The Salt Lake Tribune reports that 5 Utah school districts are applying for Race to the Top money under the Federal Department of Education program that lets districts completely bypass their state office of education and seek federal money. From the Federal announcement:
‘Race to the Top helped bring about groundbreaking education reforms in states across the country. Building off that success, we’re now going to help support reform at the local level with the new district competition,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “We want to help schools become engines of innovation through personalized learning so that every child in America can receive the world-class public education they deserve. The Race to the Top-District competition will help us meet that goal.’”
This is a colossally bad idea for these districts as they will certainly come under direct strings from the Federal government and lose what limited protection the state office of education can provide to them where those strings apply. From the article:
The Granite, Ogden and Provo school districts plan to seek $20 million to $30 million each; the Morgan County School District will likely apply for $5 million to $10 million; and the Washington County School District plans to apply for $30 million to $40 million, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
If you live in one of these school districts I would encourage you to speak with your school board members and help them change their minds.
It should not be up to the Federal Government to dole out large awards of money which come from the entire nation (or increase national debt) to fund a few select winners. Money that funds education should be as local as possible so the people paying for the education take an interest in the actual results of education.
If you missed the propagandizing group-think Groundhog problem from a couple days ago, click here to see the first “math” problem in Granite and Jordan school district’s new homegrown Common Core math book for 9th graders (Secondary math 1 book). I strongly encourage you to read it first and understand that the critiquing and reviewing of peer’s answers are all through the textbook.
Below are a few other problems from the book which are further examples of indoctrination. This first one has the potential to intrude into the home and 2nd amendment rights.
Pg. 156
23. A serial killer is stalking the residents of Gloomy Falls, Mass., population 937. Every year the population diminishes by 4.5%. How many residents are left after the killer’s three-year rampage? HOW WILL YOU STOP HIM?
Are you kidding me? What if a child answers “I’d get our shotgun and kill him”? What happens to that child? How will he/she be treated? What will be noted by that teacher? “Oh, this child has violent tendencies. I’d better note that in his personal record or send him/her to the principal for a talking to.” Who wrote and reviewed this nonsense? Thank you Common Core and USOE for opening the door to the dumbing down of our children AND the propagandizing of them. Parents take note. You will need to be more vigilant than ever with what your children are learning in school.
Pg. 209
5.2e (apply)—Crude Oil and Gas Mileage According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a barrel of crude oil produces approximately 20 gallons of gasoline. EPA mileage estimates indicate a 2011 Ford Focus averages 28 miles per gallon of gasoline. 1. Write an expression for g(x) , the number of gallons of gasoline produced by x barrels of crude oil. 2. Write an expression for m(x) , the number of miles on average that a 2011 Ford Focus can drive on x gallons of gasoline. 3. Write an expression for m(g(x)) . What does represent in terms of the context? 4. One estimate (from www.oilvoice.com) claimed that the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico spilled 4.9 million barrels of crude oil. How many miles of Ford Focus driving would this spilled oil fuel? 5. Research how many Ford Focuses were sold in 2010. How many trips across the U.S. could every Ford Focus purchased have made on the spilled oil fuel?
Nice hit job on “big oil.”
Pg. 181
Population and Food Supply (from illustrativemathematics.org) The population of a country is initially 2 million people and is increasing at 4% per year. The country’s annual food supply is adequate for 4 million people (now) and is increasing at a constant rate adequate for an additional 0.5 million people per year. 1. Based on these assumptions, in approximately what year will this country first experience shortages of food? 2. If the country doubled its initial food supply and maintained a constant rate of increase in the supply adequate for an additional 0.5 million people per year, would shortages still occur? In approximately which year? 3. If the country doubled the rate at which its food supply increases, in addition to doubling its initial food supply, would shortages still occur?
Having problems like these are troubling. Depending on the political bend of the teacher, it is easy for them to indoctrinate the class with a couple of quick comments or even a full blown discussion. Math is no longer math under such circumstances.
According to NBC affiliate KUSA, Denver Public Schools is implementing a new system to evaluate teachers. In order to achieve a coveted “distinguished” rating, teachers at each grade level must show that they “encourage” students to “challenge and question the dominant culture” and “take social action to change/improve society or work for social justice.”
The new DPS teacher assessment system, called LEAP (Leading Effective Academic Practice), stems from state legislation passed in 2010 and is overwhelmingly funded by a $10M grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
There is a very good reason that there are so many charter schools in Alpine School District that use Saxon math. Thousands of parents fled the district starting around 2001 when the district wouldn’t listen to them that Investigations math was a disaster. The district’s mantra was “all the studies show this is the best way to teach math” but when GRAMA requests were filed, they couldn’t produce a single peer-reviewed study, and in fact studies that do exist show constructivist math programs to be utter failures (link 1)(link 2) and those that support them intellectually dishonest. It took 7 years for ASD to drop the program while children were either supplemented, tutored, or unknowingly falling behind their peers. Common Core now gives the states the opportunity to make sure nobody falls behind their peers by dumbing all of them down at the same time.
Constructivism emphasizes group work, discovering math strategies for yourself instead of having tried and true standard algorithms given to you and learning why they work so well, and a lot of writing, all in the name of acquiring a “deeper understanding” of math. (Example of an epic fail in a BYU Calculus class taught by math education professors)
Jordan and Granite math specialists sent their new Secondary Math 1 textbook to the USOE which sent it out to others on June 4, 2012. The book is a recipe for disaster. It starts off like a self-help book of “I Can” statements for each chapter that students should read (and probably repeat over and over for 21 days to convince themselves they can be confident in their math skills).
“I Can” Statements
1.1 I can solve equations and inequalities. 1.2 I can justify steps in solving equations. 1.3 I can solve absolute-value equations and inequalities. 1.4 I can solve compound inequalities. I can use set and interval notation to describe solutions to compound inequalities. …
There are no math examples in the book for students to learn from. It’s all up to the teacher to teach so well that when a student goes home the parents don’t need to help them with their homework (thus de-emphasizing the role of parents in the lives of their children and making teachers out to be the smart ones children go to for learning as this article points out)
After many of the “math” problems in the book, you’ll find this set of writing and presentation instructions.
1. In your notebook, record your solutions. Explain your thinking with writing, pictures, equations, etc. 2. PRESENTATION of thinking and work: Be prepared to explain your group’s solution and the process you used to arrive at the solution. Think about how to present your results so the class can see and understand your work. 3. CRITIQUE and COMPARISON: Observe the other group presentations. In your notebook, write a short critique; a) write specifically about what is good, b) write questions and suggestions, c) note differences and similarities among presentations.
Here’s the very first problem in the book. Nothing like jumping in full force to teach children what they’re in for.
0.1 (task)—Lonely Groundhog (Adapted from Interactive Mathematics Program)
Far, far away, in a land where grassy green hills abound, live small little creatures known as groundhogs. These groundhogs roam the land looking for their shadow to see when winter will end. Once winter is over they live in fancy houses that are decorated with the most beautiful shapes. Since groundhogs aren’t very creative, they live in houses that look just like the house of at least one other groundhog. Groundhogs that live in identical houses always play together. However, one groundhog has a house different from all the rest. Sometimes this groundhog is left all alone. If you can help find the lonely groundhog, perhaps you could introduce it to all the other groundhogs.
The Cards
Your group will receive a set of 40 cards. Without looking at the cards, evenly distribute them amongst the members of your group. Place them face down. Each card in the set will have a picture of a ground hog’s house. One card in the set is a singleton, meaning that there are no other cards with a house exactly like it. Every card other than this singleton has at least one duplicate.
The Task
Your group’s task is to discover the singleton card of the lonely groundhog. When your group thinks they have located the house of the lonely groundhog the task is ended, whether or not you are correct. Therefore, you must be sure that everyone is confident of your answer before you announce that you are done.
The Rules 1. You may not show any of your cards to another member in your group. 2. You may not trade or pass your cards to another member in your group. 3. You may not look at other member’s cards. 4. You may not draw pictures or diagrams of the houses. 5. You may not put cards in a common pile once you have found duplicate houses. 6. You may set your cards face down in front of you once you think you have found a match.
Aside from these rules, you may work in any way you choose. You may begin!
Post Game Discussion (possible questions)
What problems did you have in playing this game?
What were your group’s strengths and weaknesses?
How can you help your group work together better and improve your individual participation? How did you know when you were done? How confident were you in knowing you had solved the problem? Why were you so confident?
0.1 (homework)—Lonely Groundhog
As you can tell from the activity Lonely Groundhog, people play a variety of roles when they work in groups. This assignment is an opportunity for you to reflect upon the way you participate in groups within a math classroom and outside of a math classroom. Be as thoughtful as possible when you answer these questions because they are designed to help you.
Note: This homework will not be shared with other students if you do not want it to be.
1. a. Think of a time when you or someone in your group was left out of the discussion. Describe the situation. Did anyone try to include that person? If not, why not? If yes, then how?
b. What might you have done to help with the situation?
2. a. What has been your experience when someone in your group has made a mistake?
b. How do you think a group should handle mistakes by other group members?
3. a. Think of a time when you wanted to say something, or you did not understand something, but were too afraid to say something. Describe the situation and why you did not say what you wanted to.
b. How do you wish you would have had handled the situation?
4. Do you participate more or less than other group members? Why do you think you do so?
5. Discuss how the amount of homework preparation you do for class affects your participation in group discussions and how your preparation affects the grade your group receives?
Welcome to touchy-feeley math 101. If you feel like this comic expresses, you are not alone (even if your district math specialist tells you that you are the only one that’s ever complained about the math program, which really happened to multiple parents in ASD).
