Transcript for June 10th meeting at FCPS
Jeta...@aol.com
Testimony
from 6/10 BOE meeting
Tonight
I'll be talking about the elementary math curriculum resource, TERC
Investigations. I have with me tonight a letter from Shannon DeMita, K-12
Curriculum Specialist from Coventry Local School District in Akron, Ohio, which
was specifically written to our Frederick County Board of Education
members. I have chosen to share this letter with the public tonight
because this is a school district who has adopted TERC Investigations, tried it
out, and got rid of it.
I'll be referring to some excerpts of this letter
tonight:
"There is really nothing consistent about the approach
behind the program. In fact, our teachers found themselves becoming the
"re-inventors of math." They spent a tremendous amount of time developing
their own systems and connections for how to approach different math
problems-to the point where everyone was doing something different, even for a
simple addition problem." (This sounds like a familiar complaint from
parents here in Frederick).
"The most common complaints from the
teachers included: the lack of assessment pieces, the vagueness of what was
actually being taught, no book, no direct instruction, difficulty telling what
the kids actually knew and parental complaints. Parents were totally lost
with this program. It was found to be even harder for families to help
support their children at home; parents could not follow the homework."
Again, this sounds familiar.
"The Coventry students began falling
farther and farther behind with their basic math competencies skills. This
became very apparent when they reached the MIDDLE SCHOOL LEVEL and as scores
began DECLINING on state and local assessments. It wasn't until we did
away with Math Investigations that we began seeing drastic overall
improvements."
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My response to the
teachers who come out to BoE meetings cheering each other on and cheering on
TERC is, you do NOT speak for all teachers, and, what is most frightening is,
you don't even see the BIG PICTURE. Teachers, I don't find the fact that
you enjoy teaching TERC to mean that TERC is going to prepare my child for a
future in math. And THAT is the big picture. The big picture is NOT
how well they do on MSA, or even the grade they get in math while in your
class. A good quality math curriculum and a well-trained teacher will
teach a deep understanding of the how's and why's of math, as well as promote
mastery, efficiency and accuracy.
There are teachers out there who
are discouraging and even reprimanding our children for solving a problem using
the standard, traditional methods that mom and dad are teaching them at
home. This should not and will not be tolerated by parents. Do not
discount the methods our children are using to solve problems simply because
they do not involve drawing pictures.
To teachers, administrators
and this school board: I have no faith in TERC/I have no faith in your
attempts to change the way it is implemented in hopes of finding greater
success. As long as TERC is taking up valuable instruction time, other,
more successful instruction is being sacrificed. Turn to a curriculum that
does not use our kids as guinea pigs while teachers and administrators "work out
the kinks" of a new resource fad. Our kids are losing year after year of
learning crucial foundations of elementary math while you figure out how to make
this failing curriculum work.
Thank you.
Sue
Middleton