>Dr. Beth Fisher-Yoshida facilitated the first meeting of the K – 8 Math Focus Groups on June 20. Special thanks to the parents who participated. To ensure broad representation, additional focus groups will be scheduled in the fall. Eight parent participants will be randomly selected at each elementary and middle school, and sessions will be scheduled for two schools at a time. There will also be sessions for teachers and for community members who are not district parents.
Information about how to volunteer for a focus group will be available in the fall. Those parents, teachers, or community members who do not have an opportunity to participate in a focus group, or those who wish to give input to Dr. Beth Fisher-Yoshida prior to the start of the fall focus groups, may email her at byoshida@ridgewood.k12.nj.us. The purpose of the focus groups is to identify areas of strength and areas of concern about K-8 mathematics in the Ridgewood Public Schools.
>8 parents have participated so far. Even if 4 focus groups are held in the fall that would total 32 more people. Is 40 people a “broad representation”? It would be to everyone’s benefit if the BOE would hold an open forum discussion inviting all parents, teachers, administration, and taxpayers. There must be a dialogue otherwise true representation will not be accomplished.
>funny how 8 people represent the whole town but 200 signing a petition are an bunch of hey seed upstarts
>Those of you who are well versed on the Math issue, specifically the people who have TERC, CMP2 and Everyday Math and have expressed concerns should email an articulate email to this woman.
Be specific, mention your concerns and be polite.
Keep a copy and see if your comment gets posted on the RPS website in the fall.
>I am not buying that people are being randomly selected for participation…..from what I have seen…they are being hand picked by the principals of the respective schools…
>you are correct 12:42. The principals directly asked two people to represent their prospective school; one that signed the petition and one that did not sign. Hardly random!
>No.
They were picked by the heads of the HSA.
One of them signed the petition, one did not.
I believe all the HSA Presidents acted in good faith.
From what I heard, a few of the folks in the focus group who had not signed the petition began to agree that there was a problem.
Don’t jump to that conclusion yet about these new groups.
Email Beth throw your hat in the ring.
>I was in the first focus group. I was recommended by the Principal and then ASKED if I wanted to participate by Ms. Botsford. I signed the petition. The other rep from my elementary school did NOT sign the petition.
There were far more than 8 people in the focus group and they represented diverse viewpoints. I believe there were 2 from each elementary, 2 from each middle school and perhaps 2 from the high school All in all, I believe there were about 20 people in the initial group.
For the record, the discussions went well but had, in my opinion, little focus. The group was diverse with respect to their depth of knowledge and opinions of the current math conflict in Ridgewood.
>Maybe the focus groups in September will be better if people get more informed about this.
>The unfocused focus group sounds a little like TERC. I hope that we are having male representation. TERC and it’s ilk are designed for female minds and strengths. Are there any tactile/kinesthetic people on board?
>Does anyone know if the public is going to be advised of just who is representing them at these focus groups – or will their participation be a secret.
>5:58 – LOL. I am the mother of boys and am very concerned with the co-mingling of math with language arts/literacy. I was suprised/shocked at how many of the math assessments being used for advanced math placements in Ridgewood have strong language componants and the weights placed on language skills. It’s no longer good enough to be great in math. I think the boys will suffer, particularly the ones in middle school as their language skills generally lag behind the girls significantly.
Yet another reason to supplement math at home. . .
>Any and all who wish to take part can. This forum is paid for by our tax dollars. Under the state’s “sunshine laws” all such meetings must be open to the public.
They can pick and choose who they wish but anyone may attend. In fact I encourage everyone interested to attend.
Not that any of this will matter. This is all a dog and pony show to stall while they expand CMP into our middle schools and high school and then slip TERC, by any other name, into Hawes, Ridge, Willard and Somerville.
The BOE is like any government entity. When a problem occurs they want to study it and jaw-jaw it in the hope that people will grow weary and walk away.
This committee is a distraction from the real problem at hand – the dumbing down of America in the quest for socialist egalitarianism.
In the words of Pete Townsend, “We wont get fooled again.”
To the Math Moms and The Housewives, I suggest you keep the preasure on least they distract and obfuscate with this “public forum.”
>My concern is that whoever they pick for the focus groups will not have enough insight either way to contribute meaningfully. They should pick people now, so those people can educate themselves. (Of course every parent should be educating themselves anyway).
I agee the math moms and others should e-mail Beth with their insight/research/comments.
I understand the focus groups will be anonymous.
>You people crack me up. You complain that the BOE is making decisions without parent input on how you want your kids educated, and then you complain and slam the efforts to hold focus groups as a way to gather input from parents and other parties. Give it a rest, please. As my dad used to say, “you’d squawk if they hung you with a new rope!” Sort of obscure, I know, but in our family that meant, boy, you’ll complain about ANYTHING, even when someone tries to give you what you want.!
>How about the BOE inviting the parents in an open dialog. Why hasn’t the BOE initiated a dialog with all interested parties? They hired a facilitator to get to the real issue. Seems pretty obvious… it’s all about the math.
>Nobody wanted a focus group for the purpose of “conflict” resolution.
People wanted to talk about the different types of Math curriculum Ridgewood could have purchased.
Is Ms. Yoshida well versed on Math curriculum? Is she a Mathematican?
>Important — Watch the first video on this page
Math Education in Bellevue WA
>She’s not a mathematician but she struck me as very bright. A real critical thinker.
And I don’t think she’ll be afraid to tell the BOE what they don’t want to hear.
>And I don’t think she’ll be afraid to tell the BOE what they don’t want to hear.
She’s getting $9k to listen to parents. Shouldn’t she be getting $9k to discover why the BOE has not answered their constituents’ concerns?
She can check out all those youTube videos, she can go to the library and read all the Letters to the Editors (both sides), and then she can ask to see all the unanswered emails and unanswered letters (US Mail) and facilitate getting Shelia, Bob, Mark, Joseph, and Michele to answer a question.
Hey PJ — is our BOE required to respond to communication from their constituents?
>Will she tell them what they may not want to hear before or after she gets her check?