I would like to overthrow dissension

Didn't Toqueville call this kind of thing the tyrrany of the majority?

I believe he did.

This woman's election is bad news for Ridgewood. Ms. Goodman, like most of us, does not know the first thing about the "overthrow of dissension," the first thing being: only a totalitarian state can overthrow dissension. (I know this because I happen to be married to a historian.)

A simple dictatorship, of the kind enjoyed by school boards and school superintendents, won't do. A simple dictatorship, of the kind enjoyed by school boards and school superintendents, breeds dissension.

oh good

Ed is back from his run.

Ed speaking: Supporting a constructivist superintendent's reform agenda won't overthrow dissent. Supporting a constructivist superintendent's reform agenda will provoke dissent. If a school board member wishes to overthrow dissent, she will have to support policies to which everyone agrees. Or else move to Irvington, where dissent is frowned upon.

Ridgewood School District board election

Ridgewood School District

Take a look!

Superintendent To Retire

Last night, our Superintendent for the past 12 years announced her intention to retire at the end of the next school year. The Supt has proven herself to be an adept politician, bringing in Everyday Math is sure to be one of her claimed successes; also pushing for "professional learning communities" and the demise of the gifted program, also she ended norm-referenced testing.

So, I'm not shedding any tears here, but I expect we will begin searching for a new Supt., and I'd like to figure out how to keep things from getting any worse. On the downside -- I suspect we are going to have to pay a lot more for a new Supt. This one got $153,000 per year, and that is low for Conn.

So, any suggestions on what parents can do to influence the choosing of a new leader? I'm going to assume that no one is going to invite me onto the committee that will choose a successor.

Let's hope that guy from Ridgewood, NJ doesn't apply for the job!


superintendent to retire
re: hiring a new superintendent

would you move to Ridgewood?

I would!

Actually, I wouldn't move from Irvington to Ridgewood, because Ridgewood has TERC (CMP or Core Plus t/k?) and Irvington has Math TRAILBLAZERS, & Irvington isn't making any moves to dig in deeper. I don't see any more fuzzy math coming to town.

Irvington, as far as I can tell, is innately conservative when it comes to progressive education. The curriculum committee document spelling out what the school was looking for in a math program said that the new curriculum:

a) had to be constructivist
b) had to teach kids their math facts and how to do computations

That's Irvington. (I think.) The district will trail alongside the ed school parade, but they won't be leading it, and they won't be twirling the batons.

Of course, this has the effect of causing us to adopt progressive programs and practices at the precise moment everyone else is dumping them, but I suppose that's the price you pay.

HOWEVER, if Irvington WERE twirling the batons, I'd be thinking about Ridgewood.

11D explains why.

(thank you, Amy P)

question

The postings at the Ridgewood Blog are a lot of fun to read. Things are still hopping in Ridgewood! The whole thing is making me feel as if Irvington, by comparison, is a sleepy little village in a Lord Peter Whimsey story.

Here's a question, though.

One of the commenters has said, twice, that it's not possible to change a monopoly from within — and that history shows this.

Seeing as how I was educated by wolves, I have no idea whether or not this is true or even whether it could be true; nor do I have the faintest idea what particular history this Commenter is alluding to.

Which means, contrary to constructivist doctrine (you knew I'd get that in there somewhere, didn't you?) I can't look it up.

Help.

a step in the right direction

from Eclectic Educator:

From MyCommunity: Ridgewood

TERC Parents

I want to emphasize in this blog that comments made by the board regarding the unfortunate and disappointing incident of Dr. Brooks resignation and my quote in the NY times article published today are in no way directed towards any parent that respectfully voiced their opinions, either at board meetings, via email or by phone.

Most parents like Mrs Elizabeth Gnall, Mrs. Joan O’Keefe, Mrs. Sarah Kate Maskin and Mrs. Linda Moran have been always respectful and insightful in voicing their opinions and we will make every attempt to address their concerns in the near future. Please respect their right to publicly voice their concerns.

The board needs to move forward to address the issue of hiring a interim superintendent by June 30. In addition, with the help of an independent facilitator find the best way to address the parents concerns about the math program.

thanks, Joe

from Robyn:

This is from the 1996 New Jersey Math Framework, which Joseph G. (Joe) Rosenstein reportedly had a hand in writing:

"The widespread availability of computing and calculating technology has given us the opportunity to reconceive the role of computation and numerical operations in our third and fourth grade mathematics programs. Traditionally, tremendous amounts of time were spent at these levels helping children to develop proficiency and accuracy with paper-and-pencil procedures. Now, adults needing to perform calculations quickly and accurately have electronic tools that are both more accurate and more efficient than those procedures. "

The 1996 NJ Framework also says this:

"The major shift in the curriculum that will take place in this realm, therefore, is one away from drill and practice of paper-and-pencil procedures with symbols and toward real-world applications of operations, wise choices of appropriate computational strategies, andintegration of the numerical operations with other components of the mathematics curriculum."

Thanks Joe! This is why I've got my kids in Kumon.


and from Anonymous:

Hey Joe .. you forgot to mention your NSF grant money ...

Its why I got my kids in Kumon too.

Ed took one look at Rosenstein's homepage and said, "He's deadwood."

That he is. Any scholar who stopped doing scholary research in 1982 is deadwood. What astounds me — what should astound all of us — is that Rosenstein publicly proclaims his deadwoodery on his webpage.

We need public disclosure of grants and consultation fees.

I don't object to professors collecting consulting fees from publishers (at least I don't think I do); I don't object to professors winning grants from the NSF-EHR, though I wish they wouldn't.

But we need disclosure. Joseph (Joe) Rosenstein's webpage should include an accounting of all grants and fees awarded him for study and advocacy of K-12 educational programs.


Joseph G. (Joe) Rosenstein homepage
Joseph G. (Joe) Rosenstein at ktm-2
thanks, Joe

you people

You people clearly don't appreciate creativity.

--rightwingprof re: Why we hate it

Joseph G. Rosenstein

“They want their children’s education to resemble their education because they are successful,” [Rosenstein] explained. “They say, ‘It worked for me, why won’t it work for them?’ ”

source:
Battle Over Math in New Jersey Drives off a New Schools Chief

............................

Joseph G. (Joe) Rosenstein

I have been a member of the Mathematics Department of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, for the past 37 (!) years.

(The photograph was taken at the launch of the MetroMath Center in November 2003; it looks like I was directing a performance of the MetroMath anthem, but I was just speaking enthusiastically about the Center's vision and goals. MetroMath is described later on this page.)

In the research portion of my career, I wrote a number of articles and published a research monograph Linear Orderings (Academic Press, 1982) in textbook form.

For nearly 20 years I have been heavily involved in K-12 education. This came about as a result of my serving as Director of the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics. (Details are in my vita.) In recent years, I have been involved in the following five major kinds of enterprises that are described in more detail below:

• organizing and directing professional development programs for K-12 teachers of mathematics,
• strengthening mathematics education in New Jersey through developing the NJ Mathematics Curriculum Framework,
• directing the New Jersey Mathematics Coalition,
• organizing and serving as founding director of the MetroMath Center, and
• writing instructional materials for K-12 teachers focused on discrete mathematics.

(In another arena, I have developed and published a new prayerbook for the morning service of Shabbat and festivals entitled Siddur Eit Ratzon; it is available for review and purchase at www.newsiddur.org.)

............................

And see: Beyond TERC

Joseph G. (Joe) Rosenstein homepage
Joseph G. (Joe) Rosenstein at ktm-2
thanks, Joe

Steve H reads the TIMES

“You have to question how much further they’d be willing to go to advance their cause,” Mark Bombace, the school board president, said in an interview. “And that is very disturbing to someone who has spent his life trying to do the right thing for children.”

And the other side is NOT trying to do the right thing for children? If these parents cared only about their own kids, they would keep quiet, tutor their kids, and laugh all the way to the SAT test.

"...the parents flooded the Internet"

Boy, there are a lot of parents who apparently don't want to do the right thing for children.

“They want their children’s education to resemble their education because they are successful,” he explained. “They say, ‘It worked for me, why won’t it work for them?’ ”

Stupid or arrogant. They like to view the problem as what was done long ago versus what is done today, rather than Investigations versus Singapore Math. The real issue is low expectations versus high expectations.

“We’re trying to move this to a problem-solving process rather than having a fight or a battle,”

Why wasn't it a problem-solving process from the beginning? Could it be that the board didn't think there was a problem? Why did the battle begin in the first place?


Battle Over Math in New Jersey Drives Off a New Schools Chief

how it's done

I'm not feeling any too happy with the Ridgewood situation at the moment.

One of the issues is this page on the school website.

The board's statement (anonymous phone calls...not reflective of Ridgewood's supportive community and its values...) should not be there. It is inappropriate in every conceivable way and then some.

Some of you may remember the fields vote here in Irvington. Each member of our school board spent two years of his or her life putting the fields proposal together, dealing with the resulting conflict (neighboring homes with drainage problems, questions about costs), substantially scaling the proposal back, and finally campaigning for the bond when it came to a vote.

The bond's defeat was unexpected—for me, at least—and terribly disappointing to board members, all the more so because they took a tremendous amount of heat from 'yays' and 'nays' alike. Their experience had to be excruciating.

How did they respond?

Here's how:

As I am sure you are all aware, the final result of the December 20 vote on the Fields Improvement bond referendum was 845 against and 798 for. As everyone had predicted, the election was close and number of votes high. The referendum was the topic of discussion in all corners of our community. There was a spirited debate as the proposition and its merits were debated in the bagel store, on our fields, at the IEF Gala and on-line. In the end, there were many reluctant “no” votes, but there were also many “yes” votes with reservations.

Today the key question is: “What’s next?” We were asked “What’s the plan, now” only minutes after the vote results were announced. On the train platform in the morning and in town, we hear the same question. Community members on both sides of this issue have contacted us to offer their assistance in promoting a different solution, to help to find a way to address our athletic field needs.

So during the Winter break, the Board thought about how we could address the issues that arose during the community discussion surrounding this proposition.

This is what leadership looks like.

Leadership and grace.

Why we hate it . . .

Okay, so maybe this isn't the only reason, or even the best reason, for disliking reform math, but I think this graphic is a really good reason to hate it.

This graphic appeared along with a New York Times article about the recent turmoil in Ridgewood, New Jersey.

The caption notes that this was a 3rd grade assignment and the correct answer is 2450 (not 2550).

I see this assignment as a huge missed opportunity. Sure a kid could get the right answer by drawing 25 boxes (instead of 26) and skip counting her way to the right answer.

But if she only had some basic 3rd skills in multiplication and subtraction, this type of assignment could lead to a fantastic lesson on order of operations, something most kids struggle with. Instead, it is a drawing and counting assignment.

I just can't see how this leads to "conceptual understanding" or "higher order thinking skills." The child is counting and drawing and completely missing the conceptual aspect -- when do you multiply, when do you subtract, how do you know when to use each operation?

today in Ridgewood

things are hopping

congratulations, Ridgewood

speechless

from Verghis

Some in the community took exception to the Board’s decision and have undermined the process.


Alas, O Babylon!

When will these malcontents realise that even though it's their money, these decisions should be left to uninformed professionals?

Constructivist superintendent declines Ridgewood position

From the Ridgewood, New Jersey, School District web site:

Brooks Declines Ridgewood Superintendency

Dr. Martin Brooks has informed the Ridgewood Board of Education that because of personal reasons he will not accept the Superintendency in Ridgewood. It is the position of the Board that before Dr. Brooks’ arrival he was made to feel unwelcome. Anonymous phone calls, emails, blogs, and web postings by some community members questioned his integrity, ethics and educational philosophy.

The Board considers this to be a most unfortunate situation for the Village and schools. It is not reflective of Ridgewood’s supportive community and its values.

After an extensive nine-month process, using criteria and specifications developed in collaboration with the community, the Board selected Dr. Brooks to be the next superintendent. Some in the community took exception to the Board’s decision and have undermined the process.

At its June 18, 2007, meeting, the Board will discuss the hiring of an interim superintendent and the initiation of a second superintendent search. As always, the Board will continue to focus on the education of more than 5,600 students in the Ridgewood Public School system.

it could always be worse

And tonight, in the village of Ridgewood, it is worse.


update: 6-12-2007

scratch that

our Mr. Brooks

from Chapter Two:

Take, for example, two 7th grade science lessons on photosynthesis. In Mr. Randall's classroom, middle school science is taught through a combination of textbook work and teacher demonstration. Students perform experiments from time to time.... Students read a widely used 7th grade science textbook (Heimler, Daniel, and Lockard 1984), which explains that:

Photosynthesis (foht oh sinh thuh sus) is the chemical change that produces food. In photosynthesis, carbon dioxide gas and water are combined to produce sugar and oxygen. The sugar may be changed to starch. Sunlight is necessary for photosynthesis. It supplies the energy for the chemical change. The energy becomes locked in the sugar and starch molecules that are produced (pp. 176).

Mr. Randall then talks about the role of chlorophyll and presents the chemical equation for photosynthesis: 6CO₂ + 6H₂O —> C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂. The written explanation of the chemical equation indicates that when carbon dioxide and water are in the presence of energy (sunlight, in the case of photosynthesis), sugar and oxygen are produced. The sugar is used by the plant to make the cellulose that forms its cell walls and to make food for self-repairs and storage for later nourishment.

[snip]

This is the mimetic approach to learning. Students commit new information to their short-term memory for the purpose of mimicking an understanding of photosynthesis on an end-of-chapter test. There is little in the presentation of the information or the assessment strategies that challenges students' current beliefs about the way plants grow and the relationships among plants and other life forms. [ed.: do they have current beliefs about the way plants grow?]

[snip]

Contrast this approach to a second classroom, one in which the teacher, Ms. Martina, not only deleted the molecular equation and references to cell walls in her introductory lesson plan, but actually deleted all references to photosynthesis. Ms. Martina asked her students to think of systems with which they might have some experience and familiarity, and to indicate the product created, the energy source needed, and the raw materials used. She asked her students to consider, for example, their art classes and what they create there. Several students taking a “home technologies” class at the time were making malted milkshakes. They combined ingredients (malt, milk, and cocoa) in the presence of an external energy source (an electric blender) to produce a product (the milkshake). They did not readily come up with a by-product. But when they lit on an “appetite-wetting aroma” [sic] as a possibility, they became quite animated. [ed.: dollars to donuts these students are "animated" because they think this discussion is a joke] Another student, thinking of his health education class, described exercise as a system consisting of ingredients (a human body, weights, and exercise machines) acted on by an energy source (one's muscles) to generate a product (increased strength and muscle tone) and a by-product (a sense of well-being). These analogies generated enthusiasm about the students' home technologies and health class activities. [ed.: a class which, I guarantee you, these students refer to as "Homo and Health" outside the earshot of Mr. Brooks] The students engaged in interdisciplinary discussions with each other and Ms. Martina. [translation: the students horsed around in class; their parents taught them photosynthesis in time for the test]

[snip]

Though Ms. Martina's students didn't construct a biochemical understanding [ed.: check] of photosynthesis, and their examples were not completely analogous to the system of photosynthesis in terms of reversibility and complexity, [ed.: check] they did begin to appreciate that one way of trying to understand photosynthesis is as a systemic process yielding both a product and a by-product. [ed.: like an appetite-wetting aroma]

Chapter 2: Considering the Possibilities
In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms, Revised Edition

Why would the parents of Plainview Old Bethpage want to give this fellow the boot?

And why would the parents of Ridgewood object to his sudden appearance in their district?

I ask you.

More media coverage concerning fuzzy math

This article appears today in The Bergen Record, concerning fuzzy math instruction in Ridgewood, New Jersey.

Read the article.

BOE Vice President comments

From Ridgewood NJ, "Nowthatshockey" has posted a new video from their BOE.

Out of the mouths of (fill in blank). This guy states he doesn't want parents coming to meetings telling the Board what are the problems with TERC. He just wants to know what are the problems with TERC. He acknowledges there has been documentation of what's going on in a 3rd grade classroom. But that's a 3rd grade classroom. No one has told him how these students will be unprepared when they leave the school in fifth or sixth grade. Uh, what'm I missing here? Didn't they quote Wilfried Schmidt at one point, and Jim Milgram, and get testimony from parents who are engineers, talking about how TERC does not provide proper background for advancement and learning in math? No amount of evidence short of removing him from the board will convince him of anything he doesn't want to be convinced of. Even removing him from the Board will not do it.