Friday, September 17, 2010
Math Consultant To Visit
There has been a lot of discussion on my blog (and in the community, and by the SC) about math, and we are looking forward to hearing the report by the outside consultant Dr. Andrew Chen in October. As announced on the ARPS website, "Family and community members who have not yet had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Andrew Chen (MIT), the consultant conducting the K-12 math program review, are invited to do so on Monday, September 20, from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m., in the Professional Development Center at the Amherst Middle School." I would strongly encourage parents to attend this meeting to share their views on this important topic.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Interesting NYT blog post on phys ed and academic performance:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/phys-ed-can-exercise-make-kids-smarter/?src=me&ref=general
Yes -- makes me wish we could make phys ed a more consistent part of the curriculum at both ARMS and ARHS, esp. in light of the obesity epidemic.
Not to mention an obesity epidemic that disproportionately affects minorities and kids from low-income households. Catherine, any chance of making P.E. a more integral part of the secondary curriculum? Should be part of the social justice mission!
Anyone go to the math meeting with Dr. Chen? Can you summarize for the blog?
I went to the meeting -- will summarize soon ... likely tomorrow!
My responses:
Anonymous 9:39 - thanks for the link to this - -I just posted the link on a whole new blog post so others could also read it.
Anonymous 4:17 - agreed! I think ARMS does now have PE every other day (but less at the HS).
Anonymous 2:54 - well, we are about to talk about district goals! This could be one! I am going to post a survey soon, so please share your thoughts on this again soon.
Anonymous 6:32 - briefly, it was a depressing meeting. Parents focused on three main topics: concern with elementary math curriculum (both with Investigations and with a lack of differentiation to higher ability students), concern with teachers (parents from the HS expressed concern about overall teacher quality), and concern about communication (several MS parents were concerned that no information was given to parents -- only kids -- about the timing and results of an algebra placement test). Both Dr. Chen and Dr. Graham (our curriculum director) took notes, but they didn't really share their views. I am looking forward to receiving the math review in October from Dr. Chen, and hope it will address these (and other) topics.
Post a Comment