Sunday, May 17, 2009

More Vindication

The main policy of the district where I work: Close the achievement gap.

I have done this before with a forward thinking Principal. Double the time that students take math and the achievement gap narrows.

From an article in the New York Times:

‘No Child’ Law Is Not Closing a Racial Gap

'Where we see the gap narrowing, that’s because there’s been an emphasis on supplemental education, on after-school programs that encourage students to read more and do more math problems,” Dr. Hrabowski said. “Where there are programs that encourage that additional work, students of color do the work and their performance improves and the gap narrows.”'
But then there is the problem that most math teachers are familiar with:

'But Dr. Hrabowski said said that educators and parents pushing children to higher achievement often find themselves swimming against a tide of popular culture.

“Even middle-class students are unfortunately influenced by the culture that says it’s simply not cool for students to be smart,” he said. “And that is a factor here in these math and reading scores.”'
I love it when what I read confirms what I know.

URL Change

Hello Readers,
Please note that the url to my blog has changed.
It is now:
http://www.mathmethinks.com/

A Personal Odyssey


I felt vindicated when I read Thomas Sowell's autobiography.

Any teacher who considers rigor to be important, who has been tormented by students who want the good grade but are too lazy to work for it, who has felt pressured to compromise his or her standards by 'politically correct' but misguided administrators, who has been bullied by parents who think their children are little gods and goddesses, will appreciate Sowell's perspective on education.

The mediocre and poor teachers in the system, who are soft on rigor and give easy 'As', are the educators that no one complains about. It is a pity that so many people, probably the majority, would rather get a meaningless 'A' than really learn something but have to work for it. It is delightful to read about an educator who had the courage to stand by his principals instead of bend to the pressure of just about everyone.

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