What the heck is integrated math?

We received this press release from Veritas Academy about an integrated math presentation by Dr. Lawrence Gray, University of Minnesota School of Mathematics. Actually, it was a short trip because I wrote it...

(WAYZATA, MN) The controversy surrounding integrated math, traditional math, and its impact on K-12 students will be discussed at a forum featuring Dr. Lawrence Gray, University of Minnesota School of Mathematics, at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, March 7 at The Hill School in Wayzata.

Integrated math, also known as reform math or new math, was adopted a few years ago in most west metro public schools with mixed results. Although some students benefit from the integrated math approach, others are finding themselves unprepared for college level math -- even if they earned good grades in integrated math programs.

Dr. Gray is the Head of the School of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota. He helped to write the current Minnesota Academic Standards for mathematics. After observing that many college freshmen who took integrated math in high school were struggling with college level math, Dr. Gray researched what is taught in integrated math, and how it is taught. He will help parents to understand how the choice between integrated and traditional math could impact their children's success in college and beyond.

The forum is sponsored by Veritas Academy, a free public charter high school in the western suburbs, opening in the fall of 2005. It will be held 7:00 - 9:00 p.m., Monday, March 7, at The Hill School, 2180 North Shore Drive, Wayzata. For directions call The Hill School at (952) 201-8667. A free-will donation will be taken at the door.

A mom at church yesterday asked me, "What is integrated math?" This presentation is for you and other parents who want to know more about what their kids are being taught, and how.

EDUCATION

Yecke for Congress

Family, friends, press, and Republican party animals crowded into the American Legion on Main Street in Anoka this afternoon to hear Cheri Yecke announce her candidacy for the Minnesota Sixth Congressional District.



I was there, as was a fellow member of the Academic Standards Committee for social studies, a former EdWatch staffer, TPT reporter and Almanac host Eric Eskola, several other press, and about a hundred of Yecke's family and close friends, from inside and outside the Sixth.



Minnesota Department of Education spokesman Bill Walsh showed up to wish his old boss well. And Yecke premiered her new look (a Congressional coiffure!).

Yecke stated during the press conference that education would be an emphasis of hers if elected, and that the No Child Left Behind law needs further "tweaking." Fellow Republican state Sen. Michele Bachmann would certainly be less friendly to NCLB. Yecke pointed out that she is the only candidate for the Sixth District with Washington experience, from her stint in the G. W. Bush administration.

This isn't a political blog per se, but I will say that I count both Yecke and Bachmann as friends, and I have great respect for state Rep. Phil Krinke, also in the race. This sentiment was shared by others at today's event. I hope that the party faithful and the candidates will emerge from the endorsement campaigns having waged a battle of ideas, rather than something uglier. It would be a pity to see these fine public servants (and good individuals) damaged by an internecine fight. Obviously there is an endorsement to be won, and contrasts will have to be made. But as Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment says: "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican."

Now, bring on the Democrats.

UPDATE: Mitch documents the continuing hate speech against conservatives over at City Pages.

POLITICS

Sophie's choice

Cheri Pierson Yecke will toss her hat into the Sixth Congressional District ring on Sunday in Anoka, joining fellow Republican and state Senator Michele Bachmann (R-Stillwater), state Rep. Jim Knobloch (R-St. Cloud), and Jay Esmay in the fray for the Republican Party endorsement.

I along with many other conservatives know and respect Yecke and Bachmann. Both are selfless public servants who have fought the good fight for years, most notably (for readers of this blog and web site) academic-based education reform. Both have fought for Gov. Pawlenty's education reform agenda, highlighted by the Profile of Learning repeal and the creation of replacement academic standards in four subject areas. The endorsing convention and possibly a primary election will present a difficult choice to Sixth District Republicans among these fine candidates (plus any other players to be named later).

May the endorsee be the best candidate to keep this seat in the Republican column; but passionate activists in the Sixth must be ready to unify quickly behind the chosen one against the DFL challenger. This advice is coming from a die-hard, 3:00 a.m. Brian Sullivan delegate who went on help elect Governor Tim Pawlenty.

UPDATE: "The most fiscally conservative Minnesota legislator," Republican state Rep. Phil "Dr. No" Krinke (R-Shoreview), announced his run for the Sixth this afternoon.

POLITICS

Smart people

I love being the dumbest guy in the room (unless I'm giving a presentation or teaching a Kids' College class at Birchview Elementary School in Plymouth). I consider myself fairly well-educated and informed on current events. I know how to research the issues. So when I'm the dumbest guy in the room, it means I have an opportunity to learn, and that's exciting.

It happened at the last Minnesota Organization of Bloggers meeting at Keegan's. It happens at the Capitol and during political conventions. It happens regularly at church. And it happened at Wednesday's crisply-run board meeting of Veritas Academy, a college preparatory, charter high school opening this fall in the Plymouth-Wayzata area.

I have been researching education reform in Minnesota since the end of 1999, and I could learn a lot from the smart guys and gals at the front of the room at the fledgling Veritas Academy. The parents, board members, and consultants have the experience, vision, moxie, and heart to create something new and exciting for the future student body at Veritas.

Take Mark Keller for example, who was formally voted Director of the school at the meeting. Keller is a baby boomer who looks like he could be Sam Elliott's brother. He is a second-generation educator, fifteen-year Stillwater teacher (both the high school and the prison, very interesting story), worked a summer on the Mississippi River (attention Captain Fishsticks), and his wife makes a Vietnamese soup (was it Bo Kho?) to die for. Keller has a winning personality, seemingly boundless energy, a passion for education, and an unabashed enthusiasm for Veritas Academy. With Keller at the helm, it seems that Veritas will be a place of excellence and fun.

EDUCATION, SCHOOL CHOICE

You read it here first

Doug at Bogus Gold hit the blogosphere nail on the head in a recent post:

Which brings to mind one of the things I think the blogosphere is only beginning to scratch the surface of -- doing original reporting.

As you, dear readers, recall, original reporting is what this blog has been about since my first post in July 2003!

Happy Presidents' Day

To honor every president is to honor no president. Which is what Presidents' Day does...Slowly but without question -- and Presidents' Day is only one example -- Americans are forgetting and ignoring the men and events that have made this nation great.
--Lyn Nofziger

For the record:

This holiday [February 21, 2005] is designated as "Washington's Birthday" in section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code, which is the law that specifies holidays for Federal employees. Though other institutions such as state and local governments and private businesses may use other names, it is our policy to always refer to holidays by the names designated in the law.
--U.S. Office of Personnel Management

George Washington, First President of the United States, 1789-1797

• Born: February 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia
  
• Died: December 14, 1799 in Mount Vernon, Virginia

Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States, 1861-1865

• Born: February 12, 1809, in Hodgenville, Hardin County, Kentucky
  
• Died: April 15, 1865, the morning after being shot at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. by John Wilkes Booth.

If your local school district calls today's holiday "Founders Day," ask them why.

UPDATE: Hats off to Power Line for The Big Trunk's 2005 tribute to George Washington.

Birth of a charter school

Last night I attended a parent information meeting about a new charter high school opening in the western suburbs, Veritas Academy. I met the school's newly hired director (principal), but I already knew the woman in charge of recruitment and marketing, Sherokee Ilse. I know Sherokee from the repeal-the-Profile and academic standards efforts. She also works over at the Hill School in Orono, a private non-profit K-8 school.

Veritas Academy will be dedicated to a rigorous, classical, liberal arts, college preparatory curriculum. It will be opening in the fall of 2005 starting with 75-100 9th and 10th graders. Veritas will add 11th grade in 2006 and 12th in 2007. Being a charter school, it will be a public school, meaning no tuition. The school's college prep emphasis also makes it unusual among charter schools.

As a parent, I am attracted to Veritas Academy for many of the same reasons as I would be attracted to Providence Academy or one of the other private schools: a classical knowledge-based liberal arts curriculum, traditional math, Latin, uniforms, smaller class sizes, individual attention. Students will work with the McPhail Center for Music (a plus, my kids play piano) and the Minnetonka Center for the Arts for the visual arts.

Parent meetings will continue through the spring, check out the Veritas Academy web site for the schedule and more information. As I learn more about Veritas, you'll read it here first.

Tuckered out

According to EdWatch, Marc Tucker's appearance at a February 9 private forum for legislators was changed at the last minute and replaced with Dr. William Ouchi, author of the book Making Schools Work: A Revolutionary Plan to Get Your Children the Education They Need. More about Tucker over at Craig Westover's blog in his post about the educational access grants for Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Westover has read Tucker's book Thinking for a Living, and it shivers the Cap'n's timbers.

Evolution of math education

1950

"A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?"

1960

"A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?"

1970

"A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?"

1980

"A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20."

1990

"By cutting down beautiful forest trees, the logger makes $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the forest birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down the trees? (There are no wrong answers.)"

2005

"El hachero vende un camion carga por $100. La cuesta de production es..."

In my sixth grader's math class this week, they are making an oral presentation (with props) in an advertising format that demonstrates percentage discounts. During the preparation and presentation of this performance project, what they are not learning? Does their Connected Math Project curriculum teach how to calculate percentage discounts, sales tax, tips? In an integrated sort of way, but time-consuming performance projects like this advertising presentation really slow down (dumb down) the math.

School choice? You decide.

I don't care what they have to say
It makes no difference anyway
Whatever it is, I'm against it!
No matter what it is
Or who commenced it
I'm against it!

Your proposition may be good
But let's have one thing understood:
Whatever it is, I'm against it!
And even when you've changed it or condensed it
I'm against it!

In the spirit of giving credit where credit is due, hats off to MinnBEST, penned by Minneapolis teacher Michael Boucher, for alerting its readers to a comprehensive source of information about school choice. Not that MinnBEST is in favor of school choice. Our favorite gadfly is against just about everything we support, not unlike Groucho Marx's professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff in the movie Horse Feathers.

The Florida State University School Choice Center is using federal grant money to promote and inform the public about school choice, sort of like the National Science Foundation grants that promote integrated math. MinnBEST accuses the FSU of spreading "misinformation," so rather than telling you what to think, I have provided a link in the right-hand column of this blog for you to decide (look for the heading "Four Non-Blogs").

What works vs. what's "better"

Our friend Craig Westover altered us to a situation Rockford, Illinois that reveals the inner thought processes of progressive educators. Principal Tiffany Parke of Lewis Lemon Global Studies Academy has been punished by her school district for using the direct instruction approach to teaching reading, which emphasizes phonics, rather than the district-approved method of "balanced literacy (whole language)." Never mind that direct instruction raised the school's third graders from the bottom to scoring near the top in statewide reading tests (second only to students at a school for the gifted). Never mind that Lemon Academy was closing the achievement gap (their student body is described by The New York Times as "80 percent nonwhite and 85 percent poor").

Front Page Magazine explains:

Supporters of whole language, by contrast, believe that the acquisition of knowledge is a subjective process. Influenced by John Dewey and his philosophy of Progressive education, they believe that the child must be encouraged to follow his feelings irrespective of the facts, and to have his arbitrary opinions regarded as valid. On this premise, the child is told to treat the whole word as a primary, and to draw his conclusions without the necessity of learning the underlying facts. He is taught this--in spite of the overwhelming evidence, in theory and in practice, that phonics instruction works and whole language does not.

Don't be confused by the facts. Forget what works. Results are irrelevant. The experts know that [balanced literacy/integrated math/insert progressive educational fad of your choice here] is "better." Just ask the kids and their parents in Rockford, Illinois.

Early childhood funding on talk radio

Buzz alert: state funding for early childhood family education (ECFE) and "the 50% crisis" were topics on Joe Soucheray's "Garage Logic" talk radio show on AM 1500 KSTP. Soucheray and his callers often discuss K-12/E-12 education topics on his show: remember the Stillwater Class of 2004 letter? Ed reform activists would do well to tune in (after stopping by the Scholar's Notebook and Minnesota Education Reform News, of course).

A level playing field

"I think the founders of this country had it right in creating public schools to level the playing field for all children."

Craig Westover posted this Saint Paul school district superintendent Pat Harvey quote from the Pioneer Press as part of his discussion of the "education access grant" legislation (bill numbers SF0736/HF0697) sponsored by Sen. David Hann (R-Eden Prairie) and Rep. Mark Buesgens (R-Jordan). The bill aims to level the playing field for poor families in the Minneapolis and St. Paul school districts by enabling them to apply for "education access grants" to send a child to any accredited, non-public Minnesota school of their choice.

Yet Dr. Harvey opposes the bill, calling it "an insult to the students, families and staff in St. Paul. It's a kick in the teeth" and an attack on the St. Paul schools. I surmise from these sentiments that Dr. Harvey would not favor another bill to allow the Minnesota education tax credit to be used for tuition expenses (HF0866/SF0763).

If the purpose of government-funded public education is to perpetuate itself, then these bills could be construed as an "attack," but even then only if they resulted in a mass exodus from the public schools. But this would never happen. As Dr. Harvey herself said, Saint Paul Schools have had "six years of success in raising student achievement, showing dramatic increases among students living in poverty and those who come from homes where English is not spoken as proof that parents don't need vouchers to find quality." And as Minneapolis Schools Chief of Staff Steven Belton said, "The bill seems to me to be a remedy in search of a problem," and he's seen no data that suggest that a public-to-private-school transfer raises student performance. So why not give low-income parents who want it a choice?

(For the record, the founders did not "create" the public schools as we know them today. Public schools as we know them today are a more recent development. But vis-à-vis education, I think that the founders were more concerned with preserving and nurturing our new system of self-government than they were with "leveling the playing field." In particular, equality was not too much of a priority in the southern colonies back then.)

Hooray for Alice Seagren

Since the Saint Paul Pioneer Press does not offer home delivery in the western suburbs, I missed education commissioner Alice Seagren's commentary in last Sunday's PiPress. So here are my belated kudos to Commissioner Seagren for calling Ready4K on its "50%" statistic (see previous post). I have posted the commentary on the Minnesota Education Reform News web site, in case you missed it.

Commissioner Seagren acknowledged that school readiness is a real issue, while scolding activists for manipulating the results of last year's Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) school readiness study and asking parents to call legislators to say they are "scared for our children." So let's address the situation, but leave the fear factor out of it. And what about the $700 million that the state is already spending on ECFE? Dare we ask whether all of this money is being well-spent?

Should we spend additional money to target these at-risk children? Perhaps. But first we need to examine how we are using the $700 million being spent now on child care and preschool programs. We need to be strategic and focused, getting results from the providers who receive these funds to serve our children before we talk of new money for new programs.

Hooray, hooray, hooray.

Behind closed doors

This week, while the mainstream media and the blogosphere are buzzin' with trash talk and debate about vouchers [turn on your permalinks, Craig Westover], Marc Tucker and Pat Harvey will be pitching their vision of "transforming" public schools and schoolchildren to Minnesota legislators behind closed doors.

Tucker, President of the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE); and Harvey, a Marc Tucker disciple and superintendent of the Saint Paul Public Schools, have invited legislators to a series of three private, no media, no staff, 6:00 pm briefings and receptions this month at the Minnesota History Center.

Education reform activists will recognize Tucker as the author of the "Dear Hillary" letter that started us on the road to a federal curriculum (Goals 2000) and Soviet-style polytechnical education (School-to-Work) back during the first Clinton administration. This is where Minnesota's discredited Profile of Learning graduation standards came from. Tucker's presentation on Wednesday, February 9 is entitled "Education and the Economy."

Next Wednesday's forum, "Organizing Schools to Raise Student Achievement" will be presented by Kati Haycock, director at The Education Trust, an organization that believes that "All children will learn at high levels when they are taught to high levels." I can't argue with that.

On February 23, Lauren Resnick will speak on "Improving Classroom Instruction." Resnick is another long-time Tucker collaborator, a partner in his New Standards Project.

Legislators should understand that this Capitol Forum Series was organized by Harvey's Saint Paul Public Schools staff, although the invitation was signed by leadership from the Minnesota House and Senate (except for Minority Leader Dick Day, who was advised that signing this invitation would lend cred to Mr. Tucker, probably not a good thing as far as Republicans are concerned). Harvey has aggressively promoted America's Choice in St. Paul schools, and next week she keynotes Tucker's national conference on America's Choice in Orlando, Florida. In an update to its members, EdWatch said:

The forums are about "transformational" education. As the letter to legislators stated, the forums are about "transformational issues and trends affecting public education today that may have significant impact on into the future." Transformational education is all about changing society, not about educating the student.

Legislators who attend the Capitol Forum Series should ask themselves, what is the correct purpose of education in our state and country? To transmit knowledge and skills, or transform society?

The 50% solution

At church last Sunday, a retired General Mills executive for whom I have the utmost respect invited me to attend a forum on state funding for early childhood programs. I already knew where this was going, since its publicity mentioned the ambiguous "50% of Minnesota's children are unprepared for kindergarten" statistic, but being of open and reasonable mind, I poured myself a cup of coffee, skipped the doughnuts, and took a seat.

My fellow church member presented Minnesota's school readiness/children in poverty state of affairs fairly objectively (except for the 50% statistic stated without citation), but then his guest Jim Skyrms, from West Metro Faith Communities in Action, tilted the morning on a different tack. One member of our congregation asked, given that not increasing spending on early childhood programs is "stupid," why is Governor Pawlenty is not proposing an increase for them in his new budget? He said that he did not know (why not?), but he has an opinion: "He wants to be President."

So our current governor is placing his political ambitions ahead of the welfare of the children of Minnesota? I thought we were here to discuss funding for early childhood education. Great rhetoric to fire up the base for 2006, but this is where he lost me for the rest of the hour.

Families in poverty are a tragedy in Minnesota, even in "rich" areas like the "Gold Coast" of Lake Minnetonka, where I live. Wayzata shoe repairman Bob Fisher recognized this tragedy in 1996, began making his neighbors aware of it, and challenged us all to chip in a little bit more -- and he slept outside in the cold until his goal was met. This year he and his supporters raised more than his $1.25 million goal (after 38 days of sleeping outside). Yet this amount of money is not enough to meet even local needs for a year.

At my church, we built a new wing onto the building to provide an independent nonprofit transitional child care center for welfare-to-work parents, collecting donations to provide scholarships where necessary.

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity provides low-income housing, along with a load of lessons on self-sufficient living, in exchange for a lot of "sweat equity."

Here's a time-tested formula for school readiness that transcends class, race, language, and income, and is immune from budget cuts. Each of these steps is required, and each must be performed in the order shown:

1. Graduate from high school (and optionally college).
2. Get a job.
3. Get married after age 21.
4. Have children.
5. Raise children to repeat these steps.

Clearly government, the private sector, faith-based groups, and others are called to wage the war on poverty. But while figuring out what to do today about the parents who skipped a step or did them out of order (and, tragically, the innocent children who now suffer because of these decisions), shouldn't we also aggressively promote this traditional social order because it works?

"Their minds are in our hands"

With the revised Minnesota early childhood education standards in place to "bring pre-K standards in line with Minnesota's Academic Standards for K-12 education," can state mandates be far behind? We can debate the value of K-12 "systems accountability" tools like standardized testing, five-star report cards, Adequate Yearly Progress, and "failing schools" lists, but wait until the state either mandates age 0-5 education programs ("free" from the $tate of Minne$ota, of course) or holds stay-at-home parents accountable to these standards. Remember the "Their Minds Are in Our Hands" brochure from the old Department of Children, Families, and Learning? If someday early childhood education programs, standards, and assessments are required by law, it's going to take an enlarged education bureaucracy to enforce compliance, and billions of dollars in additional funding for the Department of Education and early childhood education providers. Then the little future taxpayers' minds will truly be in their hands from cradle to grave -- and all that will be left for us parents is to "breed 'em and feed 'em."