>This just in….The middle school math program is a failing our children.
Ridgewood NJ – The concerns over Connected Math continue to be justified as we fully integrate the program into the middle schools. This is NOT confined to one class, grade or school; BF or GW. It’s the whole program, top to bottom. Ridgewood’s once successful middle school math program has been destroyed and replace with one which fails to prepare the children for advanced level high school math. There is little support for the program from teachers, parents, and students. It’s such a shame. How can this continue?
If you are not aware of the situation; students are lost, teachers are finding it difficult to explain, review and complete the ‘Investigations’ (cute huh; we used to call them lessons), and parents are expressing their concerns in droves only to be told to have the kids come for extra help that is only more of the same.
At least this is some recognition of problems and an attempt to address them, but the children will only benefit from Connected Math when it is gone. Let’s hope they do not try and put blame on the teachers. After all, they are the same teachers who oversaw the successful program that was replaced.
And now a message from the BF Principal…….
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Dear BF Parents and Guardians,
We have asked our math teachers to utilize the following practice beginning next Monday.
Since we now have Skyward open full time our Math teachers have the assignments posted daily. In addition, they will put in the comment section the amount of time the homework assignment SHOULD take the students to complete.
I would like our students to really only spend the amount of time on the homework that the teacher believes it should take to complete. If a student works for the assigned amount of time but has not completed the assignment, the student should stop and have their parent or guardian initial where they left off. Students will receive full credit for any homework that is not completed but has a parents initials.
It is important for us to follow this procedure because it gives our teachers valuable information that can directly inform their teaching. If 20 students in the class cannot complete an assignment, the teachers knows that he or she must either cut down the amount of work, or re-teach a concept that the students as a whole are not getting. If an individual is not able to complete an assignment, the teacher knows specifically what that individual student was not able to grasp and can target individual instruction or procedures to help that child.
We believe this will help us target instruction for individual students, provide feedback for our teachers as they plan lessons, and reduce stress and angst over the inconsistent struggle to complete homework.
I hope everyone is diligent about helping our math teachers (and our
students) by following this simple step.
Sincerely,
Tony Orsini
Principal, BFMS
