there than my children are getting here.
While I don't like heavy-handed government interference, neither do I appreciate the way the existing educational establishment is failing to provide "world-class" education, particularly in vital core subjects like mathematics. My thanks go to these elected officials for trying to do something to improve the system.
So Utah County thinks it is oppressed by the Federal Government's regulations and recommendations so it in turn tries to oppress the rest of Utah by subjecting us to what they want in Utah County?
What if some of us disagree with you? What if some of us see results from our current math programs and our communities are satisfied our students will be successful in the 21st century and don't want Utah County legislators meddling in our schools?
Why does Utah County representation think they are capable of making the best decisions for all of Utah?
You are not the boss of us.
Wake up people. Utah is in the bottom third of the nation for math scores. America as a whole is being passed by third world countries. That means Utah is behind third world countries. Without world class standards, the entire system is built on shaky ground. We must have the strongest standards possible and then work to achieve them. The notion that educators know what's best and we shouldn't interfere with them is like saying accountants know their business best and they should have handled Enron and Arthur Anderson internally. When education becomes an Enron, it's time to have We The People step in and save ourselves from the behemoth.
And Senators Stephenson, Dayton, Representative Hughes know more about math standards than the State Board of Education? The Board's experts are not as knowledgable or worthy as those of Stephenson's? It's time for the Senator to back away from trying to control public education in this state. The Constitution gives the legislature power to establish and maintain (lately interpreted as dismantle and starve) public education and it gives the State Board control and supervision. Trying to legislate math standards is a mistake.
I think it is very important to point out what has already been stated - that a huge problem with teachers being prepared to teach the math curriculum to the level necessary for students to be successful, relies on funding education, providing professional development and salary money to attract and keep quality educators. (It cannont be overstated that Utah is still dead last in per-pupil expenditures.)
In regard to the new math standards -- it is strange that three members of the legislature think they know better than dozens of educators -- ranging from college professors to secondary and elementary teachers. This curriculum has gone through the same rigid standards of review that all the state curriculum goes through -- expcept on a far from resonable fast pace timetable in order to meet the immediate needs of a legislature who continues to threaten to take over "control and supervision" of public education if USOE or USBE doesn't do as they are told.
Please go on line and look at the standards before you make an uninformed judgement of the new curriculum.
Who said the 3 legislators know more about standards than the people that wrote them? Obviously they're not trained in that area, but Dr. Milgram is so they got him to review them. Dr. Wu who was asked to do an external review of our standards before approval is also qualified. Did you know that the only reason logarithms and exponents are even IN the standards we have is that Dr. Wu stated they needed to be there? There are numerous other suggestions he made which were ignored. Tell me again why we should trust the people that wrote our new standards as "experts".
I watched the Friday meeting and found it interesting that the Utah Board of Education spent more quality time debating the nutritional value of soda pop sold outside of academic class time than debating curriculum that takes place during academic time. They did not condemn Coke or Pepsi in their meeting, yet they condemned an evaluation by a Stanford professor. Not one of the board members took the time to discuss what is actually in the report, yet they took the time to talk about the vitamins and minerals found in milk. The board discussed the financial loss Pepsi and Coke might suffer and they concluded in the long term all the institutions would maintain their financial gain. On the other hand, the Stanford professor was dismissed by accusing him of writing the evaluation purely for gain.
The board flatly dismissed letters concerning the math curriculum sent by members of the legislature and the public as being inappropriate at this late of a date without considering that there may be merit to the request.
Although it was pointed out in the meeting that Pepsi and Coke may not take a long term loss because the Friday vote, what will be the financial loss to these same students, their families and our state because they got a "B" math program instead of an "A" program? While they may have less cavities upon graduation because of an A+ nutrition program, will they be able to compete Globally with a B math curriculum?
I believe input from the public and from legislators who fund public education is ALWAYS appropriate in our democratic republic, even if it takes place at the LAST hour. (How many last hour pleas have the Utah State Board of Education made to the Legislature or Governor?) The citizens of Utah and members of the legislature petitioned the Utah State Board of Education in good faith to create a WORLD CLASS math program and progress was made. This was done in good faith. However I believe the work is incomplete.
The board pointed out that a school district may impliment higher standards. I believe differently. I believe the math standards should be set to the highest level possible. High enough so our students will be able to compete globally in the future. As a college professor, I know that my students perform at the level expected of them. If we expect B work from a B program, they will only deliver the B. If we give them an A program and expect A work, they will deliver.
I spent a week with Jamie Escalante at Garfield High School in 1989. As you know, he took students in a poor hispanic high school that were failing in math worked with them till they began excelling at AP calculus. A generation that had no hope of higher education and leadership roles in society rose to the occasion. They began dreaming and working and those dreams became a reality. I saw it first hand. What people don't know, is that at Garfield High School this was not just happening in math. The students began excelling in English, History and other subjects. Again, this was not something I was told about. I sat in the classes with these students and observed them. What what the secret? The teachers, students and principal told me it was because Garfield High School had HIGH EXPECTATIONS of their students. They challenged them. They got the parents, ministers and community leaders involved in the lives of the children. It worked.
Our Utah children are more capable than B work. It is time to raise the math bar to an A, not a B. Our students need the opportunity to become competitive leaders instead of lagging followers. In all fields. Math, English, Sciences and the Arts. If we raise math, everything else will follow. That is my vision of the future of education in Utah. We must not settle for anything less.
I agree that high expectations allow students to achieve high results. But, there are other factors which help students gain high skills and above average understanding.
There are more reasons than not having “World Class Standards” that make students excel or fail in math.
I have taught Adult High School Completion for sixteen years. When students come to me they think that they can't do math. Their problem is that they missed something in class and were never able, or allowed, to go back and gain an understanding of what they missed. When you fill in what they missed and show them that they can do it, they take off and do well. How well are we preparing students to learn more advanced math in secondary schools?
We want students to gain high math skills, yet we have teachers who are pressured to complete a book in a year. Students do an assignment, correct it in class, and move on not knowing why they missed several problems. Maybe it is the books we’ve adopted to use to teach math classes.
There are many great teachers who know how and what to teach. They inspire and help students. Yet, many students don’t want the math classes and don’t care if they have great math skills. Why is that? Can we legislate student desires to excel in math?
I think there is more to this question than meets the eye.
I agree that higher expectations bring higher results. Success breeds success, etc. Why don’t (some) Utah students do well in math. Is it the result of the State standards for math? I doubt it. I think that there are more factors in getting students to have better math skills than just the State Standards and I don’t think that the state government can legislate answers to those factors.
After teaching Adult High School Completion for sixteen years I have found that many students come to me saying that they can’t do math. They can’t remember their times tables, fractions, percents, and decimals, yet we want them to do algebra and geometry. Many times we find that they missed school, moved, or had a family tragedy and didn’t learn certain things well. Yet when we go back and fill in what they missed they find that they can do the math and, of course, they can do it well.
It seems to me that sometimes teachers are pressured to make it through the book in a year. Students do an assignment, come to class and correct it, then move on without finding out what they did wrong on certain problems. After a while they get more and more behind because they really don’t understand what they are doing wrong. Then they don’t like math because they don’t understand it and think that they can’t do it.
Is that the reason (some, not all) students in don’t do well in math. Maybe, maybe not, because there are many great teachers who help many students do well. Do students see how valuable math skills can be? Probably, many do not. If they did, would more students excel in math?
What about the books we are using to teach math? Do they engage the student learners, help the students gain problem solving skills, or do they smother the student with too many problems? I don’t know.
Will the state math standards cause students to do well? You tell me.
What a bunch of dummies. You all forget that the state that is always near the top in math scores (IOWA) doesn't even have CORE Standards.
The CORE is a bunch of hogwash and IOWA figured out that allowing good teachers to ply their trade using good textbooks was more important than all this hot air.
I plan to go before the state school board and lobby on behalf of continous improvement of continuous improvement of the math standards. They are still not where they need to be. Though the math core comittee put in a lot of hard dedicated work, they didn't go about the task in the best way possible. They took the existing standards and modified them rather than taking Singapore standards for primary school and adapting those (or not) for our use. So far as secondary standards are concerned I am advocating we look back to our "standards" in Utah in the 1970's and previously. Having attended secondary school then I have to say they were quite good. I will detail a plan to the school board in Oct 2007 on why and how we can return to where we used to be, (before math education was dumbed down).
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