Common Core “College Ready” Standards Inadequate

Several months ago the National Governor’s Association, as part of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, issued a draft of it’s “College Readiness” standards. These standards claim to provide the essential mathematical skills necessary for High School students to move onto college level mathematics courses.

Unfortunately, the standards do nothing of the sort. They fail to provide any standards for high mathematical competencies necessary for students to compete for and obtain degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM). Furthermore, the “College Ready” standards fail to address mastery of numerous Algebra II and Geometry topics which are necessary for inclusion in non-STEM fields at many Colleges and Universities across this country.

According to the US Coalition for World Class Math, “This omission of significant portions of essential Algebra II and Geometry content renders the Common Core Standards inadequate for students who will enter undergraduate programs in STEM or even non-STEM disciplines in much of the country.” The Coalition encourages the states participating in the Common Core Initiative (and this includes Virginia) to refrain from adopting the “College-Readiness” Standards until they have adequately identified the content required for success in credit-bearing mathematics courses in their state universities.

You can find the US Coalition’s full review of the “College Ready” standards here.

Seems the Teach Math Right Petition was Correct….

The Teach Math Right petition states the following as documented deficiencies of TERC Investigations:

DOCUMENTED DEFICIENCIES OF “Investigations”:

• DOES NOT teach proven standard, simple efficient and effective methods of solving mathematics problems.
• DOES NOT promote mastery of basic arithmetic facts.
• DOES NOT teach mastery of multiplication tables.
• DOES NOT teach simple long division.
• DOES NOT provide sufficient practice for children to master math concepts and applications.
• DOES overemphasize the use of calculators.
• DOES rely on “group think” and “discovery” by children vice individual mastery through teacher instruction and quality materials.
• DOES progress at a remedial pace.

Even now the PWCS Math site contains a document claiming that these statements are false.  Yet again, however, the facts show that statements made in the petition drafted by Greg Barlow are absolutely TRUE.

Lets’ look at those points one by one.

DOES NOT teach proven standard, simple efficient and effective methods of solving mathematics problems

This is True.  The standard algorithms are not taught.  They’re each covered in one 75 minute session which even the authors of TERC admit amount to “study” , but they aren’t taught.  Certainly not to fluency or even close mastery.

DOES NOT promote mastery of basic arithmetic facts

True. Just ask any local 1st grader what 15 – 8 is.

DOES NOT teach mastery of multiplication tables.

True. Just ask the parents who just got the division letter.

DOES NOT teach simple long division.

True. TERC admits that long division is not included in the program. PWCS has added long division as a single 75 minute supplementary lesson in 5th grade. Anyone want to bet how many students will understand long division after that lesson? Yet I’m quite sure the PWCS math staff will claim that that one lesson teaches long division to mastery. Heck – if the kids spend 2 weeks skip counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s in 2nd grade I’m sure one day with long division is sufficient (that was sarcasm).

DOES NOT provide sufficient practice for children to master math concepts and applications.

True. Clearly, if sufficient practice had been allocated to learning concepts and applications then 5th graders wouldn’t be struggling with their division facts.

DOES overemphasize the use of calculators.

True. See our previous articles here and here.

DOES rely on “group think” and “discovery” by children vice individual mastery through teacher instruction and quality materials

Know what you get when four 2nd graders attempt to figure out the number line for subtraction? Four 2nd graders who don’t know how to subtract.

DOES progress at a remedial pace

Sticker math. Need I say more?

There are so many instances of lies and misrepresentations by PWCS officials that it’s almost laughable. Almost, because these are the people who are supposed to be providing the programs our kids follow.

You can still sign the petition, here, or send an email, here, or, better yet, come to a board meeting and let the school board know how you feel.

TERC Investigations Doesn’t “Do” Division

One of TERC Investigations many shortfalls is the fact that it just doesn’t teach division well.  In fact, it barely teaches division at all.  The division materials covered in 5th grade are all largely supplemental.  Long division, by the way, is covered in a single 75 minute class. PWCS must be extremely thankful that calculators are allowed on the SOL exam in 5th grade.

Over the weekend we began hearing reports of an interesting letter sent home to parents of PWCS 5th grade students.  The letter states the following:

Parents,

Today your child took the attached assessment on basic division facts.  They were given 2 minutes to complete as may problems as they could.  After 2 minutes, I had them switch to a pen and complete the remaining problems.  Please talk with your child about how they did.  I would like you to discuss where there are strengths and weaknesses in your child’s division.  Please develop a plan for improvement with your child below.

I_________________________(child’s name), with the support of my parents, plan to

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________.

to learn my basic division facts.

Student Signature_________________________________

Parents Signature_________________________________

Please return this completed form on XXXX

Know what?  Division facts (like 81 / 9) are basic core competencies our children should have acquired and mastered in 3rd grade – according to the state standards of learning and the PWCS curriculum.  It is inexcusable for any child to still be struggling with his or her division facts in 5th grade.

This ought to be warning sign to any parents with children in PWCS or any school district that follows TERC Investigations.  After close to 6 years of TERC your child will not be able to complete the simple arithmatic  expected of a 3rd grader.  If you want your children to be able to complete a college level mathematics class, or even remotely envision a future in a math dependent field for them, then you need to hire a math tutor or start teaching math at home.

Merit Pay – In PWCS?!

Merit pay may be rearing it’s ugly head in PWC schools.

An effort is currently underway in PWCS to revise the manner in which teachers are assessed and compensated.  The committee meeting to develop the revised performance plan will be presenting it’s recommendations to the school board later this Winter.  One widely rumored aspect of that program is implementing a Merit Pay system.

Merit Pay is one of those things that sounds great on paper and can be highly effective if done properly.  But it’s rarely done properly and is so heavily subject to bias that it generally fails.

School Overcrowding is Good – At Least in PWC

It seems like Avendale, the proposed 300 – 500 home development in the rural crescent in Bristow, is back on the schedule for the PWC BOCS.

Our previous article, Let’s Cram More Kids Into Overcrowded Schools, discusses the development in more detail.

For families in the Bristow / Gainesville area this is a big deal. Our children have never attended schools that weren’t severely overcrowded. The local high school had to rent a bathroom trailer because there were so many kids and so few bathrooms that the school was violating health codes. Recess is rationed at the elementary schools, the hallways are jammed. It can take 5 minutes to walk from the entrance of the elementary school to the classrooms at the start of the day. One local elementary school, which has been overcrowded for more than 9 years, is literally out of space for trailers and two more are expected next year.

Let’s Cram More Kids Into Overcrowded Schools

I’ve lived in Prince William County for most of my adult life. For some reason this county always seems to make really stupid planning decisions. Like over building in one part of the county without having the services like  fire and rescue and schools to support the populations moving in. And we never seem to learn from our mistakes. Take the west end of the county in the Bristow / Nokesville / Gainesville area.

Bristow was point zero in the rapid development that’s been going on in Prince William for the past 10 years. With a VRE stop just a few miles away and easily accessible, and property values that are generally 10’s of thousands of dollars lower than in Fairfax and Loudon, growing families just starting out with young children flocked to the area.

The net effect – extremely overcrowded schools. The four most overcrowded Elementary Schools, the 1st and 2nd most overcrowded Middle Schools, and the 1st and 2nd most overcrowded High Schools all fall within 10 – 15 miles of one another in this area of the county. Several developments in the area aren’t complete, like Morris Farms and New Bristow Village, and several others have already been approved but haven’t started construction yet (like Mayfield Trace). And the county wants to add 300 – 500 more houses to the mix with a brand new development called Avendale.

More on PWC 2009 SOL Scores

The state breaks SOL rates into a number of categories – All, Male and Female, LEP and Not LEP, Economically Disadvantaged and Not Economically Disadvantaged, and others.

Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students are required to take the Math SOL and to have their scores aggregated into the overall (All) scores for the school they attend. LEP student’s scores are not aggregated for English, Science, or History. Because so much of the exam is language dependent, the state allows school districts to use an alternate assessment, the VGLA, for some LEP students.

About 76.5% of PWC elementary students are English proficient while 23.5% have limited english proficiency (LEP).  In the Spring of 2009 PWCS increased the percentage of LEP students tested with the VGLA. Because of the increased use of the VGLA and the shifting LEP population at some schools, it is difficult to note trends in pass or advanced rates when examining the overall rates for a given school.

In order to  eliminate that variability, rather than examine the overall rates for PWC, we examined pass and advanced pass rates for the English Proficient and LEP students as separate populations. We looked at pass and advanced pass rates for those populations on a year by year basis to see if we could spot trends and on a cohort, or class, basis.  We also compared PWC’s rates to those state-wide and in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties to see if trends were unique to PWC or occurring in our neighboring jurisdictions.

Our analysis is below.

Calculators, for Kindergarten Kids, in VA?

If you’re wondering what to get your 5 year old this year for Christmas or his / her birthday, you might want to consider a calculator.    In Virginia calculators are a major part of our elementary mathematics curriculum,  starting in Kindergarten.

Yes, Kindergarten.

Pay for Play – In PWC High Schools?

Time to End “Pay-To-Play” in PWCS

Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, Kleenex and poster board – what do these have to do with academic success in high school?

A lot more than you may think for children in PWCS.  To cope with the effects of budget cuts resulting in things like increased class sizes and lack of textbooks for students, our teachers have been forced to beg for basic school supplies.   One rather shocking tactic – earn extra credit if you bring in supplies your teacher needs.  And this isn’t supplies just for your child like a scientific calculator or a T-Square – it’s stuff like copier paper, toilet paper, and paper towels.

Got 5th graders? Better Get a Calculator

If you have a 5th grade student in PWC,  you better make sure he /she has a calculator.  Because the PWCS Investigations based curriculum for grade 5 is all about calculators.