Testimony 7-7-2010 at Seattle School Board
Directors, I am Dan Dempsey 7-7-2010
From the Washington State Auditor’s Office report 7-6-10: ….. “Quote”
RESULTS Overarching Conclusion
Our audit found the School Board and executive management must improve oversight of District operations.
We noted several instances in which public assets were [...]
Monthly archives for December, 2012
Seattle School Board must improve ove...
Testimony 7-7-2010 at Seattle School Board
Directors, I am Dan Dempsey 7-7-2010
From the Washington State Auditor’s Office report 7-6-10: ….. “Quote”
RESULTS Overarching Conclusion
Our audit found the School Board and executive management must improve oversight of District operations.
We noted several instances in which public assets were [...]
School Board needs to be Reminded of ...
Although funded almost entirely by taxes levied on or real property, our locally elected board of education in Fairfield is not an agent of the town but, in fact, creature of the state.
Chapter 170 of the state General Statutes establishes the laws creating the board of education. The specific duties of the board of education are outlined in [...]
Administrators owe answers on math ch...
Administrators over the summer very quietly — and apparently without proper approvals — changed the methods by which math is being taught in secondary schools and switched to a new textbook that students are not allowed to take home.
In addition to using a textbook that parents can’t consult, a new teaching method was adopte [...]
Fairfield Parents Demand Answers abou...
Students work in groups to solve word problems, and each student is assigned a role in the solution process, according to CPM’s principles.
The school board is scheduled to hear a presentation and vote on the secondary school mathematics curriculum in April.
But the district has already begun rolling out the CPM methodology and textbook [...]
Singapore Math in Scarsdale Middle Sc...
Scarsdale Middle School Math
Singapore Primary Mathematics
“seeking to inspire lives of contribution through an exemplary public education in the liberal arts tradition”
“The purpose of mathematics education is to nurture an ongoing appreciation, enthusiasm and curiosity for mathematics as all students learn to effectively use mat [...]
Vice Chair Pam Iacono, floated her op...
Encourages parents to ‘preserve the process’ within the schools
Fairfield BOE website, “What Does a BOE Do?
In reaction to open board comment and ensuing questions to Dr. Title, Vice Chair Pam Iacono, floated her opinion that open board comment should be removed “as it allows the superintendent to be ambushed.”
The tension was palpable at Tue [...]
Bringing Singapore Math To Your Schoo...
…even with the difficulties and challenges of using Singapore math in the higher grades, the benefits outweighed the drawbacks.
It is important to consider students’ current state of learning when implementing Singapore math. This is because the level of mathematical rigor in Singapore math is higher than in most U.S. math program [...]
Do Apples = Oranges???
The District has compared the number of Students receiving A’s in Algebra this year versus last. This is an interesting comparison since different tests were administered this year versus last. An administrator with an understanding of math or statistics would realize that this is like saying, “an apple is the same as an orange&# [...]
Fairfield District Leaders are Interp...
A New Kind of Problem: The Common Core Math Standards – by Barry Garelick from The Atlantic
Scroll down to comments: NOTE the Comment by Bill McCallum (one of the authors of the Common Core): William McCallum barrygarelick • 13 days ago
It seems strange to me to be basing a claim on a couple of sentences in a draft document about the [...]
Content Review of CPM Mathematics
Content Review of CPM Mathematics
With regard to mathematics content, this program does not sufficiently addrss the content standards and applicable evaluation criteria to be recommended for adoption.
In summary, most of the program is below the specified standards level and there is too much of an assumption that work will be done in teams.
[...]
Parent are welcomed to comment at BOE...
Board to discuss parents’ concerns about new method for teaching math
-BOE meeting is scheduled for December 11th 7:30 p.m. in the Board of Education Central Office, 501 Kings Highway East.
-The Board of Education welcomes parents sharing information and their own perspectives on matters concerning their children.
-Parents are welcom [...]
MATH PROBLEMS: Why the US Department ...
By David Klein
Specific shortcomings
College Preparatory Math (CPM), a high school program, also requires students to use calculators almost daily. The principal technique in this series is the so-called guess-and-check method, which encourages repeated guessing of answers over the systematic development of standard mathematical techniques. B [...]
Questions asked by Fairfield Parents ...
Yet to be answered from index card submitted the night of the presentation…
How many Connecticut school districts are currently using CPM and what are their standardized tests results? Do their middle school districts have more than two levels of mathematical instruction per grade level?
CPM has been around for 2 decades and has taught [...]
2011 & 2012 SAT scores- Fairfiel...
The following two tables illustrate the ….
In 2011, Fairfield had the lowest average SAT score compared to the surrounding towns. Fairfield’s average SAT score was 112 points lower than the average of the other towns listed. In 2012, Fairfield’s average SAT score dropped steeply. Fairfield’s average SAT score was 1 [...]
Singapore Math: Expect more schools i...
“My students actually have become better math thinkers,” said Scott Sheets, a fifth-grade math teacher at Clays Mill Elementary, which began using Singapore math this year.
As its name indicates, Singapore math was developed in the small southeast Asian nation that bears its name. It has attracted the interest of American educators because st [...]
Singapore Math with successful result...
Davidson called math a fundamental skill connecting to all other types of learning. “Math teaches you how to think,” he said. “I want our students to learn to be great thinkers.”
Singapore Math: Great and Quick Results in California and Kentucky
While Singapore math now is being taught as part of a pilot program in nin [...]
FAIR TV BOE Meeting : Approval of Mat...
APRIL 2012 BOE MEETINGS:
No proper curriculum review process, no pilot results (pilot data became available 3 months after the vote) , just a lot of support from a handful of professional, some not even teachers.
Forward to 1:49:26 to listen to pre-assessment for skill set but not conceptual understanding.
Forward to 1:43:20 to li [...]
FAIR TV BOE Meeting : Math Curriculum...
November 27, 2012 BOE MEETING:
BOE OPEN DISCUSSION about the Secondary Math Curriculum
Forward to 2:15:16 /2:44:38 and listen to several Public Comments by parents
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‘Innovative’ Math, but Ca...
“My whole experience in math the last few years has been a struggle against the program,” Jim said recently. “Whatever I’ve achieved, I’ve achieved in spite of it. Kids do not do better learning math themselves. There’s a reason we go to school, which is that there’s someone smarter than us with somet [...]
Fairfield Minteman: Fairfield’s...
Fairfield Board of Education member Jennifer Maxon Kennelly said she was “appalled,” about some of the things parents were telling the school board regarding the new way in which eighth grade math was being taught.
Sue Brand was first to speak after the parents finished and she asked that the matter be put on the December agenda. She had seve [...]
The Common Core Math Standards
the Common Core defers fluency in division to grade 6. Fractions are touted as the Common Core’s greatest strength, yet the Common Core pushes teaching division of fractions to grade 6 without ever expecting students to master working with a mix of fractions and decimals. Students in Singapore, Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong achieve fluency in f [...]
The Poverty Myth Persists
Want a convenient scapegoat for our problems? Poverty. It’s there, it’s handy.
I sat through an hour meeting of our small school district’s budget committee last week, most of it devoted to bemoaning our fate as a “poor district” (over 60 percent of our kids qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, the standard definition of “poor” for schoo [...]
It’s Not Just Writing: Math Nee...
Today’s fashion is to throw away the textbook and to teach kids to think like mathematicians. The problem? They’re not learning how to do actual math.
This is where reform texts come in. In the early 1990′s, the National Science Foundation awarded grants to various universities and institutions to develop math programs tha [...]
Singapore Math: New Haven Schools Ado...
The New Haven district chose the Singapore approach because it “matches so well” with the Common Core effort. The method is based on a curriculum introduced in 1992 in Singapore’s public schools. Teachers take a slow pace, focusing on thorough understanding of the fundamentals of math, with multiple approaches to the same p [...]
Wilton, CT woke up to Singapore Math ...
Singapore Math Means Hope
First, as a parent, I have been appalled by Chicago math. The “logorythmic spiral” approach described by teachers just never made sense to me. (I can’t think of other areas in life where important skill sets are taught in fragments and where necessary practice and repetition are derided as mindles [...]
Singapore Math Source
Sinapore Math Source- Thinking Through Math- Schools in the News using Singapore Math Curriculum. Look at the states that have adapted the Singapore Math Curriculum http://singaporemathsource.com/curriculum/schools-in-the-news/
Singapore Math:Can It Help Solve Our ...
In 2008, I left the Paterson school district and was hired by Scarsdale Public Schools as one of three district wide Math Helping Teachers to help facilitate the adoption of Singapore Math. Scarsdale is using the Primary Mathematics Standards Edition textbooks. It is interesting to me that Scarsdale, one of highest performing and most innovat [...]
Lower Quartile 2006-11 CMT Mathematic...
Elementary students in grades three through five will have a new math curriculum. In response, Anna Cutaia-Leonard said the school district would like to use a new math text, but now is not the right time because publishing companies are updating textbooks to Common Core Standards. She said the school district would then choose textbooks that [...]
FAIR TV BOE Meeting: Math Curriculum ...