Educational Insanity

This post is intended to provide background information for anyone seeking to learn why America's math education is failing so many students.  Parents may not learn of this failure until their child places into remedial math courses in college, but courageous mathematicians and scientists have earnestly tried to stop this nonsense for years!!

 

School math books, nonsense, and the National Science Foundation

American Journal of Physics, February 2007

MATH PROBLEMS
Why the U.S. Department of Education's
recommended math programs don't add up

American School Board Journal, April 2000

 

My previous post had an example of how "reform" math "teaches" long division.  The article above explains exactly why the standard algorithm must be mastered by students in elementary grades to prepare them to divide polynomials in algebra.

 

AN OPEN LETTER TO UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF EDUCATION, RICHARD RILEY

 

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Wake Up Call !!

The WSJ published an article entitled "A Sputnik Moment for U.S. Education" and a couple of days later, a friend showed me the way her child is being taught "division" via a popular "reform" math program.  I seriously doubt that China wastes valuable class time on this sort of DRIVEL!

Download now or preview on posterous

The_New_Division_-_Copy.pdf (96 KB)

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Improve STEM with more red tape??

Yep, that's the plan!

You've GOT to be kidding!

My bill, H.R. 6248, addresses these problems by providing the education and skills necessary for students to compete in today's global economy and to understand increasingly complex issues. Additionally, it improves STEM education coordination and coherence among federal and state governments in order to advance STEM education across the nation.

How? First, this legislation creates an Office of STEM at the U.S. Department of Education at the assistant-secretary level, responsible for coordinating STEM education initiatives among all federal agencies.

Second, this bill institutes a voluntary Consortium on STEM education, comprised by no less than five states representing at least five of the nation's nine geographical regions. Its mission: to develop common content standards for K-12 STEM education, engineered at the state and local levels.

Third, the bill creates the National STEM Education Research Repository, which would be a clearinghouse for educators to research the latest innovations in STEM. This will break the silos that keep creative programs from being replicated and will make these resources available through simple internet searches rather than having to sift through convoluted websites.

Common Core = WEAK Math Standards

BEWARE OF "COHERENCE AMOUNG FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS"

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Budget Crisis = Historic Opportunity????

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS B.S.?

Redefining the federal role in public education

(D-Rep. Mike Honda)

To this day, federal dollars represent less than 10 percent of public education funding. State governments provide the bulk of the funding, so they are mostly immune to federal efforts to reform education policy.The current crisis in state budgets has created a historic opportunity to change this paradigm. State governments, mired in long-term fiscal trouble, are willing to accept the requirements the federal government has imposed in order to receive desperately needed aid.Paradigmatic change is already happening. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has altered the political landscape through competitive grant programs like Race To The Top, that provide state and local governments with funding if the recipient agreed to some form of educational reforms. More than 30 states have changed laws around the issue of teacher evaluation. The impending reauthorization of ESEA has taken the process a step further: 37 states have agreed to the Common Core standards for curricula to ensure they will qualify for future federal funding. The groundwork has been laid for an increased federal role in education. We need to build on these accomplishments to ensure that federal dollars can continue to be leveraged to produce local successes after the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding runs out.

WHEN HAS AN INCREASED FEDERAL ROLE

IN ANYTHING

RESULTED IN IMPROVEMENT??

Scrapping Education Dept. Could Be Tough Task

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