We expect better from our school board. How can we teach our kids honesty when the people responsible for running the schools are frighteningly dishonest?
On November 13th, the QCSD board unveiled the results of the "evaluation" they commissioned on Integrated Math, which has come under fire from graduates and parents for not adequately preparing the kids for college and life. IM replaces traditional concepts like algebra and geometry with problem solving, and has been taught in Quakertown schools since 2000.
The report, completed in only three days, had nothing but high praise for the Integrated concept, and recommended keeping the program with minor additions, like holding a parent-education night. This was supposed to be an impartial study to address concerns raised by the Citizens Advisory Council last June. It wasn't - intentionally. Consider what it ignored...
Integrated Math is endorsed by the National Science Foundation, which profits from its curriculum and textbooks. But it is heavily criticized by educators, universities, and many QCSD graduates, even honor students, who found themselves over their heads in college math. In fact, the school district's own survey of 2005 graduates showed that of the 42 who answered, 17 (a whopping 40%) spoke negatively about IM.
Our area Marine recruiter reported that Quakertown graduates "have, in recent years, scored consistently dead last in the Military's Aptitude Test. By all appearances, the Integrated Math Approach taught at QCSD does not adequately prepare prospective recruits as far as their math needs in the military".
A random survey of 20 eastern Pennsylvania school districts which had SAT scores higher than Quakertown in both verbal and math, compiled by Lou-Ellen Renshaw of the QCSD Citizens Advisory Council, found that every high school, all but one middle school, and most elementary schools, used traditional math or offered a choice. Bethlehem, North Penn, Bensalem, and Souderton just got rid of IM. So did 21 public high schools in Philadelphia. Penn State offers no IM courses. Pitt has one (out of 50), which comes with the written warning that it is not intended for math or science majors.
The New York Times reported "For the second time in a generation, education officials are rethinking the teaching of math in American schools (because of) students' lagging performance on international tests, and mathematicians' warnings that more than a decade of so-called reform math has crippled students with its de-emphasizing of basic drills and memorization..."
Utah, California, and Florida will discontinue teaching IM. Washington State will consider dropping the program after 52 percent of seventh graders and 41 percent of fourth graders failed the statewide math test. The original champion of IM - the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics - did an about-face in September and called for a nationwide return to basics .
None of this was included in the QCSD report. There was no evaluation of traditional vs. Integrated math. A little investigation into the backgrounds, and funding, of some of the committee members reveals why:
The committee was stacked with IM advocates who are funded by the National Science Foundation. Of the 22 people chosen to perform the "study", almost all came from pro-IM backgrounds! This was a group apparently assembled to extol IM, and support the school board's agenda. And that is dishonest.
Committee member Steven Mauerer, a math professor at Swarthmore College, is paid to create an NSF-funded Algebra II textbook. He also helped write the exact NSF-funded integrated math curriculum being used in QCSD! What are the chances he would say anything bad about his own work?
Robert Styer is a professor at Villanova University, and a member of the Mathematics and Science Partnership of Greater Philadelphia (MSPGP), which is funded by a five-year grant from - the National Science Foundation! The head of MSPGP is F. Joseph Merlino. Merlino made QCSD part of a NSF-funded $12.5 million grant to implement IM, and includes Quakertown in his study. Eight of the committee members are from school districts in Merlino's study that use IM.
When Renshaw realized who was on the committee, she was outraged. "After seeing the draft of the recommendations from the audit, I realized we had been fooled. It was immediately obvious there was nothing fair or impartial about the audit, and that their suggestions had nothing to do with improving the curriculum. You can't come up with a fix for an entire curriculum in the entire district in two days (the third day was for writing their report). I believe that the only recommendation the district wanted was how to make their IM program come across better to the public. This whole audit was a sham".
More than a sham. This is the mother of all conflicts of interest. The QCSD board handed the investigation to the very people who implemented the IM program here, and would do anything to avoid being connected with a failed math curriculum. Their research is being funded by an organization promoting IM. This is like asking the American Tobacco Company to prepare an evaluation of smoking, or George W. Bush to tell us about Iraq.
QCSD math has now taken a back seat to a much larger issue: the school board's report is deceiving the parents and students they are supposed to be representing. Endorsing a "study committee" that was sure to come out with the result the board wanted is contemptuous, and contrary to everything the schools should be teaching.
When we learn that they have offered a one-sided report for the sole purpose of making their own questionable curriculum look good, we should be as outraged as Lou Renshaw. She will be working with the district on a task force to implement changes to the math program, and has started an on-line group to share information. The homepage is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/QCSD_IM , or email her privately at qcsdim@yahoo.com .
If deceptions like this, and a 50% increase in school taxes over five years (even using Integrated Math) bother you, five board members are up for re-election next year.