GUSD’s awful math approach

I watched various GUSD educrats patting themselves on the back
over the fact that 44 percent of students tested made improvements
in math from fall to winter.
I watched various GUSD educrats patting themselves on the back over the fact that 44 percent of students tested made improvements in math from fall to winter. Since it is the natural inclination to make progress in the course of a school year, one would expect that most students would make progress. Less than half actually increased their MAP scores, and these folks are whooping it up. 

What they never address is the fact that only 27 percent of Gilroy students leave elementary school prepared to do sixth grade math. No one wants to take ownership of this pathetic fact. Instead, they talk about “preparing students for the basics and beyond”  and “finding out information about what they do know.”

These same “experts” also admit that they need more collaboration and training to teach third grade math. Call me crazy, but if a college graduate who has received a teaching credential is having trouble grasping third grade math, they shouldn’t be employed in this or any school district. 

What they do in Morgan Hill is teach the curriculum.

Here is a novel concept: have Gilroy math teachers use the textbook which concisely covers all the standards for each grade level. Stick to the book and our children will have a chance to be successful. Never before has the phrase “get with the program” been so apropos. GUSD needs to direct math teachers IN ALL GRADES to use the state-approved textbooks which we have paid for. 

Start at Chapter 1 and get through the book by devoting an hour per day to math. That is the most elegant way to raise math scores. Stop worrying about “higher level math concepts.” The job of a third grade math teacher is to make sure that every student masters third grade standards. If everyone did that, all those students would be prepared for fourth-grade math. Gilroy should say goodbye to MARS math. Owing much to outcome-based education, MARS is a clever program that gives you “credit” for being wrong and allows for “points off” for  getting the right answer. If you are a sixth grader given the problem “8” = n” and you answer “64”, you earn only 1 out of a possible 3 points. If you write “8 x 2” on your paper, you will get the same credit as the student who actually answers the question.

The only completely correct answer in MARS math is “8” = n; 8 x 8 = n; 64 = n”.  In GUSD, you are penalized for having mastered multiplication tables in third grade. I learned from watching this math presentation that we value something a little different here in Gilroy. Not satisfied to teach children math facts which lay the foundation for success in future years, we would rather encourage a student to wax poetic about a rectangle looking like a shoebox than teach them what a rectangle is.

Here is the crux of the matter: no one is being held accountable. 

Students are not being held accountable to do their homework. Teachers need to start using the standards-based book for which we have paid, and teaching from it every day. Principals need to take a look at priorities at their site. If math isn’t a priority, make it one.

District leaders need to cut the ties that bind us to programs which do not help students succeed on rigorous tests. Instead of poking at the validity of the “bubble test” we must start teaching kids what they need to know to fill in the right bubble. District leaders must take ownership of the fact that 73 percent of Gilroy students left elementary school in June unprepared to do math at the middle school. Do not allow one more GUSD student to be promoted from elementary school without having mastered the basics of arithmetic.