MARK YOUR CALENDAR:
The Math Committee report will be presented at the
Monday, April 23 BOE meeting

Notes from Board of Ed Meetings

Reality Check - POB Math Scores

Letters from POB Parents

Articles from POB Teachers Congress

What You Can Do To Help

More Articles, Info & Links

Math Help for Parents & Kids

Looking for Confidence – Parent Math Nights, So Far

 Round one of the parent math nights have concluded for the K-5 schools.  The atmosphere has been at times contentious and portions of the presentations have been modified slightly over the two-week period. Between 30-40 parents have attended each of these five meetings, which aggregated represents a fair amount of community interested in the math debate.

 The school district appears, at least in its words, but not yet by its actions, to be seeking to regain parent’s confidence going forward. Test scores, what we see in our own homes, private and public discussion, statements on the petition and legacy.pobmath.com web-site have all contributed to the growing awareness that our current elementary and middle school mathematics curricula needs to be modified to address the concerns of quality and accountability. While the future holds promise for meaningful change that will benefit our children young enough to have not missed out on multiplication tables, concerns loom large for those parents whose children’s math education suffers from gaps. They want to know exactly how their children will be identified and helped.

 Amidst lunchrooms decorated with grade-by-grade samples, Math Chairperson Roberta Silver and Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Mrs. Hodrinsky present their picture of our district’s math program. Some schools had teachers present, some not. Investigations Math specialists Lynda Lyons (Old Bethpage and Pasadena), Meg Fessel (Stratford and Parkway) and Dan Rehman (POB Middle) have attended the meetings and fielded questions. Superintendent Dr. Brooks is also a vocal participant.

What Administration is Saying

There are unspecified “gaps” that they are assuring us will be filled. Concrete remediation steps or time frames for addressing these issues were not provided. Test data results are being analyzed. Brief descriptions of current remedial programs in the middle school are mentioned. Examples of basic math strategies are given.

 Mrs. Hodrinsky incorporates feedback from each presentation within her message and she is looking for solutions going forward. Statements that “traditional math doesn’t work” and that Americans require a reform approach to understand mathematics from Mrs. Silver are quite disheartening, especially since Dr. Brooks has been promoting a “blended” approach, the exact proportions of which, we are told, have not yet been determined. Specific grade by grade curriculum, end-of-unit assessments and recognizable homework have been mentioned as goals going forward.

 From the Audience:

• The current program does not take into account the needs of strong math students – parents report that after their children master these lessons they spend time doing other activities like reading or arts & crafts while teachers continue the same math lesson with other children
• A plea for homework with more practice questions on the same topic
• An awareness that multiplication facts have recently appeared in a class’ homework that was, until quite recently, noticeably missing
• The long division debate – was it actually taught in school? While administration says yes, many parents say no since they taught it to their children themselves at home.
• Strong objection to the parent burden of teaching prep materials for state tests immediately before the test and often interfering with well-deserved vacation plans
• Why is our district using a controversial math program when other similar socio-economic districts use traditional math and are out-performing us on state tests?
• Request for viewing actual math lessons during Plainview Education Week parent school visits
• Why are there large test performance and curriculum discrepancies between district elementary schools?
• An assurance that our schools are heading in a direction that raises the bar for standards that exceeds the low-bar base standards set forth by NYS and are fitting to a district of our socio-economic standing
• Promoting accountability on behalf of the BOE and administration for what goes on in each classroom, addressing the disparity issue among classrooms within schools and within the district
• What is the specific remediation plan, including a time line, for the children who are victims of the curriculum gaps, especially those in the middle school years?
• Concern about the constraints imposed on the scope of the Math Committee’s ability to recommend an alternative curriculum if they have only seen a presentation from Investigations and not a variety of publisher’s presentations including traditional approaches used in local high-performing districts
• The second edition of Investigations is new and unproven and has no supporting evidence to be beneficial.
• Why is our curriculum significantly behind those of neighboring high-performing districts?
• Why weren’t problems recognized and dealt with sooner?
• Misleading use of statistics in presenting a picture of the district’s math “wellness”
• If, as the Administration points out, all math curricula, whether traditional or not, require supplementation, then why was a traditional math program completely abandoned 5 years ago, rather than supplemented with Investigations-like concepts to fill in those gaps?
• Concerns about the veracity of and lack of full disclosure of the statements made by administration representatives at other public forums, such as the Math Night held earlier in the school year or in personal conversation.
• An example of what was sent home to fifth grade students describing “clusters” was read out loud and made absolutely no sense.
• That the proposed end-of-unit assessments be made available to parents prior to parent-teacher conferences and more frequently throughout the school year
• Report card grading system of math does not accurately represent how our children are doing

 A few complaints surfaced that some overwhelmingly negative opinions were taking over the meetings and were not allowing the district its fair say without interruption. While a certainly a valid perception, it must be remembered that these meetings came about as a damage-control reaction to a petition from unhappy parents, not as a pro-active measure to support the community’s ongoing concerns that have gone unaddressed for many years until public community pressure was applied. Two parents spoke up in support of the positives of the Investigations program at Parkway School.

 BOE members are in attendance observing the meetings. They hear the message loud and clear. Parents are dissatisfied with Investigations and do not want the new and improved edition to be purchased. Our children need to learn basic math. We want text books not hand books. Plainview resident Dr. Robert Stanton signed the petition and supports the parents’ position, “As a Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, I am appalled that the Investigations program has been implemented in our school district. The expectations of this program have been reduced to unacceptably low levels; fractions with a denominator as small as 7 are deemed too hard. This program will leave children completely lacking in the fundamentals necessary to succeed in algebra.”

According to the PCT Pledge, the newsletter of the Plainview teacher’s union, parents and teachers seem to be saying the same things – http://www.pobct.org/. Any community that cares enough to come together to discuss our children’s education with a common goal in mind truly is a community to envy. The fact that so many parents attend these meetings is indicative that they have not given up all their confidence in the school district, at least not yet. As one petition-signer aptly worded their comment, “You tried it, it failed. Now please correct the situation. It’s OK to make mistakes. It’s not OK not to remedy them.” If we continue the charade of smiling quietly when the subject of math comes up yet purchase textbooks and workbooks and self-teach or hire tutors to home school our kids in math, we are only perpetuating a recognized problem that the district wants to solve.

The district road show continues next week at the middle schools. Connected Math is as big a threat to our children as Investigations. Visit legacy.pobmath.com for a schedule. Come down, listen and speak up.  Now is the time to get involved in your children’s education!

 Attend the Board of Education meeting, Monday, March 26
Mattlin Board Room, Washington Avenue, 7:45 PM 

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MARK YOUR CALENDAR:
The Math Committee report will be presented at the
Monday, April 23 BOE meeting