Dilbert Math: Coming to a school near you...Or already there?

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Saturday December 13, 2008 · 7:45 PM PST

2008/12/13 · 19:45

This is my latest diary of several on the dumbing down of K-12 math education in schools. The same approach to selecting poor programs for my district is being repeated nationwide. To see how it’s pulled off, I present my experiences with my district in:

this movie: My district helped by GE Foundation & AIR chose reform math texts by a rather devious set of political maneuverings. Yet there are serious concerns nationwide about the value of these texts, incl. in the latest DoE NMAP report.

But first, today’s Dilbert cartoon "It's called Math" perfectly captures the problem with the reform math texts that are being introduced to school district after school district despite strong objections by parents. The so called reform math advocates are replacing math training with math appreciation -- the same difference between being trained as a musician or taking music appreciation courses.

NanoMan

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Tuesday April 15, 2008 · 2:55 PM PDT

2008/04/15 · 14:55

Why are our kids in K-12 so poor at math compared to other countries in the world?

The answer is not pretty, based on what I've seen going on in my district in Louisville, KY. Many of the factual details and links both on the Louisville and the national problems are presented in my recent diaries.

Here I will present two slide shows. One is a statement of what is so wrong about my school district's selection process including the following slide:
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More than mere rational discourse will be required in many districts around the country.

The second slideshow may provide some useful new ammunition for fighting for improved K-12 math education in your school. I have annotated in blue excerpts from the the advisory panel report to the U.S. Department of Education. In many ways the report slams Reform Math.
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NanoMan

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Friday April 11, 2008 · 7:10 PM PDT

2008/04/11 · 19:10

There’s the old familiar Military, Tobacco, Pharmaceutical and Medical Insurance Industrial Complexes. But welcome to the new and exciting Educational Industrial Complex.

What is it and how does it work? It works very well, thank you! And it is working to supply your K-12 school district with mathematics textbooks (referred to as reform math or fuzzy math texts) that were recently characterized by Stanford Math Professor, James Milgram as:

I would suggest that the best way to think of these programs is as training for jobs at Target or MacDonald’s. For example, we simply do not see students coming from this background in any advanced mathematics classes at Stanford.

Please forgive the hyped intro, but the story that follows (which is summarized in the blue and yellow chart) is worth reading because it is being repeated in school districts across the country where choreographed ploys are used to bypass parent concerns about poor math texts.
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OverConnected

Poll

28 votes Show Results

This story reminds me most of:

28 votes Vote Now!

This story reminds me most of:

Catch-22-- Milo Minderbender

7 votes

A Day at the Racesâ€"Chico sells Groucho a cart full of racing guides

3 votes

The Wizard of Ozâ€"â€oePay no attention to that man behind the curtain!â€

4 votes

Take the Money and Run â€"Woody Allenâ€<sup>TM</sup>s auto hit-and-run in his living room

2 votes

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

4 votes

The Last Picture Show

0 votes

The Thirty-Nine Steps

0 votes

The Third Man

0 votes

Animal Farm

6 votes

Cabaret

0 votes

Chicago--Richard Gere's puppet show and tap dance numbers

2 votes

Easter Sunday: Guns gone wild!

NanoMan

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday March 28, 2008 · 6:39 AM PDT

2008/03/28 · 06:39

On Easter Sunday, Louisville KY during one of the most civil television shows, CBS Sunday Morning a local advertisement came on that sounded sort of like this:

"Come on down to our gun club where you can fire machine guns and flamethrowers!"

I couldn't find the actual commercial but it includes video footage similar to this from their customers' memorabilia. It reminded me of the jingle:

"YeeHa, hurry on down to Hardee's where the burgers are charcoal broiled!"

Only being half awake early morning on Easter Sunday, it took a while for me to catch on to the irony.
This post is a break from my normal diary, which is on the low traction but important national topic of improving K-12 math textbooks. In my next installment, planned for this weekend -- The plot thickens!

“Is Our Children Learning” Math Texts

NanoMan

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Tuesday March 25, 2008 · 1:59 PM PDT

2008/03/25 · 13:59

I am a professor of electrical and computer engineering in Louisville, Kentucky and a parent who has had children attending K-12 public schools here for the last 18 years. In the math texts used by the district I have seen a steady decline in content! This Fall I examined the 6th grade Connected Math text used by my district and was appalled to find few, if any, instances of the use of an equals sign.

Poll

25 votes Show Results

How seriously does your school or school district listen to parent input on math textbook selection?

25 votes Vote Now!

How seriously does your school or school district listen to parent input on math textbook selection?

Seriously

2 votes

Indifferently

2 votes

Blows smoke and gives no clear answers whatsover

5 votes

Claims their experts, consultants and textbook publishers know better

8 votes

Provides no opportunity for input

8 votes

RSS

Dilbert Math: Coming to a school near you...Or already there?

The Educational Industrial Complex: Wrong in so many ways!

Math Wars: The Educational Industrial Complex

Easter Sunday: Guns gone wild!

“Is Our Children Learning” Math Texts