Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter
Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter
|
|
 |
CAT Tracks for September 19, 2006
FUZZY OUTLOOK |
The folks at IL Loop recap a "slew of new articles" concerning the "announced" shift by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics back to traditional math after years of pushing "fuzzy math". (From some of the comments, it appears that the IL Loop is maintaining a skeptical attitude towards the sincerity of the NCTM...
After the surprise report from the NCTM last week about restoring an emphasis on the basics in math, there are a slew of new articles, responses and follow-ups:
1) The city of Tacoma is desperate to fix poor math scores, and they've decided to address the problem by -- gasp! -- actually teaching math:
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/tacoma/story/6102182p-5347647c.html
The News Tribune (Tacoma, WA)
New Math Textbooks In Classes
2) Here's the link again to the article in the Wall Street Journal which broke the NCTM story:
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB115802278519360136-lMyQjAxMDE2NTE4MjAxMjIyWj.html
Wall Street Journal
September 12, 2006; Page A1
Arithmetic Problem:
3) Syndicated columnist Debra J. Saunders, who has written many times over the years about the constructivist swamp in our schools, provides a valuable recap and perspective on the NCTM announcement:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DebraJSaunders/2006/09/14/fuzzy_memory_on_fuzzy_math
Fuzzy memory on fuzzy math
4) Andrew Wolf of the New York Sun has also written about fuzzy-wuzzy schools, including our own "Rockford Reading Disaster." Last week, he praised the NCTM news, but expressed fears about whether the news would work its way down to repaired classroom practices. The problem, he says, "is simply because there are too many adults who put their own interests ahead of those of the children." He concludes, "Meanwhile, a Mathematics Advisory Panel appointed by Mr. Bush has begun its work, which is widely expected to debunk "fuzzy math" and all of its implications. I suspect that the action this week by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is a preemptive strike, designed to lessen the stigma of being blamed for America's sorry performance in math on the international stage - and the resulting decline in our economic stature."
http://www.nysun.com/article/39711
New York Sun
Turnaround In the Math Wars
5) Education Week published on the web a lengthy article about the new NCTM "Focal Points", covering both fuzzy-math constructivists and mastery-math reformers. Of concern are statements by the NCTM director that hardly seem contrite at all: "Fennell disputed the suggestion that the Focal Points document represents a shift in the NCTM'S approach. He said his organization has always recognized the importance of building students' ability to memorize certain basic math facts and procedures. "If that wasn't clear before, [we're] saying that now," he said."
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2006/09/12/03nctm_web.h26.html?qs=Focal+Points
Education Week
NCTM Issues New Guidelines to Help Schools Home In on the Essentials of Math
6) Here's the New York Times news article on the announcement.
The New York Times
Report Urges Changes in the Teaching of Math in U.S. Schools
7) The New York Times also ran this editorial on the NCTM reversal, with a tip of the hat to Singapore:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/opinion/18mon2.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
New York Times, September 18, 2006
Editorial
8) Warnings to be skeptical: Before we become too overjoyed, there also have been many warnings in the discussion group that the NCTM statement may have more to do with spin than substance.
Here are some quotes and excerpts:
"Yup, [Fennell is] covering his ass to save his face. They may not have conceded enough, but they gave an inch and we should try to talk like it's a mile."
"NCTM president Skip Fennell (who doesn't like talk of math wars) is playing down the degree of change? Hmmm. He says the report does not take a stand on instructional approach, allowing teachers to use whatever works including calculators? Thats not good either. ... Meanwhile, I've already seen one NYC Everyday Math supporters' response to the WSJ report on the new Focal Points and in her response there's nothing even close to an indication of common ground reached. Rather it contains many claims that what they are teaching is good and aligned with the new document and of course - the suggestion that somehow parents just don't understand."
"There is a case for long term optimism in this report. I don't think of the report as being transformative, but it's a nice crack to be exploited. Thanks to Jim, et al for helping to create the crack. For those of us in cold climes, we know that even tiny cracks can become crevasses with time. Perhaps the national math panel can help to widen the crack. In fact, I wonder if the NCTM wasn't getting out in front of what they expected to be the sense of the math panel."
"Any way the Focal Points can be used to help schools/districts adopt Singapore Math, Saxon or other good programs, instead of having them denied because they don't meet standards? It would be nice to make lemonade from lemons. (Sorry I'm not more excited about the Focal Points.)"
"I think the Focal Points are a step in the right direction but only a step. They are not strong enough to suit me, but I think it's right to be positive about them."
"The problem is the programs and not the documents. Those facing bad programs now may get some supplementation but no real improvement. The supplementation will raise scores a tiny bit and . . . well, we know the rest of the story. At best, and this is what I hope for, in districts and schools still deciding, they may choose to hold off a little while or try something else. There's an awful lot of inertia here, and awful lot of damage in place."
"I think the way to play this is to act like we're in agreement. They have finally begun to give in to public outcry. So yes, WE state, they now agree with us that students should know standard algorithms and math facts. ... In other words, we loudly declare victory wherever and whenever that will help. We point out that their document claims it's to guide future program development; therefore their old programs (like TERC) don't meet the new focus. Gosh, we claim, they finally see it our way. Gosh, they claim, how can anyone think they ever thought differently?"
"One of the most significant and helpful points, I think, is that they acknowledged Milgram, Askey, Wilson, Sagher, etc. in their own document. Those of us who lack credentials as mathematicians or teachers will find that tremendously valuable. I thank my lucky stars for this alone: Now when I want to quote one of these folks (with permission, of course), I can say something like: Jim Milgram - you know, one of the authors of the Common Ground document and the same Jim Milgram who helped the NCTM with their 'Focal Points' report - well *he* says 'quick recall' means..." and they will have a much harder time trying to make *me* look like the extremist if they want to discount this view."
"In my experience, one of the driving forces for bad education of all sorts is the desire to be "cutting edge." Maybe you can help them see that, despite whatever spin might be applied, this is the beginning of the end for fuzzy math, and continuing on for another adoption would be tantamount to leaving your kids behind while the rest of the country abandons this approach and moves on."
I liked this exhortation for accepting our victory with grace:
"Surely this is a step in the right direction - the biggest step we could realistically hope for in a single bound. I think civility on our part (at a minimum) is the reaction most likely to encourage future additional steps in the right direction. There is no way we are ever going to win this overnight and I for one intend to savor the moment."
9) Finally, our own Dave Ziffer is also not convinced that the NCTM means what the headlines said it means:
Dear Loop: I am sure that everyone would love to believe that some sense of sanity has returned to our national education bureaucracy, as evidenced by the NCTM's recent statements, which appear to recommend some sort of return to mathematical sanity. I urge all of you not to be fooled.
First, if you want to fully understand the NCTM's direct and unquestionably informed participation in the implementation of the insane math curricula in your children's classrooms, you need to read this piece:
http://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/AHistory.html
The NCTM is trying to retain some shred of credibility at this point by claiming that its past recommendations were somehow misunderstood by nameless others (presumably including the U.S. Department of Education, our state boards, local school boards, superintendents, curriculum directors, principals and teachers). If that is true then I heartily endorse the firing of all those people, who despite their "professional" status apparently couldn't figure out what ordinary sane "non-professional" concerned parents have understood fully since the NCTM made its intentions public in 1989. But of course that won't happen. The NCTM is simply using the shopworn but successful ruse of passing blame on to unnamed others who, being unnamed, cannot be punished for their phenomenal incompetence. So nobody, including the NCTM, gets punished.
What the NCTM is really doing is the same thing that the International Reading Association (IRA) did in 2000. The IRA was and is one of the primary promoters of the catastrophic "whole language" ideology (the other promoter being the National Council of Teachers of English [NCTE]). What the IRA realized in 2000 was that there was no point in continuing its obnoxious in-your-face opposition to parents nationwide. The IRA figured out that if you are going to undermine the will of the public, it is best to do it quietly. The IRA's strategy has worked very nicely. The leadership of the IRA today is every bit as frothing-at-the-mouth extreme as it was in 1999, but today nobody is paying attention. The IRA and its associates repackaged the openly revolutionary "whole language" as "balanced literacy". There's little change in the curriculum, but IRA members no longer openly kick the public in the face with their beliefs. Instead they quietly implement them in the classroom, as before, with a new name that sounds conciliatory.
The leadership ranks of the NCTM and the NSF are populated with radical extremist idealogues. They have been forcing their lunacy on all of us for decades. They formalized it with their 1989 publication of NCTM standards. They reinforced it through their 1999 creation and endorsement of the U.S. Department of Education's "Exemplary" list. They fought for it when they objected to the "Mathematically Correct" retaliation against this list (see http://www.mathematicallycorrect.com/riley.htm). There were no misguided intermediaries involved here. The NCTM and NSF knew perfectly well what they were promoting, and they promoted it very directly.
The NCTM and NSF, like their buddy organizations (NCTE, IRA, NAEYC, NCATE, ASCD, etc.) are extremely powerful, utterly destructive organizations whose agendas are to ride roughshod over parental concerns in order to implement an utterly new and unworkable educational world order based on their maniacal belief systems. They survive and thrive because they, their leadership, and their membership face essentially no public accountability. The sooner we trash the system that empowers them, the better.
Dave Ziffer
P.S. Does it ever strike you as incredible that a set of organizations of supposed "professionals" that have been so completely wrong about so many things for so many decades manage to somehow still enjoy enough credibility that anyone, anywhere, still cares about anything they say?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
More traditional Saxon Math materials hit Tacoma for start of school
New Report Urges Return to Basics In Teaching Math
Critics of 'Fuzzy' Methods Cheer Educators' Findings;
Drills Without Calculators
Taking Cues From Singapore
By JOHN HECHINGER
By Debra J. Saunders
September 14, 2006
September 15, 2006
by Andrew Wolf
September 12, 2006
by Sean Cavanagh
September 13, 2006
by Tamar Lewin
Teaching Math, Singapore Style
Batavia, IL
The Illinois Loop
http://www.illinoisloop.org/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
