Congratulations Status Quo-ers

If you look at the 2009 and 2010 Math CSAP (state achievement tests) for one of the larger school districts in Colorado you will see that the status quo has been preserved although with a slight downward bias.

2009 Math CSAP



2010 Math CSAP




This performance is typical of large districts in Colorado. Since the methods used in Colorado are basically the same throughout the nation with a few exceptions it is highly likely that the national picture is essentially the same. In the most important metric, that of tenth grade proficient or better the result is down.

I am very familiar with the district whose charts are shown. There has been much talk of improving math instruction for a decade or more. It has been a war between the “expert” educators and the parents and outside math experts. It comes down to this. The outside experts know that the curricula used especially in elementary schools will not provide the foundational math knowledge required to be successful in middle school and beyond.

The educators have chosen to use an approach that converts the elementary teacher into a “facilitator” for the constructivist/discovery processes that are the predominant approach. While there are several curricula of this type the district has chosen EveryDay Math as the standard approach and is “rolling it out” as fast as they can to all of the schools in the district. This choice is made to try to “cover up” the fact that a large percentage of elementary teachers do not have the requisite math knowledge to teach math in a way that would provide the foundation the students require. If you doubt this and have a strong stomach you can read Liping Ma’s book Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics, Teachers' Understanding of Fundamental Mathematics in China and the United States.

The methods the administrators use to protect the status quo are very effective. The first arrow in their quiver is to listen attentively to the outside input, pretending to value it. The next step when it is obvious that the outside input is serious and has staying power is to hire “expert” consultants to evaluate the math curriculum and alignment for the district. This, of course, takes lots of time and money. It also is worthless because the “experts” who do the analysis are education insiders who don’t understand math either. This is because the education schools do not teach subjects with rigor. They concentrate only on process.

A third arrow in the quiver is to set goals that on the surface appear to be stretching in nature and to the benefit of the students. However, in years of observing this process it is obvious that there is no intention to actually do anything to meet the goals. They are only there to mollify the critics until they lose interest.

There is no closed loop process in place in education. There is no quality control in education. No one is tasked to close the loop and point out with vigor that goals aren’t being met. No one is tasked to point out that the kids are not being served nearly well enough. While the board of education could provide this function, they don’t have the moxie or skill. They have been trained by the “expert” educators to be rubber stampers of the administrator proposals, and most of all to “be nice.”

Thus, the children continue to be ill served but the educators are happy because they were able to avoid change which might require them to work harder and learn more. So, congratulations educators on successfully protecting your ability to continue to harm kids.