>https://www.gazette.net/stories/09182008/fredlet144336_32473.shtml
The comments by Bonnie Borsa, vice president of the Frederick County Board of Education, in The Gazette’s Sept. 4 article, “Parents call for ethics probe into math book decision,” that the public outcry against TERC math was “grasping at straws” was for me the final straw.
It takes incredible arrogance to dismiss this level of parent concern as “just another attempt to overturn a decision they are not happy with.”
Just for the record, being parents does not make us stupid.
As much as Frederick County Public Schools likes to vilify parents as irresponsible hedonists who can’t teach our own children the “pillars of character” or remember to feed them a good breakfast on standardized test days, the response to TERC has been driven by parents who are taking the time to research the program and materials thoroughly and voice real concerns for the future of their children.
To presuppose that parents won’t understand the board’s interpretation of “pilot program” versus “field test” is insulting and disingenuous at best.
They are not talking about product improvements to casual investors here. These are our children. We have a legitimate right to be concerned for their futures, a legitimate right to question the board’s decision based on the available data in regard to TERC all over the Internet for those who both to seek it out, and a legitimate right as taxpayers who are paying for this to hear the board defend its choice.
The TERC decision by FCPS incorporates more than a pure choice of math curriculum.
When TERC was first announced, the decision was said by FCPS itself to be primarily based on the textbook and materials. A catchy textbook and lots of handouts to keep swifter learners busy while kids who have more difficulty grasping the material catch up is a necessity in FCPS’ vaunted (and deeply flawed) heterogeneous classroom system (kids grouped together in all subjects regardless of proficiency). Textbooks and material do not make a solid math program if the teaching method behind them is not effective. The biggest problem of all is that the shortcomings of the TERC program are cumulative; the data that parents are most concerned about is how the program falls shortest as kids reach high school and college math courses already profoundly behind.
Ms. Borsa’s secret pilot program data from Lincoln Elementary is not likely to be able to address that. It’s time to get down off her high horse and acknowledge Frederick County’s intelligent, well-informed parents seeking quality education for their tax dollars before we vote her off it.
Karen Lindsay, Middletown