Virginia to eliminate accelerated math courses because they are racial
- Thread starter lowell
- Start date
Fox News is telling them Biden will only allow them to eat 4lbs of red meat a year. I'm shocked they haven't been posting about that.
Sheez Gary...the ole
liberal reply when you have no answer...change the subject!! That?s so old and obvious.
haven,t been around for a while as this site has regressed to the hufferspost post of sports forum and is quite depressing. I will make a few posts this week and then will move on as before.
- Mar 19, 2006
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Virginia isn?t eliminating accelerated math courses
By Kate Masters/Virginia Mercury 6 hrs ago 3
https://www.insidenova.com/headline...cle_66c211bc-a765-11eb-aada-2f853e2d6cea.html
A minor political furor erupted in Virginia last week ? over math.
It started with a Fox News story declaring that the state Department of Education was moving to eliminate all accelerated math classes before 11th grade, ?effectively keeping higher-achieving students from advancing as they usually would in the school system.?
Republican leaders soon joined a chorus of dissenters. House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert criticized the department?s ?plan to lower standards,? stating that ?Virginians have had enough of the insatiable agenda to eliminate opportunities for students to excel in the quest to achieve mediocrity for all.? Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin slammed the decision in another statement, saying families across the state were ?up in arms.?
However, according to VDOE officials, there hasn?t been any decision yet to change the state?s mathematics standards or curricula. Much of the original Fox story was based on critical social media posts from a member of the Loudoun County School Board. Those posts, in turn, were based on a statewide proposal called the Virginia Mathematics Pathways Initiative ? an effort to modernize math education in public schools.
In a Monday briefing, state education officials were quick to emphasize that the initiative is still in development. Virginia?s superintendent of public instruction, James Lane, said a formal proposal had yet to come before him or the state Board of Education. Any change would be part of the state?s regularly scheduled revisions to its Standards of Learning ? expectations for what students should master in every grade level ? and wouldn?t make it into classrooms until the 2025-26 school year.
But in regional webinars, experts and department officials outlined significant potential changes to how math in Virginia is structured. One widely circulated graphic eliminated courses such as Algebra I and II in favor of ?foundational? and ?essential? math concepts, with more advanced classes ? including calculus and geometry ? not starting until the 11th grade.
In webinars, VDOE officials have been upfront that the initiative is based on data, especially standardized test scores that show Black, Hispanic and low-income students have lower pass rates on state math assessments than White and Asian students. Those critical of the initiative have argued that Virginia is lowering its standards in favor of certain students instead of improving instruction to help more children reach advanced courses.
The idea of reforming math education, though, isn?t new, and it wasn?t pioneered in Virginia. At least 22 states have explored the idea, which is based on decades of research on how traditional math coursework is failing students from many backgrounds.
What are ?math pathways? and what are they supposed to improve?
In Virginia, like much of the country, most math curriculum follows one traditional route. The Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas ? whose research has informed pathways initiatives in multiple states ? describes it as ?a course in geometry sandwiched between two courses in algebra.? The larger goal is to send as many students as possible down the path toward calculus.
That?s because upper-level algebra courses are viewed as more rigorous by many colleges and often required for admission or to transfer credits. But over the years, educators have found that they alienate students who don?t need those courses in their future careers. Some, for example, might be better served by statistics classes that provide a strong foundation for the classes they?ll take in college. Other students might make the decision to stop taking math classes as soon as they can because the information just doesn?t apply to them.
?For some students, it?s just not relevant,? said Patricia Parker, who serves as an adviser for the Virginia initiative on behalf of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and Virginia Community College System. But even for advanced-track students, the status quo doesn?t always lead to success. According to the Dana Center, roughly a third of students at all public four-year colleges are placed in a remedial math course before they go on to college-level classes. That includes students who have taken courses like Algebra II and calculus in high school.
?What parents don?t know, or maybe don?t realize, is that so much mathematics gets retaken when you get to college,? Parker said. In 2015, VCCS embarked on its own effort to reform math education at the community college level after learning that many students weren?t gaining the background they needed in high school.
?What we learned was that it wasn?t the students? ability to do calculus or not that was preventing them from being stellar engineers or stellar scientists,? Parker said. ?It was that they were coming with weak foundational skills.?
Virginia?s pathways initiative is an effort to change that. Right now, it?s still a concept for VDOE, which means there?s no formal guidance or curricula for local school divisions. But a preliminary model suggests that from eighth to 10th grade, all students would focus on essential math concepts like data analysis, probability and algebra (?algebraic thinking? would be tied into most of the coursework, Parker said). In their junior and senior years, students could choose between half-credit and full-credit math courses depending on their interests and career plans.
By Kate Masters/Virginia Mercury 6 hrs ago 3
https://www.insidenova.com/headline...cle_66c211bc-a765-11eb-aada-2f853e2d6cea.html
A minor political furor erupted in Virginia last week ? over math.
It started with a Fox News story declaring that the state Department of Education was moving to eliminate all accelerated math classes before 11th grade, ?effectively keeping higher-achieving students from advancing as they usually would in the school system.?
Republican leaders soon joined a chorus of dissenters. House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert criticized the department?s ?plan to lower standards,? stating that ?Virginians have had enough of the insatiable agenda to eliminate opportunities for students to excel in the quest to achieve mediocrity for all.? Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin slammed the decision in another statement, saying families across the state were ?up in arms.?
However, according to VDOE officials, there hasn?t been any decision yet to change the state?s mathematics standards or curricula. Much of the original Fox story was based on critical social media posts from a member of the Loudoun County School Board. Those posts, in turn, were based on a statewide proposal called the Virginia Mathematics Pathways Initiative ? an effort to modernize math education in public schools.
In a Monday briefing, state education officials were quick to emphasize that the initiative is still in development. Virginia?s superintendent of public instruction, James Lane, said a formal proposal had yet to come before him or the state Board of Education. Any change would be part of the state?s regularly scheduled revisions to its Standards of Learning ? expectations for what students should master in every grade level ? and wouldn?t make it into classrooms until the 2025-26 school year.
But in regional webinars, experts and department officials outlined significant potential changes to how math in Virginia is structured. One widely circulated graphic eliminated courses such as Algebra I and II in favor of ?foundational? and ?essential? math concepts, with more advanced classes ? including calculus and geometry ? not starting until the 11th grade.
In webinars, VDOE officials have been upfront that the initiative is based on data, especially standardized test scores that show Black, Hispanic and low-income students have lower pass rates on state math assessments than White and Asian students. Those critical of the initiative have argued that Virginia is lowering its standards in favor of certain students instead of improving instruction to help more children reach advanced courses.
The idea of reforming math education, though, isn?t new, and it wasn?t pioneered in Virginia. At least 22 states have explored the idea, which is based on decades of research on how traditional math coursework is failing students from many backgrounds.
What are ?math pathways? and what are they supposed to improve?
In Virginia, like much of the country, most math curriculum follows one traditional route. The Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas ? whose research has informed pathways initiatives in multiple states ? describes it as ?a course in geometry sandwiched between two courses in algebra.? The larger goal is to send as many students as possible down the path toward calculus.
That?s because upper-level algebra courses are viewed as more rigorous by many colleges and often required for admission or to transfer credits. But over the years, educators have found that they alienate students who don?t need those courses in their future careers. Some, for example, might be better served by statistics classes that provide a strong foundation for the classes they?ll take in college. Other students might make the decision to stop taking math classes as soon as they can because the information just doesn?t apply to them.
?For some students, it?s just not relevant,? said Patricia Parker, who serves as an adviser for the Virginia initiative on behalf of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and Virginia Community College System. But even for advanced-track students, the status quo doesn?t always lead to success. According to the Dana Center, roughly a third of students at all public four-year colleges are placed in a remedial math course before they go on to college-level classes. That includes students who have taken courses like Algebra II and calculus in high school.
?What parents don?t know, or maybe don?t realize, is that so much mathematics gets retaken when you get to college,? Parker said. In 2015, VCCS embarked on its own effort to reform math education at the community college level after learning that many students weren?t gaining the background they needed in high school.
?What we learned was that it wasn?t the students? ability to do calculus or not that was preventing them from being stellar engineers or stellar scientists,? Parker said. ?It was that they were coming with weak foundational skills.?
Virginia?s pathways initiative is an effort to change that. Right now, it?s still a concept for VDOE, which means there?s no formal guidance or curricula for local school divisions. But a preliminary model suggests that from eighth to 10th grade, all students would focus on essential math concepts like data analysis, probability and algebra (?algebraic thinking? would be tied into most of the coursework, Parker said). In their junior and senior years, students could choose between half-credit and full-credit math courses depending on their interests and career plans.
- Mar 19, 2006
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Wayne, how about the ole 'toss a line of bullshit out there with no source' and expect everyone to accept it as truth? Is that how this is supposed to work? Good grief.
Next Thread: Democrats are eating babies in the basement of a Washington DC pizza parlor. Let's debate whether this is a good idea or bad idea. Go!
Other than the Russian Bounty report, which was leaked out of the Trump administration after Trump was briefed on the intelligence report, what are you referring to?
russian collusion
mueller probe
kavanaugh
mike flynn
Trump's phone call to Ukraine
peacefull riots
tear gas at St.John's
fire extinguisher murder
no crisis at the border
laptop cover up
and many,many more....
ALL:nono:
Fake News
There was false reporting on the Russian Collusion and Mueller Probe that put Mike Flynn and the Trump campaign staff in jail?
Didn't women TESTIFY before congress that the charges against Kavanaugh were true?
Mike Flynn was not released because he was innocent. We have covered this in the Mike Flynn thread.
Trump's call to Ukraine: HE WAS IMPEACHED OVER IT!
Everything you say is bullshit. You wouldn't know the facts if they bit you in the ass.
You should call yourself Google since you know everything. but all your facts have the scent of shit to them
?The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: Be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge.? ? Elbert Hubbard
- Mar 19, 2006
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No, Virginia Did Not ?Eliminate Accelerated Math Courses Because Equity?
By JIM GERAGHTY
April 27, 2021 12:18 PM
https://www.nationalreview.com/corn...nate-accelerated-math-courses-because-equity/
This isn?t going to win me many friends in the conservative media world, but I?m going to score the ?Virginia is banning advanced math? claim that rocketed around social media for the past few days as ?wildly exaggerated.? A school system, much less a statewide school system, doesn?t make a sweeping change like this quickly or quietly. I discussed this on the Three Martini Lunch podcast the other day; northern Virginia is basically ground zero for hyper-involved parents who are obsessed with getting their kids into Ivy League schools and making sure they?ve got a heavy, rigorous STEM curriculum. The notion that the state was going to suddenly completely overhaul their math system, under the radar, and swiftly dumb down the curriculum for the advanced kids without any vigorous pushback from some extremely powerful and influential people just didn?t sound very plausible.
A lot of the first news stories, including Fox News, used the Facebook post of the Loudon County school board member Ian Serotkin as its primary source. Now, Serotkin is a fine source, but he?s only one source. That widely-shared Fox News article on this wrote that the Virginia Department of Education ?did not immediately respond when asked about Serotkin?s comment.?
(I salute those who bothered to look at what the actual proposal is.)
https://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/mathematics/vmpi/index.shtml
And that initial Fox News story was repeated, more or less repeated verbatim, on other conservative news sites. And when this story got discussed on social media, it quickly became, ?The liberals want our kids dumbed down because an ignorant population is one they can control.?
But that?s not what Serotkin said, or initially characterized it. He understood the proposal?s objective ? making sure what?s in the math curriculum actually makes sense for every student ? and gave it a little praise in some spots:
There are some noble goals with this initiative ? it provides a pathway for every student to be able to take calculus or higher math by the end of high school if they so choose. That is a very good thing, and eliminates a major problem we have currently of students being ?locked in? to their math track and being unable to get to calculus later on if they weren?t sufficiently accelerated in middle school.
The Virginia Mathematics Pathways Initiative might have a point or two. Maybe not every kid needs calculus. Maybe courses in statistics, data analysis, probability and mathematical modeling would be more useful to them down the road, whether it?s in college or in the workforce.
The problem Serotkin saw is a homogenization of the math curriculum from about sixth grade to tenth grade. We can argue whether this is a good idea or a bad idea; I think it?s a bad one. But it is not quite accurate to declare in a headline, ?Virginia Dept. of Ed moves to end accelerated math classes for ?equity?? or ?Virginia Plans to End Accelerated Math Classes in the Name of ?Equity?? or ?Virginia Eliminates Accelerated Math Courses Because Equity.? Remember, nothing?s been decided yet, and even if enacted, nothing would change for high school juniors and seniors.
Could this reorganization of math teaching in high schools end up with a dumbed-down curriculum? Sure. But that would get a lot of pushback from those hyper-involved parents I mentioned earlier. And for what it?s worth, the Virginia Mathematics Pathways Initiative web site says none of the current key curriculum content is going away:
The content from Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 is not being eliminated by VMPI, but rather the content of these courses will be blended into a seamless progression of connected learning. This encourages students to connect mathematical concepts and develop a much deeper and more relevant understanding of each concept within its context and relevance.
In fact, if you looked at the coverage from a place like Washington-area news radio WTOP, you would see key points like, ?there is no word on how school districts will implement the plan. The state?s department of education is currently gathering feedback from the public.? This thing is barely off the drawing board, but some news sites wrote about it in past tense.
That wasn?t the angle Fox News went with, of course:
Ian Prior, a Loudoun parent and former Trump administration official, similarly panned the move as a way to ?stifle advancement for gifted students and set them back as they prepare for advanced mathematics in college. This is critical race theory in action and parents should be outraged.?
Look, a lot of northern Virginia parents just got their kids back in school a few weeks ago. The state would be wise to get back into the rhythm of getting kids educated and seeing how much ground they have to make up from the past lost year before making any sweeping changes to the curriculum. I can?t begrudge parents for being extremely suspicious of proposed changes, and even Democratic lawmakers asked state officials for ?a plain explanation of the program without using socio-political jargon but rather just simply stating what subject will be taught and when.? But that doesn?t give conservative media a free pass to mischaracterize the proposal.
A lot of websites took a probably-flawed idea at a very early stage and turned it into perfect outraged-grandparent-triggering look-what-the-liberals-are-doing-to-schools clickbait.
By JIM GERAGHTY
April 27, 2021 12:18 PM
https://www.nationalreview.com/corn...nate-accelerated-math-courses-because-equity/
This isn?t going to win me many friends in the conservative media world, but I?m going to score the ?Virginia is banning advanced math? claim that rocketed around social media for the past few days as ?wildly exaggerated.? A school system, much less a statewide school system, doesn?t make a sweeping change like this quickly or quietly. I discussed this on the Three Martini Lunch podcast the other day; northern Virginia is basically ground zero for hyper-involved parents who are obsessed with getting their kids into Ivy League schools and making sure they?ve got a heavy, rigorous STEM curriculum. The notion that the state was going to suddenly completely overhaul their math system, under the radar, and swiftly dumb down the curriculum for the advanced kids without any vigorous pushback from some extremely powerful and influential people just didn?t sound very plausible.
A lot of the first news stories, including Fox News, used the Facebook post of the Loudon County school board member Ian Serotkin as its primary source. Now, Serotkin is a fine source, but he?s only one source. That widely-shared Fox News article on this wrote that the Virginia Department of Education ?did not immediately respond when asked about Serotkin?s comment.?
(I salute those who bothered to look at what the actual proposal is.)
https://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/mathematics/vmpi/index.shtml
And that initial Fox News story was repeated, more or less repeated verbatim, on other conservative news sites. And when this story got discussed on social media, it quickly became, ?The liberals want our kids dumbed down because an ignorant population is one they can control.?
But that?s not what Serotkin said, or initially characterized it. He understood the proposal?s objective ? making sure what?s in the math curriculum actually makes sense for every student ? and gave it a little praise in some spots:
There are some noble goals with this initiative ? it provides a pathway for every student to be able to take calculus or higher math by the end of high school if they so choose. That is a very good thing, and eliminates a major problem we have currently of students being ?locked in? to their math track and being unable to get to calculus later on if they weren?t sufficiently accelerated in middle school.
The Virginia Mathematics Pathways Initiative might have a point or two. Maybe not every kid needs calculus. Maybe courses in statistics, data analysis, probability and mathematical modeling would be more useful to them down the road, whether it?s in college or in the workforce.
The problem Serotkin saw is a homogenization of the math curriculum from about sixth grade to tenth grade. We can argue whether this is a good idea or a bad idea; I think it?s a bad one. But it is not quite accurate to declare in a headline, ?Virginia Dept. of Ed moves to end accelerated math classes for ?equity?? or ?Virginia Plans to End Accelerated Math Classes in the Name of ?Equity?? or ?Virginia Eliminates Accelerated Math Courses Because Equity.? Remember, nothing?s been decided yet, and even if enacted, nothing would change for high school juniors and seniors.
Could this reorganization of math teaching in high schools end up with a dumbed-down curriculum? Sure. But that would get a lot of pushback from those hyper-involved parents I mentioned earlier. And for what it?s worth, the Virginia Mathematics Pathways Initiative web site says none of the current key curriculum content is going away:
The content from Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 is not being eliminated by VMPI, but rather the content of these courses will be blended into a seamless progression of connected learning. This encourages students to connect mathematical concepts and develop a much deeper and more relevant understanding of each concept within its context and relevance.
In fact, if you looked at the coverage from a place like Washington-area news radio WTOP, you would see key points like, ?there is no word on how school districts will implement the plan. The state?s department of education is currently gathering feedback from the public.? This thing is barely off the drawing board, but some news sites wrote about it in past tense.
That wasn?t the angle Fox News went with, of course:
Ian Prior, a Loudoun parent and former Trump administration official, similarly panned the move as a way to ?stifle advancement for gifted students and set them back as they prepare for advanced mathematics in college. This is critical race theory in action and parents should be outraged.?
Look, a lot of northern Virginia parents just got their kids back in school a few weeks ago. The state would be wise to get back into the rhythm of getting kids educated and seeing how much ground they have to make up from the past lost year before making any sweeping changes to the curriculum. I can?t begrudge parents for being extremely suspicious of proposed changes, and even Democratic lawmakers asked state officials for ?a plain explanation of the program without using socio-political jargon but rather just simply stating what subject will be taught and when.? But that doesn?t give conservative media a free pass to mischaracterize the proposal.
A lot of websites took a probably-flawed idea at a very early stage and turned it into perfect outraged-grandparent-triggering look-what-the-liberals-are-doing-to-schools clickbait.
You like being a cuck? Do what you are told
I say f Biden, I?ll eat as much or more red meat now
Oh, the irony in you posting that quote.
I'm the bad guy because I don't buy all of your posts at face value, :lol:.
