Progress Report

I am so pleased to tell you that Dr. Overlander and I met for about 4 hours this afternoon. We are so very fortunate to have a top administrator who really does care. He listened to me as a mom voice all of my concerns for my children and the multitudes of you who have shared your same stories of frustration with me. He heard from many of us today through our meeting. He wanted for me to express to ANY parent that had concerns or questions that he has an open door. He invites calls or emails, and sincerely wants to hear from the parents. He is a good man, and beyond a shadow of the doubt wants to do what is right by our children. He went above and beyond today to hear our concerns and I believe he is committed to making our school the very best it can be.

We are working together to make sure the forum is what you the parents want it to be. So, I ask you...what is it that we are looking to accomplish? Do we want a town hall meeting? Do we want to hear an argument for and one against the new math? Have you had enough of the against argument through this site and want to hear their case now? Do you want to just speak your mind? For me, I want to hear other parents concerns. I want to hear their stories of either successes or failures and learn where the parents want to see this go. I would like to hear how the decision was made and why, to take this math that we had been using as a supplement to our core. I want to know why our 3rd and 4th grades were instructed not to supplement. I want to know why is this curricula good for us, and not good for our neighbors in Columbia who trained us in this new math. I want to know what the elementary school teachers really want. I also want to know that if the majority speaks and we decide, collectively, that this must be changed sooner than later.....how soon can we expect to see that happen? Please let us know so we can decide how to set this forum up and accomplish what we all hope that it will be. We want as many people as possible walking away feeling like they got what they came for. Post a comment and share your thoughts. Our superintendent WANTS to work with us. He wants to meet us where we are and really listen. Please remember that we all want what is best for our kids. We have to work together in achieving those results sooner than later.

TERC Considered An Experiment By The National Research Council

I found these facts to be alarming. I believe that even one year potentially lost to a "trial and error" approach to a math curriculum can potentially put my child at an irreversible deficit in the future. I don't want to lose his/her very formative elementary school years just to learn through test scores in 5-6 years that maybe this curricula change wasn't such a good idea after all. That is what happened to our neighbors in Columbia Public Schools. I do think Investigations and Everyday Math have great supplemental potential to reach that fringe 25% who need a alternative angle to look at different math techniques and provoke a new way to look at a problem. However, with these being such crucial learning years should this be our core curriculum?


For those of you who ask..."Who is the National Research Council":
It is a branch of the National Academies, private nonprofit institutions which has as a goal to further knowledge and advise the federal government.

http://www.theridgewoodblog.blogspot.com/
TERC considered an experiment by the National Research Council
We've been experimented on. The National Research Council concluded that 13 NSF reform math texts in use "essentially have been experiments" (On Evaluating Curricular Effectiveness: p.188). These NSF texts include EverydayMath and TERC Investigations in Number, Data, & Space. The NRC evaluated a total of nineteen curricula and published a book that can be purchased on Amazon.com: On Evaluating Curricular Effectiveness: Judging Quality Of K-12 Mathematics Evaluations, or read painfully online.In the book's conclusion the NRC explains that to first find out if a major investment in an approach is successful and worthwhile is responsible policy. The NRC further notes that the experiment was a success in that it sparked a national debate. Is your child part of this experiment? Do you mind that the measure of success of your little experiment is the sparking of a national debate? What about your kid?The conclusion states: "These 19 curricular projects essentially have been experiments. We owe them a careful reading on their effectiveness. "Demands for evaluation may be cast as a sign of failure, but we would rather stress that this examination is a sign of the success of these programs to engage a country in a scholarly debate on the question of curricular effectiveness and the essential underlying question, What is most important for our youth to learn in their studies in mathematics? "To summarily blame national decline on a set of curricula whose use has a limited market share lacks credibility. "At the same time, to find out if a major investment in an approach is successful and worthwhile is a prime example of responsible policy.In experimentation, success and worthiness are two different measures of experimental value. An experiment can fail and yet be worthy. "The experiments that probably should not be run are those in which it is either impossible to determine if the experiment has failed or it is ensured at the start, by design, that the experiment will succeed. The contribution of the committee is intended to help us ascertain these distinctive outcomes." Do you want your child to be in the experiment? If not, say so. The experiments will continue for as long as parents are willing to put up with it. View the NRC report.

School Board Meeting

I will be addressing the school board on Monday night during the public comment portion of the meeting. For those of you who have any interest in attending that will be on Monday, November 10 at 5:30 pm. It will be held at the Osage Beach Elementary library. This will not be a forum, simply an opportunity to inform the board of our concerns.

Forum Time and Date Set

A forum time and date has been set tentatively for Monday, November 17th at 6:30 pm. I am currently working with our administration to set a place. This will be a very civil, open forum for those of you who have questions and concerns. A place to speak and be heard for those of you who believe that this program is working. The same for those of you who do not. And a place for those of you who just want to show up and formulate your own opinion based on the facts. All of us need to be willing to come with an open mind in an effort to try to keep the most important thing at the center of this dialogue, and that is what is best for our children.

I understand that many of you are very passionate about this issue and have the best interest of your children at heart whether for or against it. With that in mind, I will be moderating the comments from this point on to make sure that this does not become a venue to eternally divide us. I believe that if this math curriculum is really what is best for our students we need to be open. Apparently our administration does, and must have a strong argument. We need to hear their data. If the majority of parents, teachers, and members of our community support it, then it is up to each of us to do what we think is best to supplement our children on our own and support that majority. However, if it turns out that the majority of us don't believe it is the right thing for our children and their futures, then we need to revisit this curriculum immediately to put our children on the right track sooner than later. This is why it is so very important that you and every other parent, teacher, and member of our community show up to become informed either way. I will let you know as soon as we have a location.

Monday PTO Meeting

Dear Camdenton Parents,

I just wanted to give everyone a little update. Several parents attended the PTO meeting tonight. Thank you for those who came to participate in "educating" yourself on what is going on with the Math curriculum. I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Overlander just prior to the meeting. I do believe that the administration has the best interest of our children at heart. I think that communication with parents has been made secondary, thus the reason for the outcry now. We must work with our administrators to see a swift resolution to this issue. They have asked for a forum where YOU the parents and the TEACHERS(if you will....and I understand why you can't if you won't) can be heard and they can present their case. I hope that you all show up and tell every parent,grandparent, guardian, and member of our community that may see our Math as a potential problem now and in the future to SHOW UP! Your opinions do count and the administration wants and needs to hear how you feel. I will keep you posted on where and when this will happen so watch for a time and place. I will post it as soon as I know more.

Also...please know that your comments are appreciated and wanted! I know that many, many of you are frustrated and need an outlet....however, as I noted at the inception of this blog: THIS IS NOT A WITCH HUNT! Please know that everyone wants a positive outcome to this controversy and we all have to work together to see that happen SOONER THAN LATER. We are NOT here to attack individuals, we are here to work together to see a swift resolution.
Thank you for the overwhelming support!

Sincerest Regards,

Stacy

GREAT RESOURCES

Here are some great resources to link to with some excellent perspectives from all over our country with reference to the math our kids are being taught.

The site from Columbia, Missouri shares all newspaper articles, parental insight, links to other awesome resources, and an eloquent illustration of exactly why this new math was so frightening to that school district. Columbia Parents for Real Math: http://www.maththatworks.blogspot.com/

Investigations Math Origins and Articles
*Review of studies touted by TERC(the Investigations Math creator) (the conclusion was the study had .... The California Investigations Math Failure** ...www.oaknorton.com/imathresults13.cfm - 38k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Teach Math Right - Stop "Investigating" in PWCS
PWCS SOL Test Score pass rates FLAT Line under fuzzy math program for 3d Grade ... TERC's Math Investigations curriculum does not support the critical ...www.pwcteachmathright.com/ - 63k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Everyday Math in Stafford County Schools
The children of Stafford County should not be made to suffer from the deficiencies in the Everyday Math reference books, simply because the school district ...www.schoc.org/id56.html - 75k - Cached - Similar pages - Note

Michelle Malkin » Fuzzy math: A nationwide epidemic
Fuzzy math: A nationwide epidemic. By Michelle Malkin • November 28, 2007 09:49 AM. 1em1.jpg My column this week covers the long-fought fuzzy math wars and ...michellemalkin.com/2007/11/28/fuzzy-math-a-nationwide-epidemic/ - 104k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Fuzzy Math « 5 Kids and a Dog
"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building ... Fuzzy WASL math is failing our kids By Val Stevens ...5kidsandadog.wordpress.com/fuzzy-math/ - 28k - Cached - Similar pages -

A Couple of Interesting Points of View....

In an attempt to try to explain what our kids are "trying" to learn....take a look at this dialogue. This was pulled from www.forums.hannity.com called: TERC Investigations In My Kids School--HELP! Be aware, Camdenton Parents, so many of you that I have talked to are all in the same boat! I cannot tell you how many of you shared with me that you are paying for a tutor for your child so they will not fall any further behind, or spending an exaggerated amount of time on just one problem. These are hallmarks of this particular math curriculum not just here, but all over the country. You are not alone!

TERC or Math Investigations is a new way of teaching math. From TERC's web site, "Investigations is a complete K-5 mathematics curriculum, developed at TERC in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is designed to help all children understand the fundamental ideas of number and operations, geometry, data, measurement and early algebra."What Investigations does not do is:Teach times table to children Teach the traditional arithmetic algorithms. Instead children are made to "rote memorize" convoluted and excruciatingly complicated procedures to solve basic addition, subtraction, and multiplication problems. Teach long division at all.In fact, TERC's recommended handbook for teachers called "Beyond Arithmetic" says traditional elementary math must be discarded because it ignores the fact that "today's students have an important tool available to them: the calculator." Yep. The program actually advocates teaching children how to do more complex arithmetic, because it's too hard, in favor of teaching children how to use a calculator. The children's text book includes a huge section on using a calculator and not one worked about long division.This video pretty much sums up the concerns parents have with Investigations. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr1qee-bTZII'd really like to see if any school district has ever been successful in removing Investigations and replacing it with a more acceptable alternative. Thus far I haven't found any.


Taken from the same forum mentioned above:
We had that is our school district, until the parents stood up and really took action, we now have that plus they are moving the old school math back in.In my opinion Investigations is not very parent friendly. It excludes the parents from helping the child at home, because the parents know the old way when 2 + 2 = 4.Investigations is there are more than one way to get to 4, so 2 + 2 doesn't equal 4. This is very confusing and difficult for a child to start to understand the basics of math. My children didn't do well with this, and I ended up having to go to Score learning Center with them at my own cost.Then after Investigations comes estimations, which they learn to round answers off rather then come to the exact answer, again another negative way to teach math.These programs are not being reviewed by parents on the local level prior to implementation. The boards of educations no longer hold curriculum review nights for parents to review materials and discuss potential pros and cons of changes based on fact finding.Now the Teachers Union and Association of School Psychologists tell the districts what to pick. The are implementing broad base changes from the national level, without parents approvals or inputs. This is totally against the National Defense Education Act passed in 1953 by President Eisenhower.

Please leave a comment and share what you are experiencing with your child. Also, please take a look at what others in our district are saying about their experiences.