Wayzata candidate forum avoids debate

On Monday night, the candidates running to represent residents of the Wayzata Public Schools district at the state legislature met in a forum sponsored by the school district's Legislative Action Committee. The district overlaps Minnesota Senate Districts 32, 33, and 43.

I attended the session for SD43, which had about two dozen in the audience. All of the endorsed legislative candidates in SD43 were present: the incumbent Sen. Terri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka) and Republican challenger Norann Dillon (Twitter: @dillon4senate); HD43A incumbent Rep. Sarah Anderson (R-Plymouth) and DFL challenger Audrey Britton; and HD43B incumbent Rep. John Benson and Republican challenger Brian Grogan (Twitter: @bwgrogan).

A forum like this is not a debate. The moderator read questions and allowed all candidates to respond in turn. Afterwords, the audience was invited to ask questions, to which each candidate had a set amount of time to respond. The format seems designed to avoid confrontation, which is probably appropriate for the venue. Still, there were insights if you knew how to listen for them.

Bonoff said early in the forum that education is her top priority. This was an interesting statement in light of Bonoff's response in a recent debate:

"While I speak a lot about education because I serve on the Education Committee and I serve on the Transportation Committee, I think the environment is first and foremost."

Bonoff promoted the idea of "regionalizing the business" of school districts and touted her "shared services" bill. Dillon stated pointed out that while some economies of scale could be had by pooling purchasing for example, districts should be aware of whether such arrangements are voluntary or mandated by the state.

The audience question about early childhood education prompted the most controversy of the evening. While most of the candidates expressed support for early childhood education, it was Grogan and Dillon who had the courage to say that the emperor has no clothes (Dillon's aphorism was, "This dog don't hunt"). Grogan pointed to research revealed by Karen Effrem, governmental relations director for EdWatch, that demonstrates the same or lower academic achievement level for children who enroll in early childhood programs, compared to children who do not. Dillon said that the return on investment must be considered when allocating scarce state revenues to any program, including early childhood education, and questioned the overwhelming ROI cited by Bonoff. Dillon wondered with all of the dollars spent since the 1960s on Head Start and similar programs, why is there still such a large achievement gap?

Although "local control" was a safe point of consensus among the candidates, Bonoff said that there must be some set of uniform academic standards, otherwise there would be a patchwork of curricula in which there could conceivably be schools that teach their students to deny the Holocaust, for example. If you have been reading this blog since its beginning, you probably know that the rub is in who determines the standards (anyone remember Christine Jax?). That is why state academic standards, like state funding, are so politicized. For example, who should decide whether viewpoints critical of evolution or global warming theory should be heard in the schools: the state or local school boards?

Speaking of local control, all of the candidates agreed that unfunded mandates are a problem, but Benson basically said that fully-funded mandates are the solution (example: the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or "special ed") , while Grogan called Benson for removing mandate relief from a bill. The DFL must think that mandates are a problem only until they are fully funded.

I did not have a chance to ask any provocative questions before the forum adjourned, but I had two ready:

• K-12 education funding consumes nearly 50% of the state general fund budget, yet almost no one understands in toto the Minnesota Nightmare of per-pupil formulae, categorical aids, and other minutia that determines the amount of state aid that each local school district receives. What reforms to the funding formula would you support to increase the transparency and fairness of K-12 funding?
• Homeschool and private school parents pay double for education. Would you support tax credits or funding that follows the child to level the playing field for these double-taxed taxpayers, and raise Minnesota's quality of education by increasing competition among education providers?

After the forum adjourned, Grogan commented to me that of the various education forums he participated in, this forum had the best moderator questions and most engaged audience. Effrem, who was also in the audience, shared with me EdWatch's concerns about whether Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer is in agreement with its positions on academic freedom reforms.

How west metro schools stack up

Now that the Minnesota Department of Education has released the 2009 Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments II results, I pored over the high school data to compare the test results among west metro school districts. I added per-pupil spending and enrollment data from School Data Direct to see if I could find any relationships among test data, spending, and district size (the latter two are the most recent published data).

District	Math (11)	Reading (10)	Science (HS)	Per Pupil Spending 05-06	Enrollment 07-08
Hopkins	66.0	84.7	48.1	$10,253.00	7,672
Minnetonka	64.4	92.5	76.0	$8,311.00	7,974
Orono	60.8	92.1	73.9	$7,850.00	2,662
Osseo	41.8	75.9	50.5	$9,287.00	21,859
Robbinsdale	41.7	69.0	43.1	$9,126.00	12,891
Wayzata	71.5	90.5	72.7	$8,189.00	9,990
Minnesota	41.6	74.2	50.0	$9,159.00	840,565

MCA-II scores are not the only indicator of school performance, but they are one way that you can compare all districts in the state. Another is composite ACT scores: students in all of these districts are performing comparably well.

Although Minnetonka, Orono, and Wayzata score above state averages on the MCA-II standardized tests, contrary to what you might expect, they spend significantly less per pupil than the state average. Part of this is due to the fact that these districts receive less money from the state due to, well, politics. One glance at Minnesota School Finance, a primer for legislators on K-12 education finance, confirms this. The funding formula and plethora of categorical aids are ostensibly in place to ensure equal outcomes for all students, but is there a direct link between spending and performance?

It used to be that our independent school districts (and local governments) were funded by local property taxes, until the so-called "Minnesota Miracle" largely shifted these burdens to the state, which collects sales and income taxes. Because sales and income taxes are more sensitive to economic conditions than property taxes, they are subject to wildly varying levels of collection. The system also relocates much accountability from the school district and city hall to the corridors of power at the state capitol.

Although the Minnesota Miracle of wealth redistribution supposedly jibes with Minnesotans' sense of fairness (any law that robs Peter to pay Paul will always have the support of Paul), it has the effect of making government less transparent and responsive to taxpayers.

Not only math is "integrated" in Wayzata district

When I heard this year that the Wayzata School District had recently adopted the textbook, Vocabulary from Classical Roots by Norma Fifer and Nancy Flowers (Educators Publishing Service, Cambridge and Toronto), I was pleased.

I am a technical writer by profession, I love language, and insist that my own children learn to communicate effectively in writing and speech. So the study of Greek and Latin roots seemed to me a back-to-basics, classical approach to English instruction.

I was half right.

Classical Roots does indeed teach word strategies and etymologies, but I can also see how world views are being "integrated" into language arts as they have been in integrated math. These word usage examples are from the Fifer and Flowers Classical Roots book (the boldface word is the vocabulary word being studied):

• The perseverance and hard work of Spanish-speaking Mexican immigrants were responsible for the prosperous economy of the Southwest in the nineteenth century.
• History shows that although men have often expected women to be subservient, many women have resisted domination.
• Historian Elizabeth Longford writes that "as playthings or household slaves, women were distorted the world over."
• During his presidency, Jimmy Carter mediated disagreements between Israel and Egypt.
• Although twice elected prime minister of Great Britian, Sir Winston Churchill was considered an academic mediocrity as a schoolboy.
• Environmentalists say that at this juncture we must protect rain forests around the globe to prevent harmful atmospheric changes.
• Because of stringent budget cuts, some schools could no longer finance programs in music and art.
• The Jamestown settlers were long on visionary schemes but short on funds and common sense.
• The repertoire of folk singer Joan Baez includes songs in both Spanish and English.
• The Mexican rebel Emiliano Zapata advocated the rights of peasant farmers against powerful landlords.
• Recognizing the need to build new schools, the community assented to the higher property tax.
• Although the later works of the English writer John Dunne are sermons and serious religious verse, his youthful creations are witty and profane love poems.
• You profane a mosque by entering it with shoes on.
• Her friends and neighbors in the favelas, or slums, didn't realize that Carolina Maria de Jesus was a literary prodigy whose diary would become Brazil's all-time bestseller.
• Although she was a loyal Republican, her views on taxation differ ideologically from party policy.

We've come a long way from "First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen." These statements may be worthy of debate, but notice how they remain unchallenged since they appear in a language arts, and not a social studies textbook. Is the intent here to teach language, or something else?

Student journalists ready for mainstream media

Liberals and conservatives differ on freedom of the press and speech. Conservatives call a newspaper story that presents both sides of an issue "fair and balanced." Liberals call the same newspaper story "biased."

Some of the writers at the Wayzata High School newspaper, the Trojan Tribune, are already practicing "activist journalism," whereby advancing an agenda takes precedence over informing their readers. In other words, they're ready for the mainstream media.

For example, the op-ed article, "Sex Ed is not educational," stated:

Comprehensive sex education is the only way to see a change in teen behavior. These programs are able to teach teens not only about abstinence, but focus on the fact that teens are already having sex. They state the risk of sexual intercourse like pregnancy and STI's, but also provide information on contraceptives and STI's. Clearly there is no other program that teens could benefit more from. The other option, an abstinence-only program, has been proven to distribute false information. Now why would the government want to fund a sex education program that teaches false information?

The writer alleges that abstinence-only programs have been "proven to distribute false information" — without stating any evidence. This amounts to the liberal's favorite tactic of ad hominem attack on the individual, while avoiding directly addressing the pros and cons of their position. It's a lazy approach. Yes, this is an opinion piece, but substantive evidence of the claim would strengthen the case.

Another article from the Trojan Tribune, "Biased Social Studies textbooks?" is more subtle, but is a prime example of how liberals' preference for censorship over free speech belies their fear of true debate. The article reported without challenge on a slanted Associated Press report of "conservative bias" in social studies textbooks:

New Jersey high-school senior, Matthew LaClair, recently accused his Social Studies textbook of having biased viewpoints.

LaClair said that his AP Government textbook, "American Government," by James Wilson and John Dilulio, showed conservative views on the political topics discussed in the popular textbook. "I just realized from my own knowledge that some of this stuff in the book is just plain wrong,” said LaClair in an interview with Nancy Zuckerbrod of the Associated Press. The topics included global warming, separation of church and state, and praying at school. An excerpt from the textbook said, "Science doesn’t know whether we are experiencing a dangerous level of global warming or how bad the greenhouse effect is, if it exists at all." The latest edition of the textbook, published last year, now says, "Science doesn’t know how bad the greenhouse effect is."

With this "debate is over" approach to newsgathering, the mainstream media will be doing all of the "critical thinking" for our children — if we let them.

The state of integrated math at Wayzata High School

Last week I attended an open forum, conducted by the PTSO, to hear about Wayzata High School's integrated math program. My son is a freshman at Wayzata, who is taking the "regular" integrated track, based on the Core Plus Mathematics Project (CPMP) from Western Michigan University. Wayzata also offers an accelerated or honors track, with the self-esteem neutral moniker of "X" track. In addition, Wayzata offers several other upper-level math courses, including calculus concepts (for those who complete the regular track), Adavanced Placement calculus (for those who complete the X track), Advanced Placement statistics, discrete mathematics, and intro to linear algebra and differential equations. For those who are hungry for more, actual college math is available via the PSEO program, notably the University of Minnesota Talented Youth Mathematics Program (UMTYMP, whimsically known as "UM-tee-ump").

The bulk of the meeting was led by Thomas Kilkelly, head of the math department. Kilkelly seems like a humble guy, but he helpfully started the forum by recounting the highlights of his curriculum vitae. I say helpful because knowing that Kilkelly is apparently one of the top math educators in the country (certainly in the state of Minnesota) put the evening and Wayzata High School's math program in context.

Kilkelly is a mathematician with a teaching degree, rather than a teacher with a few math credits. He also has a couple of years experience at 3M as a chemical engineer, a job he left when he realized how much he wanted to teach math. Since then, he has led the school's Math League teams to championship levels, traveled to Russia to exchange teaching techniques, and grew his department from ten to the current twenty-seven teachers just to meet the student demand for more math classes.

There were roughly forty parents in attendance at the forum, some of whom were engineers and others accomplished in math either in college or in their current jobs. Some are clearly grooming their kids for not only college, but to follow previous Wayzata alums to some of the top science and engineering schools in the country. A show of hands revealed that a sizable majority had concerns about the third-year honors math, known as "3X" at Wayzata.

What is integrated math?

There was some confusion by parents over just what is integrated math. Two things distinguish the integrated math curriculum: topics (algebra, trigonometry, geometry, statistics, etc.) that are revisited repeatedly ("spiraled") over four years, with more advanced material covered at each visit, and applications of mathematics to solve real-world problems (what we used to call "word problems").

There are strengths and weaknesses to this approach. For example, full mastery in any of the topics is not attained until graduation, but students are exposed to all of them early on. Due to the heavy emphasis on application, students rarely wonder, "Why would I want to know this in the real world?" Traditional math students may be better at solving equations but have a harder time figuring out how to solve a real-life problem from physics or finance.

The issue that I have always had with integrated math relates to how social studies are "integrated" into the math curriculum. When a political agenda finds its way into the word problems, is it real-world education or indoctrination? This also can be an issue in other subject areas, to varying degrees.

Curriculum and instruction

Kilkelly cautioned parents to understand the distinction between curriculum and pedagogy (or instruction). Most of the parents seemed to accept, if skeptically, the K-12 integrated math curricula used in the district, but had a tougher time with teaching that seems to skew too far toward constructivism and away from instructivism.

A simple definition of constructivism is where the teacher assigns students a set of problems without presenting the classic algorithm and examples, and leaves them to figure out how to solve the problems. A simple definition of instructivism (also known as direct instruction) is where the teacher, well, teaches a concept with examples, then assigns a set or problems based on the instruction.

Many of the 3X parents in attendance complained that their students were not getting enough instruction; in fact, they are already anticipating that their students will be behind the curve, so to speak, next year in the 4X class.

Technology

There is a debate about the use of calculators in lower grades, but the use of graphing calculators at the high school level seems to have enabled a much higher level of math learning than was possible in the era of graph paper and slide rules (although graph paper, slide rules, and brains were enough to get us to the moon and back several times). Kilkelly asserted that the use of these devices dovetails into the integrated curricula by enabling students to focus on applications and problem solving skills, rather than spending that time counting squares on graph paper.

The proof is in the pudding

There was some discussion about the survey of Wayzata graduates enrolled in colleges and universities, which asked about their college-level math experiences. I summarized the results of this survey on this blog, in "Integrated math: unloved, but is it working?" The study revealed that while integrated math was not popular among Wayzata grads, most reported good grades in their freshman math classes. There was also some discussion about a large group of freshmen from Wayzata (and other high schools) at Winona State University who were routed to a remedial math course after taking an incoming placement exam.

Integrated math is still controversial, but most parents aren't going to start a blog when their kids hit kindergarten and be activists for math education until they're in high school (ahem); they just want what's best for their child. The bottom line for parents seems to be to do what my fellow parents are doing: pay attention to your child's coursework and homework, and be an active partner with the teachers in your child's performance. Learn as much as you can about your child's curriculum and how older siblings of your child's peers are faring in their freshman math courses.

Longer term, if you are concerned enough about our country's leadership in science, technology, finance, economics, and other math-related areas, please participate in your district's curriculum review cycle, and engage your school board and the state (which sets academic standards) about math curriculum.

Further parent-oriented information about math instruction:

NYC HOLD National (Honest Open Logical Decisions on Mathematics Education Reform)

Mathematically Correct

Where's the Math?

Illinois Loop

If you have had any contact with secondary math education (especially in the Wayzata Public Schools), as a student, parent, teacher, administrator, or post-secondary math department faculty, I and my readers would appreciate your comments in the comments section.

History Day

I have had the pleasure of serving as a History Day judge over at Wayzata East Middle School for the past few years. This year I also helped one of the seventh graders at Wayzata West Middle School, a family friend, with his project, which to our delight earned a spot at the regional competition on March 15.

From the National History Day web site:

Each year, more than half a million students, encouraged by thousands of teachers nationwide participate in the NHD contest. Students choose historical topics related to a theme and conduct extensive primary and secondary research through libraries, archives, museums, oral history interviews and historic sites. After analyzing and interpreting their sources and drawing conclusions about their topics’ significance in history, students present their work in original papers, exhibits, performances and documentaries. These products are entered into competitions in the spring at local, state and national levels where they are evaluated by professional historians and educators. The program culminates in a national competition each June held at the University of Maryland at College Park.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, all of this may smack to you of the educational fads of the 1990s designed to minimize academics in the school day, and make learning "fun:" performance-based learning, group learning, discovery learning, lite content, time-consuming, what-did-we-really-learn learning. And I have seen groups of students spend more time on technical issues of PowerPoint, iMovie, and DVD formats, and less time actually learning history.

But what struck me this year about History Day at both middle schools (it's a seventh-grade event in our school district) was the high energy level, the excitement, parental and community involvement, the anticipation, the pride, all over history. I am an advocate for good history education: I served on the citizen panel that wrote the imperfect, though improved, state standards for social studies. So I feel that an event that actually gets kids excited about history can't be all bad.

Something else that I found remarkable was the extensive amount of research that the Internet makes possible. Most student projects I saw were richly illustrated with historic photographs and drawings, gleaned from the Internet. The required bibliographies revealed some Wikipedia citations, but also contemporary newspaper stories (web searches sure beat microfiche searches — remember those?), online encyclopedias, specialized history web sites, and even good old fashioned books. The most ambitious students conducted primary-source interviews and displayed actual artifacts.

Volunteer a few hours of your time next year at your local school to serve as a History Day judge. Your participation will benefit the students, earn you the thanks of teachers, and give you a real appreciation for history education.