In a neighboring suburb.
Major Update: Tonight (Thursday night [March 9th]) the Bellevue Math Adoption Committee voted to adopt Holt instead of the Discovering Math series. This is extraordinary good news and one can assume that school board will follow suit. It was clear to those attending that the massive intervention of Bellevue parents was a major factor. The School district received over a 100 comments, most in support of Holt, and a new analysis by Bellevue parent Jock Mackinlay of the piloting data showed the clear superiority of Holt in supporting student learning. Active, determined parental intervention can make a huge difference and it happened in Bellevue tonight. One can also thank the district for leaving ideology behind and using real data and parental wishes as guides for their actions. Now all eyes turn to Issaquah, which is now in the midst of making the same decision. And for me, back to weather!
Atmospheric scientist Cliff Mass, who wrote that post, deserves some credit for this win. And Where's the Math? deserves much of the credit for it.
Cross posted at Jim Miller on Politics.
(If you need some background on this controversy, you can read two of my posts, here and here, or these articles by Charlotte Allen and Sandra Stotsky.)
Posted by Jim Miller at March 17, 2010 03:56 PM | Email ThisCliff Mass presentation to a parent meeting was an embarrassment. He showed anecdotal evidence as statistically sound, and didn't disclose the bias in his study. Anyone understanding how a survey is done would immediately see that his data didn't prove anything. But, he has credibility because, well, because.
Give credit to the teachers and administrators in Bellevue.
Posted by: janet s on March 17, 2010 10:50 PMSounds more like the parents were instrumental in driving their decision by showing up at the meeting and voicing their opinions on the best method to teach their young poindexter. I rarely give credit to any cog in the WEA wheel as they don't exactly have a track record of success. The question is could we get the same parental turnout in some of the lesser performing educational districts in Seattle? Somehow, I doubt it.
Posted by: Rick D. on March 18, 2010 07:15 AMIf parents want to influence decisions in their school district, they need to look at what works. Accusing teachers of being incompetent, or of following a religious zeal to have inquiry methods, or presenting anecdotes as statistical proof will not get school districts to listen to you. Maybe the low success rate of Where's the Math should make you pause in your support of this group, not rally behind them.
Posted by: janet s on March 18, 2010 03:34 PM