(Even if you don't live in Washington state.) High school calculus teacher Ted Nutting explains why so many of our students are failing to learn math.
The problem is national in scope, but in Washington state our difficulties can be traced principally to Terry Bergeson, superintendent of public instruction for the past 12 years. She oversaw the writing of our state's weak, vague math standards, basing them on a "reform" idea to promote "discovery" learning. This has turned teachers into "facilitators" who "guide" children in learning activities. It has promoted "differentiated instruction," placing students of wildly differing abilities together where some students cannot do the required work, often to the detriment of those who can.
She has moved away from rigorous testing. The "reform" math she champions encourages such things as journals, portfolios and group projects that tend to form large parts of classroom grading systems, while test results are relegated to a lesser role. The math portion of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), aligned to her faulty standards, tests math skills at a low level. Even so, about half our 10th-graders fail it.
If you care about math education, read the whole thing.
Cross posted at Jim Miller on Politics.
(You can find some background on this controversy here, here, and here. In the first of the three posts, I described, briefly, the particular "reform" movement that dominates Washington's schools, "constructivism". You may think, on reading that brief description, that "constructivism" is a joke. But you should know that it is orthodoxy in many education schools.)
Posted by Jim Miller at October 13, 2008 09:33 AM | Email ThisWe went from teaching math, to asking students how they felt about the process of discovering an answer.
If any of you have attempted to help your high school students with their math studies, you will soon discover that the essential nature of instruction has dramatically changed over the years.
When I learned math (and I went on to get a minor in Mathematics), the process was:
a) describe the concept
b) provide examples based on that concept
c) solve problems based on those examples
Today's math textbooks barely describe the concept, the examples are barely there, and the problems have nothing to do with the examples. In fact, you can't solve the homework problems using just the textbook... there's not enough information in them any more.
The process they want you to go through... as best as I can discern ... is to go through a collaborative process in class and outside of class... using your notes along with the school's website.
In my opinion, it's a very, very bad instructional model. My daughter, who works at Central Wash University, tells me that over and over new students coming into college have to take remedial math classes where they DO follow the old-time basics of drill, instruction, and memorization.
We are short-changing a whole generation of students who should be getting at least an adequate level of instruction in Mathematics.
I do not in any way blame the teachers, who have their hands tied and have to teach the curriculum provided. This is a state-wide, bonafide fiasco that needs correction big time.
Mr. Nutting states in the op-ed that North Beach Elementary, on its own with its own money (raised by the PTA, yay PTA) has been using the Saxon math program and their WASL math scores are great. Does the district follow this lead? Nope.
Posted by: westello on October 13, 2008 10:15 AMI approved of that as I think learning a language in the early grades is a good thing. But then he told me that the classes that were being taught in Spanish were science and math!?
So, all over the Earth, science is not only taught, but created and published in English, yet somehow the Seattle School District thought it should not teach Math and Science in English.
When we say "Special Ed" in Washington, we must mean the administrators in Olympia!
Posted by: John Bailo on October 13, 2008 10:22 AMThe basic problem with math vs. our socialistic, union-dominated school system is that some students will struggle and some will even fail at grasping mathematics. The socialist/unionist response is to dumb-down the curriculum and collectivize the teaching methodology, thereby ensuring all will "succeed".
The concept not understood by our educational hierarchy is that 1 X 0 = 0, and likewise 1,000 X 0 still = 0. It is therefore preferable to accept the fact the one cannot grasp mathematics and teach the other 999 the concepts that will allow them to succeed.
Why we have allowed the social engineers and unions to run our schools into the ground, and spend $10,000/student/year, is beyond my understanding.
Posted by: Saltherring on October 13, 2008 10:23 AM
It's not 'relatively easy' to teach, because it requires mental discipline and some hard work on the part of students. And doubly so, because it requires even more of those qualities from the teachers - many of whom didn't do well in school themselves.
Bergeson, apparently, was an early owner of the Barbie "Math Is Hard!" doll, and instead of learning the math Bergeson learned the slogan.
Her promotion of this absurd "discovery learning" is an attempt to penalize the students who do the work, by slowing them down and confusing them, and to give those who can't or won't do the work an excuse for failure. "Discovery learning" is just a form of class warfare built on leftist principles: society should be converted to a game where all must play, but no one is allowed to win and no one is allowed to lose. And the referees are "intellectuals" like Bergeson.
Tar & feathers, boys.
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on October 13, 2008 10:45 AMBut there's no stopping freedom, progress, incentive, motivation, etc. even in a system that attempts to knock every one down to the same level, and indoctrinate kids with Al Gore's propaganda.
Fight back against the collectivist left, at every chance you get, and at every level. And even if our society goes in to a collectivist hell hole, don't let it drag you or your kids down too. Limit television so they don't get indoctrinated with MTV BS. Watch your teachers for BDS and other signs of programming instead of teaching. When you do find a teacher that is spewing lefty talking points instead of teaching, wire your kid, record the scumbag, and get it posted up here at Sound Politics or on YouTube. Expose the left and their techniques, that will be enough to bring them down.
And teach your kid good values of honesty and integrity and to make good independent choices. Teach them how things work in the real world. That there is no free lunch, that the ends don't justify the means, and that the successful and resourceful people look down on bad culture, poor decisions, and the politically indoctrinated whether they admit it or not. Discrimination is a good and proper part of every human judgment. Not based on irrational principles such as color, or political affiliation, but on actions and resume. If a kid worked for an activist left leaning organization like ACORN, don't hire him. Instead hire the hardworking kid who is helping to pay his own way, and knows the value of building his future.
Let your kids see how hard you struggle to run your business, and all of the taxes and regulation you have to fight through. Good kids will come to good conclusions, and move forward as rational independent adults.
Bad kids who come from bad parents who either were not paying attention or condoned constructivism outright, will just become programmed victims of the Bergeson experiment.
Posted by: Jeff B. on October 13, 2008 10:46 AMBut it won't work when successful parents are keeping a watch and making sure that garbage constructivist curriculums are ousted. Tacoma will soon be leading Seattle on all scores, because Tacoma's citizens fought hard to abandon what doesn't work.
And the market works against such constructivist policy as well. Notice how Mathnasiums are springing up everywhere? Successful parents will pay to have their kids get extra math instruction to maintain competitiveness and to assure a future. The market addresses the needs that failed government policy leaves open. And the same will happen if Obama nationalizes healthcare. There ends up being two competing systems, the private, useful, successful, results oriented for-fee system, and the public junk system that everyone knows is not working with long lines and bad service. The poor get hurt the most by such systems, because they can't afford to send their kids to remidial training at Mathnasium. The very people that the Marxists claim to be helping, are the ones that get left behind. And that's what they want, because then they will be gullible enough to remain a reliable indoctrinated voting block for Democrats.
If you just let your kid pinball through the leftist education system, they will end up with some useless liberal arts (emphasis on the liberal) affinity, no real marketable skills, poor math skills, and and aimlessness. They will join the peace corps, or wander around for awhile. Get a job as a barista, etc. And they will wonder why they are unhappy.
Posted by: Jeff B. on October 13, 2008 11:06 AMLook for Ted to be trashed in his community and shunned. How dare he speak out against the WEA. Does he have some sort of peace offering to do penance? If not, he will be intimidated by teachers union goons, or have his career "limited." The left is not interested in results, they are interested in groupthink.
But now smart Ballard residents no where to send their kids for math. Other teachers should speak up as well.
Posted by: Jeff B. on October 13, 2008 11:20 AMMath was one of my favorite subjects. I didn't lose interest until college calculus. I know this stuff cold. The techniques they are using to teach the kids are incredibly confusing and counter intuitive. I can just see a panel of "education experts" coming up with these alternate learning techniques.
Some of the backwards thinking is staggering. I could (and have) go on for hours about "Stem and Leaf Plots" and the more recent placement of the arrow on "End up with", "Beginning" and "Add" tables.
It is not infrequent for me to take a half hour to try to read through the text of the math book to figure out what they are trying to teach my kids. Eventually I come to the light-bulb-over-the-head moment. Shake my head over the my-god-that-is-stupid realization. And help them understand the basic math concept so they can come up with the answer.
Madness.
Hairy
Posted by: Hairy Buddah on October 13, 2008 11:31 AM..."it requires mental discipline and some hard work"...
I would much rather teach math, which is based on fact, than say English composition, which would be much more subjective. Yes, teaching and learning take dedication and discipline, but shouldn't those be elements of a successful learning environment? We've heard enough whining and excuses. Math requires effort and "some hard work" to succeed. So does life.
Posted by: Saltherring on October 13, 2008 11:32 AMSicking!
Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on October 13, 2008 11:38 AMCorrect! Where do you think Obama-worshipping Dimocrats got their "education"?
Posted by: Saltherring on October 13, 2008 11:43 AMWhat scares me even more is the inability of college educated students to understand simple mathematical concepts and do complex arithmetic. I met a student in law school that could not understand percentages and basis points. Amazing.
Posted by: Thomas B. on October 13, 2008 11:47 AMYou know, this is the kind of stuff that got me to get my kids out of public school and into private 8 years ago. At the private school, they were actually TEACHING REAL MATH. And amazingly, the kids there all KNOW HOW TO DO MATH. And several are 2 and 3 years ahead in math, and are encouraged to move ahead as fast as they should in order to be challenged. A half dozen or so of the 10th graders last year were taking AP Calculus AB.
Who knew?
Posted by: Michele on October 13, 2008 12:51 PMI would much rather teach math, which is based on fact, than say English composition, which would be much more subjective.
And more power to your making that choice. It's great that you have the option.
The kids in those miserable "discovery learning" schools aren't given such choices re math classes, nor are their parents. But I'm digressing - I'd rather rant about English composition.
Yes, it's subjective in its subject matter (the whole object of literature, bar amusement or entertainment, is to examine how people should live in society). That's why 'liberals' prefer it - one can pervert the implied morals in it to preach one viewpoint at the expense of all others. But it's far easier for a student to game the composition classes simply to develop a line of BS, than it is to game a math class. As you noticed, a clearly enough expressed math problem has usually one correct answer, not a series of "but on the other hand" verbiage.
In the PC world, all those other hands must be considered equal too, so how's a grade to be issued other than on the glibidity of the BS?
There's one place where the form of English composition is more valuable than the content, and that's where grammar and clear expression, in whatever viewpoint is pursued, enter the picture. I'd call those items as logical and important to a student's future as the general run of math classes - and I explicitly separate them from simply developing a line of BS. I should hope that English teachers are as rigorous in teaching those concepts as any math teacher (although I myself hated the idea, way back when, and only learned differently after a lot of hard experience).
Any student can absorb talking points for regurgitation on tests ('environmental sustainability' is a killer for good grades), but for a student to work out and express an original idea, grammar and clear expression are essential. It's those original ideas that should be cultivated. Otherwise all you hear are approximate copies of teacher indoctrination spiels.
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on October 13, 2008 12:59 PMx + y = 2
What is the value of y?
Posted by: John Bailo on October 13, 2008 01:04 PMThe problem is that in many districts the power of the teachers' union is put into the hands of some soft veteran teachers who absolutely do not believe in 'grouping' students according to their abilities - they believe it is unfair.
It becomes the district's responsibily through the school boards and administration to make sure that the correct policy is laid out, forcing regular levels testing and grouping students according to their need.
The opinion laid out by a calculus teacher doesn't really fit the problem, the opinion should be laid out by elementary teachers because that is where this issue lies. By the time the kids are in Algebra, they are already being grouped, the problem is getting them to the algebra point.
Posted by: Doug on October 13, 2008 01:47 PMThe good teachers do deserve more pay, but all the money gets burned up in the WEA union and in administrator salaries and Begeson's indoctrination training camps. If education budget money were actually applied to the product, (the teachers) and they were hired and fired quickly based on their merits instead of being protected by unions, then there would be plenty of money to pay teachers accordingly, and the competition would assure good teachers and create a vibrant market for teaching, just like at private sector high-tech jobs.
Instead, most of the money is drained by the unions, overhead waste, etc. WA students charge the taxpayers about 12 grand per year, per student. For that money, you can buy a great education in the private sector, and if the $12K was used properly, teachers could be paid well, creating a vibrant educational system.
But that's not what Bergeson, and the rest of the WEA Marxists want. They want low pay union captives, who won't question as they are given the indoctrination lesson plans from on high.
Posted by: Jeff B. on October 13, 2008 04:40 PMThe "Core Curriculum" uses a series of small, paperback books filled with classroom activities designed to help students discover the key concepts. This approach may work for very gifted math students, but for everyone else, not so much. Drill and practice (which I know from personal experience is a very effective tool) has been discarded in favor of something else, but I'm not sure what it is. When the unit is completed, the books are exchanged for the next unit.
At first, I though that was a serious problem...I mean, how could the students possibly use the books as a reference if they had to hand them in. My daughter explained to me that the books couldn't be used as a reference anyway. They contained no examples or practice problems, just classroom activities. I was gobsmacked! To compensate for the lack of examples in the books, the students were given "tool kits" which were photocopied sheets with examples for various important concepts. The sheets were handed out looseleaf and the students were supposed to figure out the best way to organize them on their own.
Another issue was that students who could not immediately grasp the "point" of an activity/lesson/unit, spent valuable time learning irrelevant material that was only periperally important and would never be tested.
When my daughter finally exited the Core curriculum (or touchy-feely math, as she called it), she was ecstatic. She brought her pre-calc textbook home to show me with the comment, "Look! Real problems!"
Last year her calculus teacher told the class they were the "weakest" class in algebra that she had ever had. I'm not sure, but I believe her class may be the first to have endured the type of watered down, politically correct curriculum beginning in kindergarten.
It's not fair, though, to blame the teachers, some of whom are going above and beyond the call of duty to try to teach math. I know some of the teachers at my daughter's high school teach almost solely off of handouts that they've developed on their own in a valiant attempt to actually teach some math. Most of the teachers in the classroom are just stuck with the curriculum they're given. And at the grade school level, many of the young teachers don't know enough about math themselves (products of the system) to be able to supplement.
Posted by: Paula on October 13, 2008 06:45 PMWe went to a to a used book store and found these terrific old books:
Core Mathematics
by John F Leslie and Larry L Whitworth
Community College of Allegheny County
Scott, Foresman and Company
Published1970 Library of Congress Catalog number 70-96461
From the preface:
This book is intended as a real life, dollars and cents presentation of basic, practical arithmatic, along with some fundamental concepts of algebra and geometry. It has been written especially for students who need to review the fundamentals of mathematics. Thus the text includes numerous problems and examples.
Grammar and Composition
Prentice Hall
First Publication 1982, 1985, 1987, 1990
ISBN 0137118546
These are no BS book that give your kids the BASICS their school aren't giving them. They are terrific resources.
We actually have 2 of the grammar books... and we will not part with them for anything... they WILL remain on our bookshelves to be used by our future grandchildren
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on October 13, 2008 08:19 PMJust a reminder... This federal department of education has only been around since the Carter Administration. Has it helped? Why no calls for its repeal then?
Posted by: lysander on October 13, 2008 09:40 PMSo much for asking for our input, when in reality, they had already made their choice.
We were told that we had to be in line with what Terry Bergeson was pushing which is 'discovery ' math.
I don't blame the teachers for this. I blame Bergeson! I saw many teachers fighting to get rid of this math- at least the older teachers. The younger teachers seam to be brainwashed.
Also in my district, as with most others, every job opening for math teachers had a clause that stated that the teacher must be willing to teach with reform curricula. So teachers have no choice in what curricula they use.
Teachers and parents can't get away from it. Terry Bergeson has wasted millions of dollars on this.
This math fiasco alone, is reason to boot Terry Bergeson out of office. Lets not forget that she had two chances to fix the math and she blew it.
Posted by: Agent 99 on October 13, 2008 10:16 PMYes I do a very similar thing. My students work together in collaboration to investigate and explore the key concepts inherent to understanding the fundamental issues around the challenges they encounter in mathematics discovery sessions.
We participate in group song to bring up our spirits in this endeavor:
The sun will come out, tomorrow, tomorrow.
Bet you that Obama is, the chosen one.
Obama. Obama. I love you, Obama! Your election is just a few days away!
Posted by: Touchy Feely Math on October 14, 2008 07:05 AMHomework...don't get me started.
Posted by: Paula on October 14, 2008 09:39 AMLest your post go unnoticed: bravo.
Posted by: Zeeb on October 14, 2008 04:06 PM@35: Trying to pin this on the WEA is a fool's errand. The WEA didn't write the Math EALRs--OSPI did. The WEA didn't move away from EALRs to GLEs, invalidating all the curriculum in place at the time--that's on OSPI, too. I've got a meeting tomorrow at my district office to re-do our report cards to make them fit the new GLCEs, yet another change. That's all on Bergeson.
@33: A couple of important points in there. #1 is that discovery math is what's taught at most of the Education Schools around, and that needs to be changed. #2 is that curriculum is a district prerogative; as a union rep I can chip my teeth about it, but not much more.
Posted by: Ryan on October 14, 2008 09:45 PMMy daughter (a product of our school district's gifted education program) is a senior in high school and if I weren't a stickler for this stuff, she would not know the parts of speech, the difference between a clause and a phrase or any reason to insert a comma into a sentence other than "natural pause." And I ask you, what the heck is that supposed to mean?
What ever happened to diagramming sentences and memorizing prepositions? They've apparently gone the way of drill and practice mathematics. Not only is the education system doing it's best to ensure that our kids never have an original thought, they want to make sure that - God forbid! - if they do have one, they won't be able to communicate it effectively.
And this is in no way intended as a slam against teachers. I respect teachers; they do a tough job that I wouldn't be willing to do. Bergeson et al., not so much.
Posted by: Paula on October 15, 2008 02:16 PMYes, but he can probably sleep at night. A clear conscience will do that!
Posted by: PeggyU on October 16, 2008 09:57 AMTerry Bergeson picks the curriculum that will be on the approved list, and as far as math goes, it is all discovery. What is a teacher to do, other than to try and get Bergeson out of office.
Many older teachers still have curricula from the good ol' days like Saxon, and they sneak it in to supplement, but new teachers have no access to this.
Posted by: Whole Lotta Rosie on October 17, 2008 09:50 AM