Updated January 1, 2013 9:25 AM
Attention all residents of Mt. Lebanon. This affects all of us. As one wrote on the petition:
"For all of the Mt. Lebo families - even if you don't have kids in school anymore, this is an important issue that will affect the quality education that Mt Lebanon has been known for."
If it gets out that parents are dissatisfied with their children's education, we're toast. Contrary to popular belief, it is our school system, not our fields, that bring people here. Please sign the petition and support these concerned parents.
Elaine
A new website has been launched in Mt. Lebanon. Lebomathfacts.org "is run by a diverse group of parents, who are concerned about quality mathematics education" in Mt. Lebanon.
Lebo Citizens readers know that I have had several stories about Terc Investigations including:
http://lebocitizens.blogspot.com/2012/11/posti-on-terc-investigations.html
http://lebocitizens.blogspot.com/2012/11/more-on-terc-investigations.html
http://lebocitizens.blogspot.com/2012/12/dream-team-change-orders-and-more.html
I see that an online petition has been posted at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/petition-to-ask-the-mt-lebanon-school-district-to/
It is sad that it had to come to this. The school board directors were amazed at the response to the Math Nights, drawing 650 people. Have they figured out that the community is deeply concerned about our TERC Investigations math program?
Please visit Lebomathfacts.org and read about the Fall 2012 meeting that concerned parents had with Dr. Steinhauer. Our Requests summarizes their requests along with recommended timelines.
38 comments:
So much for 21st century education...
Construction updates - YSA updates= 0 time spent on math curriculum, Dr. Steinhauer.
Hope their petition gets a better reception that the HS renovation petition did.
Mt. Lebanon parents:
If you have a child in the 5th grade ask him or her to solve the following addition problem:
3/8 + 1/4 = ?
Your child should a)ideally be able to do this in his or her head, or b)demonstrate competence by solving this problem using paper and pencil only. If your child needs a calculator to figure out the answer you have a problem. If your child can't solve this problem even with the aid of a calculator you need meet with your child's teacher and demand some answers.
Correction...
..you need to meet..
RG, anyone who takes my sewing classes knows the answer to that question. 1/4"+3/8" = a French seam.
Elaine
1:14 Don't bet on it, the school board doesn't like to be challenged even when their plans are completely misguided.
If the Lebomathfacts parents were smart they'd merge with the YSA.
The YSA only has to claim they have 175 signatures or so and never present them to get the boards attention.
Then they extend faulty agreements, side with turf and lighting proponents and find space for revenue generating advertising.
The problem LMFs parents have... Is they're only interested in giving their kids a good education.
Yeah, 3:25 PM, the YSA's/LeboFields deadbeats only want all taxpayers to finance their fields in hopes & expectations that a select few of their darlings will get college athletic scholarships that even others will then pay for.
They don't care about Lebo's decline in academic standings, or that the math program stinks. But the threat of unfounded, unrevealed petitions of the YSA do scare the elected wonks.
In the 3:25 comment, it should read--
Then they (meaning the board) extends faulty agreements, [etc., etc.]
I don't know about all that 5:05, but it is odd that JMAagreement payments can be delinquent or unaccounted for and the SB is all to quick to extend the agreement and seemingly side with the YSA's turf idea. They do this at the same time they're begging for new sources of revenue.
I don't get it, whatever happened to... hey we'd like to give you turf, Mr. Brumfield, Mr. Franklin, unfortunately we've got our own problems providing our students with a good education at a cost we can afford.
The $3,000,000 the board is asking for will go for change orders and turf . . . send money to Horsman Dr.
The SB's priorities are the high school project and turfing a field. Anything else is an afterthought, including math.
The SD doesn't care about the quality of our kids education - and the SB just kisses the big fat behind of the teachers union!
RG,
3/8 + 1/4 = 0.625.
No calculator or paper needed.
JE
Or 5/8, which is how I would have been expected to express the answer back when I was in the 5th grade (and it might actually have been in the 4th).
Of course it's only one man's opinion, but the mathematics issue in the Mt. Lebanon public schools is more important than the new high school, or turf, or deer culling, etc. - not that those things aren't important; but TERC Investigations has the potential to negatively affect a whole generation of youngsters, and that is unconscionable. I hope all Mt. Lebanon parents - indeed, all Mt. Lebanon residents - sign the petition asking the District to review TERC. As a former applied mathematics teacher, I would send my kids to a charter school, a private school, or tutor them at home before I'd let the District damage them with a math course that doesn't even come up to the standards of The Three Stooges.
I am neither for or against TERC investigations, but I find it interesting that no one has referenced that the PSSA tests now require that a student "explain how they came up with the answer" to a math problem.
Using an algorithm simply does not provide students with this ability.
I'm curious why none of the Lebomathfacts folks make no mention of this?
12:05 - I beleieve this is also required for the new Keystone exams.
12:05 the Lebomathfacts folks correctly assume that the student can explain how they got the correct answer if said student did indeed get the correct answer without cheating.
Using an algorithm provides this ability much better than the TERC recommended calculator method.
But Richard, the PASB and teachers' union doesn't want you to have that choice.
How did they correctly "assume" this 1:52? Please delight us with your explanation.
For those of you who feel that an algorithm does not "explain" an answer - you are correct. It's not supposed to do so. However, if you believe that TERC DOES explain an answer you are terribly mistaken. TERC is a process, as an algorithm is a process.
As an example, take a good look at the comparison of the process of adding two seven digit number as shown here: http://amherstmathprogram.com/math/Addition.pdf. You may be amused that as each of the seven operational lines of the TERC process breaks the numbers apart it resorts to an algorithm to add each line, including a carry in five lines out of the seven. TERC is simply an exaggerated demonstration of placeholder manipulation; stacking does the same thing, only more efficiently.
Also, keep in mind that for young children some of the more arcane principles of mathematics likely won't make any sense as it is. And it's no surprise - they haven't lived long enough and accumulated enough facts to put it all together. This situation is hardly limited to mathematics. For example, most kids enter school with the ability to speak English; a language they learned through absorption and repetition ("Say dada!"), not an "Investigation of Grammar" shortly after emerging from the birth canal!
Finally, if a child is to explain how he or she "came up with the answer" - and I have no problem with that within reason - then perhaps the degree of explanation should be stated. After all, Bertrand Russell, in his “Principia Mathematica,” took over 360 pages to definitively prove that 1 + 1 = 2.
2:53, maybe you can explain how a child is supposed to understand the full adders, clocks, shift registers and bistable multivibrators required to make a calculator work.
If a child is expected to use a calculator for TERC investigations, they should be able to explain how the calculator works.
Lets stick to traditional algorithms so parents can help their children with their homework.
"Lets stick to traditional algorithms so parents can help their children with their homework."
I'm so glad to see that we finally got to the real root cause of your issue 3:21.
Fear not, your response proved one thing...you have absolutely no knowledge of this subject or the current curriculum.
3:55 PM, fear not, your response proved one thing...you forgot how the district had to hire math facilitators to teach the teachers.
Elaine
Last time I checked, there were 112 signatures on the petition. Some of the comments are heart breaking.
Elaine
I wonder how many of these parents actualy understand and have read the cirriculum?
http://www.mtlsd.org/foster_elementary/stuff/math%20response%20faqs%20december%202012.pdf
I wonder, how many administrators have trouble spelling curriculum?
Classic, 2:04 PM.
We know some cannot pronounce "Municipal."
Elaine
Actualy, I understand it's actually.
The link that was sent by 9:33 was actually very helpful. It provides a great deal of insight on this subject.
Thank you for passing it along!!!
Good one, 3:24 PM.
Elaine
Since we're on the subject of education, I was asked recently if I had seen the movie "The Cartel." I have.
"The Cartel" is a documentary about failing schools, out of control spending, bloated administration, fudged numbers in accounting practices, incompetency, and just downright arrogance. As the movie points out, while the action takes place in New Jersey, the problem is nationwide. You may see the movie for free on HULU - www.hulu.com/watch/282115. While much of what is being portrayed is not applicable to Mt. Lebanon, there are sufficient parallels to make a school director squirm, and a Lebo taxpayer's blood pressure rise.
Mr. Gideon, if that movie isn't sufficient to get people involved in school district affairs perhaps this retirement speech by the head NEA lawyer Bob Chanin in 2009 will.
Check out this video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdgzBNh6kEM&feature=youtube_gdata_player
The TERC supporters claim that their system will impart a greater understanding of math concepts, thus making kids better mathematicians. I would remind such people that there was a time when college trained American scientists and engineers were the envy of the world, and these people did not have the luxury of Investigations or Everyday Math to lay down a math foundation when they were in elementary school.
Let's look at something interesting. Here is a link to the 1869 math test portion of the Harvard entrance examination. Again, this is 1869; SAT's did not exist, and colleges administered their own "boards" in order to determine the fitness of a youngster to attend. According to The Harvard Crimson, the average age of a freshman in 1869 was 18, up from 17 just a few years before. In the late 1700's the average age was 15.
If you're a Lebo parent of a high school junior or senior you might show this test to your kid and ask him or her to give it a shot - with paper and pencil - and no calculators - and they can skip question seven. Have fun!
Sorry to admit, I couldn't pass it.
I wonder how many of our "highly" esteemed administrations and teachers could?
Especially those with advanced degrees!
First God made the U.S. number one in education. Then he created teachers unions.
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