>Parents selected by lottery from Travell and Orchard all gathered as scheduled for the math focus group last night but the conflict resolution moderator was a no show. The group disbanded after forty minutes with not a clue as to why they were stood up by Ms. Beth Fisher-Yoshida of Teachers College. Not even Interim Superintendent Tim Brennan could solve the mystery for parents who were at a loss to explain the irony that this group in particular (Travell and Orchard) would be made to suffer such an indignity. Brennan promised that the group would be rescheduled. Still, parents don’t understand why this conflict resolution effort is taking place between parents when it rightly should be between parents and the BOE. It seems that the verdict is in: TERC math is “denuded of content” and “illiterate,” as wisely spoken by esteemed math professors from the very best universities. The question on everyone’s mind is, why is the district pursuing it in the face of such tenacious opposition from the parents of the children most exposed to it?
>The Fly has learned that last nights Math Focus Group was a bust
18 thoughts on “>The Fly has learned that last nights Math Focus Group was a bust”
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>What a joke and we’re paying her how much to be a no-show with absolutely no explanation to even the superintendent?!?
>Can it be she is taking the lead of soon-to-be, and then never-was, Superintendent Brooks in deciding to quit rather than face the music? (Unlike the famous cigarette ad, Dr. Brooks plainly would rather switch than fight.)
Very interesting development!
>I love the idea that the schools try to ram this stupid math down our throats, yet we need anger management because we object to this stupidity….
I moved here because the schools were suppose to be top notch, not TERC crap! Can I sue my real-estate agent for misrepresentation?
>Brennan seems to be running in place just to keep up with the lunacy of this situation while trying not to embarrass the misguided mental midgets who run our school district into the ground. I wonder what other heresies they are cooking up for us.
>As a participant in one of the earlier focus groups, the discussion centered on not
TERC vs. traditional vs. something else, but rather that the math education in the elementary and middle schools is sorely lacking, to say the least. Blame was squarely affixed on school administration and, ultimately, the BOE.
>Maybe the moderator had such a headache from the earlier focus group that she could not bear the thought of listening to the complaints of the parents whose children are taught TERC math.
Correction – the parents of the children who teach themselves TERC.
>”As a participant in one of the earlier focus groups, the discussion centered on not TERC vs. traditional vs. something else, but rather that the math education in the elementary and middle schools is sorely lacking, to say the least. Blame was squarely affixed on school administration and, ultimately, the BOE.”
The solution seems to be to hire a truly able curriculum director. Regina is just not up to the task. Plus, she has compromised her credibility with this ridiculous obsequiousness to reform math. She’s now just plain useless. Do we need to get her another job?
>As a participant in the first focus group in June (2 reps from each school), I can tell you we very much focused on reform math deficiencies. Unfortunately, most of the people selected by their school principals had NO idea what they were talking about. The anti-TERC parents (myself included) were much better informed – – it would have been nice to hear from the TERC supporters but none could be found. Most parents were like deer caught in the headlights. In any case, the one question that kept surfacing was “WHY?” “Why are we using several different progams” “Who selected them?” “Why use a program that California outlawed?” “Show is the data that says Reform math works” “Show is the data that says it doesn’t” etc….
For the record, I thought Dr. Fischer-Yoshida did a good job. I think she may have been overwhelmed.
I think the above poster hit the nail on the head with the question “Why not hire a competant curriculum director?”
>we need a curriculum director with no baggage except educating our kids. No more social engineering please.
>I also heard from someone in the middle school meeting that Beth Fisher was very competent.
My friend said Beth got it all down and was fair and impartial…so really it is up to the district to be honest when they get her findings.
Please don’t take her no show as a sign of anything else other than a misunderstanding.
>Oh, the indignity! Puh-leeeeze. Someone misses a meeting, for reasons none of us know but could certainly range from calendar mix-up to car accident to sick child to god-knows-what, and you thin-skinned conspiracy theorists get all high and mighty. Pay attention. The point of these focus groups was simply to create an efficient way to gather input from parents, as to what they see as concerns or problems with the math curriculum at all levels of the district. that’s all is. These were never meant to be problem-solving work sessions. In fact, I felt the middle school session was quite productive. The comments were duly transcribed. It seems to me that the BOE is right to collect this input in order to solve the problems. It would not be right for them to simply take comments from a blog or from a group made up only of people actively opposed to the current policies. That would not be representative.
Just reschedule the meeting and get on with it.
>11:27am – You might have a different reaction if you had children at Travell or Orchard and were one of the 16 parents that showed up.
I do understand that sh** happens, but its now Thursday and there has been no reschedule and no further word, other than it was a scheduling mix-up.
Which, yes, I find hard to believe since the date was not changed and it was clearly posted on the website, in the papers, etc. and all 16 parents were there.
I have heard Beth did a good job and do think it is a useful forum to conduct and I hope it is rescheduled shortly.
>yes i agree with 1127 ,in this town when it comes to the BOE there is a bull Sh*t story for anything,if the BOE proposed cross burning these ass kissers would say it was some how ok and this is why our great school system has been reduced to crap…
>11:27am
16 parents knew what time the meeting was and on what date
the facilitator forgot? or did the facilitator remember and the district forget?
either way, the fact is this happened to the group with the most grievances.
and the appearance of it stinks.
the meeting hasnt been rescheduled according the district website.
so to put that in perspective, complaints on the math program have existed since its arrival. complaints became public and constant starting in the spring of 2007.
it is now the falltime, months of missed opportunity for rigorous mathematics learning within the classroom because TERC2 and CMP2 still exists (but lets not forget, the advanced middle school students do not get CMP2 AT ALL – how’s that for equity?).
it is now the falltime, and a petition was turned into the district with numbers of signaturees that compare to the numbers on the district’s community survey.
Our math curriculum head is married to ideology from 1989 – premises which have been shown NOT to improve mathematics learning but instead WORSEN the results.
Time for change.
How many more kids must lose years off their classroom education because an administrator is entrenched in a policy that has nothing to do with improving kids education and everything to do with “beliefs”. And the proof is in the pudding – our district was promoting itself to other NJ school districts as a “high performing district that uses CMP2” – even before 1 full year of CMP2 had been completed.
Its about the math curriculum head’s beliefs and quest for notoriety and marching orders from NCTM ( a private organization and does not INCLUDE ALL math teachers for that fact – many do not ascribe to the NCTM beliefs – the NCTM, a lobbying machine for its own agenda ).
This is not being done with what is best for the children in mind.
But I guess if I am thinking like you, I should just “get on with” teaching my kids at home. Because that is your solution.
>Ridgewood’s math debate by any other name would look like this…
Scientists who have studied the matter declare that the Earth is round.
A committee made up of elected members of the lay public had bought into the notion that the Earth is flat and made that the basis of what was taught in the schools.
Mmbers of the public come before the committee to show by their research why the scientists are correct and that the Earth is, indeed, round.
Other members of the public, not to be outdone, come to the committee to declare their feelings that the Earth must be flat, because that’s what they always believed.
The committee can’t decide what to do or believe and decides, instead, to kick the can down the road.
They formulate a plan to hire a conflict resolution moderator to aid in the discussion of the issue. They construct groups from the lay public to partake in these discussions.
The moderator is supposed to present her findings to the committee, which will then make a definitive decision as to whether the Earth is round or flat.
This “discussion” is to replace (or improve upon) the scientific knowledge gathered by the world’s experts (I kid you not).
Members of the lay public eagerly await the committee’s decision as their children’s education depends on getting to the universally correct conclusion based on the scientific data.
But the “data” is not part of the discussion, only what its participants feel must be the right way to think. Many of the participants readily admit that they have never even thought about the issue before and will rely on how they feel and what they hear during the discussions.
We are all now placed in the unthinkable position that our feelings may lead us to decide that the Earth is flat with complete disregard to the scientific data.
End of conflict. The committee has done its job and the Earth, at least in Ridgewood, is declared flat.
What do we do then?
Read more Jonathan Swift?
>Speaking as a concerned Travell parent, can anyone update this string on subsequent developments?
For example, has the Travell math meeting been rescheduled?
>As of this Tues. morning, there is no word of when this focus group meeting will be rescheduled. At last night’s BOE meeting, it was stated that Fisher-Yoshida’s report will hopefully be presented by mid November. I sure hope the Travell/Orchard focus group will be rescheduled by then.
>Thanks for the update. This is absolutely stunning.