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Education has been a staple of the American dream for over a century. It has been held that
educating our children will lead to a more educated society which will improve the quality
of life within that society and improve the global economic standing of the nation. As
parents we want our children to live happy and successful lives and that being educated will
not only improve our society, but the quality of life for each child. The challenge to
attaining this lies in what and how to teach.
This goal has been executed differently in each era of our educational history as nation.
Around the turn of the century most children only needed basic trade arithmetic to be
successful. They got this instruction in elementary school so secondary education
successful. They got this instruction in elementary school so secondary education
focused on the few that would attend college to become professional scientists or
mathematicians. Then around the beginning of the Great Depression, more students were
going into secondary education to keep them out of the work force. To prepare them for the
technological advances of the time, the non- college bound student received more practical
mathematics instruction. Going into the Modern Era with the launch of Sputnik,
there was a large national push to prepare the next generation for the more complex mathematics
being required. Colleges were stressing Calculus and modern algebra which raised the
being required. Colleges were stressing Calculus and modern algebra which raised the
standards of secondary education to prepare all students for this higher
mathematics. When this push did not significantly decrease the number of failing students, the
next era of math education called for teachers to return “back-to-basics”. New research
was enlightening how children learn and new technologies like the calculator became
available, which required educators to consider how best to proceed. This brings us to
the Standards Era that we find ourselves in today. With the interconnected global economy,
technology advancing exponentially, and an information driven society
standards were put in place for all students to meet to prepare them for the demands they will
face. In collaboration with educators, mathematicians, and business leaders, standards have
been created and adjusted over the past thirty years to bring us the Common Core State
Standards that have been adopted in 45 states and three territories. The goal of these
Standards that have been adopted in 45 states and three territories. The goal of these
standards is not to fill our children’s heads with lots of information, but to teach them
how to understand the information they need to be successful.
As we look to how best to prepare our children to succeed in society we are hopeful for
the CCSS being set in place. We urge teachers and administrators to consider
using the textbooks, technology, and assessments that will foster in our
children a deeper understanding of our world.
children a deeper understanding of our world.
With national standards now upon us, adopting a new textbook will guide instruction in the
classroom for years to come. As parents this is a very important topic not to leave out.
National standards will give textbook publishers one set of standards to develop from
instead of 50. This will allow publishers to focus their time and money into creating quality
content. With two high-stakes assessment representing large consortiums of states,
publishers are able to develop their materials to align to two assessments rather than many.
Again, this allows for more time and money being focused on less materials which should
produce a better product. Each state is given the ability to add an additional 15% to CCSS
produce a better product. Each state is given the ability to add an additional 15% to CCSS
that is seen as important to the state or is required by state law. This will allow
publishers to include a little bit more customization to the textbook which would appeal to
each state. Lastly, with new textbooks being a must across the country, there are many
parties that are interested in taking advantage of this opportunity. The CCSS promote
many non-traditional learning environments to occur to reach each objective in the standards.
This leads many developers to evaluate their curriculum material with a new
perspective. All of these factors need to be considered when selecting a new textbook.
These materials need to not just meet the standards but exceed them.
With many developers, traditional and non- traditional, in the
competition for school districts to buy their product, we feel it is our responsibility
to make sure certain aspects are thought of when adopting a new textbook. The first being that
the new textbook will actually prepare my child and future children for college or the
workforce as the CCSS boast they will. Most importantly I think this needs to be done by
building student’s critical thinking skills through more challenging problems that
require problem solving. We also believe textbook adopters will need to evaluate textbooks
require problem solving. We also believe textbook adopters will need to evaluate textbooks
for how the content is displayed. The standards leave a lot of room for variation in
teaching strategies, so the textbooks should have the content structured to facilitate any strategy.
for how the content is displayed. The standards leave a lot of room for variation in
The Standards for Mathematical Practice describe varieties of expertise that mathematics
educators at all levels should seek to develop in their students. These practices rest
on important “processes and proficiencies” with longstanding importance in
mathematics education. No matter the type of instruction, the examples and problems
presented should help foster the development of these skills. If these skills can be
taught, then we think teachers would be able to say that they prepared their students for
whatever life gives them after high school.
As parents, we want to see an increased use of technology in the classroom. It is no longer
an option to operate in society without interacting with technology on a daily basis.
Historically, schools prepared students for the transactions they would need to conduct
operating family businesses and small shops. As colleges increased the level of their
prerequisite courses and curriculum became standardized across the country, the amount
of mathematics taught in schools increased. Though there has been debate over the
purpose of mathematics education, we feel that there should still be a strong
emphasis on preparing students for participation in society after high school, and the
curriculum needs to reflect this goal. As successful members of society, our
students need to learn 21st century skills. These skills apply to the job market as well
as the college community. Nearly all information is now communicated digitally, and
then needs to be intelligently organized and presented. Social media sites are no longer just
for Sally to say what she wore to school today, or tell us that she is dating Bobby. Companies
market themselves on facebook, twitter, and pinterest, and colleges expect students to
check their email and the school’s online learning management system daily. We now
share data on clouds, shared drives, and in google documents. Professors create
class wikis and blogs. In the traditional classroom, there is no preparation for this type of
technology use.
Not only does the traditional classroom ignore what society expects of our students once
they graduate, but it disregards their background, interests, and preferences. Our
students have naturally grown up interacting with TV, computers, cell phones, and
constant access to the internet-earning them the title of “digital natives”. The way
that they communicate and entertain themselves centers around technology, yet the
second they enter the classroom, they are asked to get out a pencil, paper, large
printed textbook, and watch the teacher write on the board. Students are expected to digest
information in a way that is completely foreign to them, and not surprisingly, they
struggle. The above cartoon makes fun of the fact that students expect all surfaces to
be interactive touch screens, yet with SMART boards, the technology exists to prove the
joke wrong. As parents we would like to see the school curriculum take into greater
account our children’s proficiency in using technology to interact with information.
In addition to our children’s experience with using technology to process
information, they have needs as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners.
Technology has the benefit of appealing to all three of these types of students in
communicating mathematics. Though some students do well in the traditional classroom
setting, we want a curriculum that will apply to all of our children rather than a select
few. By integrating technology on a regular basis, you would be engaging all types of learners,
perhaps including those who never seem to care. As parents we know what grabs our
children’s attention, and that is video games more often than our own voice. We want our
children to have interest in what they are learning, and technology can help increase
that interest. A key way in which this happens is through personal interaction with the
technology. Because each student is able to operate their own computer or
calculator, they are able to have their own experience with the information to build on in
later classes.
We know the technology is available, and a number of us parents use advanced technology
on a regular basis in our jobs. We know that our children will be entering jobs similar to our
own when they graduate, and we want them to be prepared to succeed in those jobs. A number
of different technological resources are available, and it is disappointing how little
they are used in classrooms. We know that funding is always a concern, but there are a number
of free resources available. Most schools already have a computer lab and a set of
graphing calculators, and there are plenty of things that can be done with just these two
resources. We found simulators and free downloadable software available with some research on
the internet. We do, in fact, want our children to be able to use graphing calculators.
Algebra skills should be learned by hand first, but we recognize that the technology
is nearly always available for students to use, and there are more in-depth activities that
can be done when a calculator speeds up the time needed in class. Additionally, many of
our children will need to know how to use calculators in college, and we want them to be
prepared. We want our students to see teaching strategies other than a traditional method, such
as the flipped classroom. Studies on the flipped classroom have been successful,
prepared. We want our students to see teaching strategies other than a traditional method, such
and we would like to see the teachers use more teaching methods such as this one. Our
children would benefit from these types of strategies with more activities during class
time. The flipped classroom uses the expertise of our teachers as a “guide on the
side” rather than a “sage on the stage” by opening class time for collaborative work.
Our students are less frustrated, and they take advantage of the technology
available to learn concepts and review them on their own time. Even by simply providing varied
teaching methods, those students that don’t succeed under the traditional methods would have
a chance for success. This can be done through an increased use of technology in the
classroom, which continues to be the future of our society.
As parents, we want our children to be assessed so we can be confident that they are being
taught, as well as learning, the state standards. However, we do not want an assessment
that simply measures a student’s procedural fluency, we are also concerned about
problem solving and reasoning.
A high-stakes assessment for this particular instance we are defining as a test that
determines graduation. High-stakes testing became very prevalent in high school
classrooms after President Bush signed No Child Left Behind into law in 2001. NCLB
required states to assess students on state created standards. In 2009, with
President Obama in office, a new education initiative was created – Race to the Top.
Race to the Top gave states incentives to adopt a set of national standards, known as
the Common Core standards. With a new of set of standards, comes a new set of high stakes
tests. A lot is still unknown about what will become of the new high stakes tests, but
regardless, as parents, we believe that high stakes tests are an important part of education.
It is important for schools to have high-stakes assessments for many reasons. First of
all, it gives parents the confidence that the teachers of their child are teaching the
correct material. We no longer have to worry that one teacher is teaching one set of
curriculum and another teacher is teaching another set of curriculum. All students
should be learning the same material. High- stakes assessments also allow us to
gauge how well a school is doing because all schools are giving the exact same
assessment. High-stakes assessments also put more meaning into a high school
diploma because the student has shown proficiency on the designated standards by passing
the high stakes test. These are all reasons of why high-stakes tests are a valuable part of
high school education.
I just listed reasons why high-stakes tests are valuable, however, if the high stakes
tests are not an accurate measure of student learning, or the standards that are being
assessed are not “good” standards, then none of these reason are true. Currently,
AIMS is given to students during their sophomore year. This test is intended to
measure student’s proficiency level on Algebra 1 and Geometry standards. As parents, we
don’t believe that 1 test can accurately measure a student’s 2 year knowledge of math. We
believe that more tests, more frequently, would give a more accurate assessment of student
learning. As Common Core begins to phase in the next couple years, and students start to
take the PARCC assessment, they will begin to be assessed multiple times their freshman,
sophomore, and junior year. This should increase the accuracy of the assessment.
However, just having more assessments will not fix the problem. We also need better
assessments. We don’t just want our child to memorize a bunch of different procedures.
We want our child to be able to apply those procedures to solve problems that require critical
thinking and reasoning. In order for our children to learn these skills, they need to be
taught them, in order for them to be taught, they need to be incorporated into the
curriculum, and that means they need to be assessed on high-stake exams. Now, we
can’t just add more problem solving and reasoning tasks to the already large curriculum.
We need to have fewer standards, so teachers are allowed to focus in on the most important
topics in mathematics and go deep into those topics. There are currently too many Arizona
topics in mathematics and go deep into those topics. There are currently too many Arizona
State Mathematics Standards that are being assessed on AIMS. This seems to be improved with
creation of the Common Core. The Common Core Mathematics Standards are fewer and more
vague then the current standards. Just having more assessments and better
standards is not good enough. Even if the new Common Core standards are a big
standards is not good enough. Even if the new Common Core standards are a big
improvement, it wont matter unless the high- stakes tests, accurately assess students on
these standards. As parents, we believe that high-stakes tests play an important role in
our children's education, but if they are not valid and reliable assessments of
rigorous mathematical standards, we don’t want them.
These three issues speak to the heart of parents. It is not that we care deeply about the proper
construction of curriculum, but we do care deeply for our children. As we mentioned in the
construction of curriculum, but we do care deeply for our children. As we mentioned in the
beginning, we want our children to lead happy and successful lives. We feel that providing
our children with the most innovative textbooks and advanced technology will
prepare them for their future. Also, to ensure that our children are not being left
prepare them for their future. Also, to ensure that our children are not being left
behind, we desire informative assessments that describe what adjustments they need to
graduate and ultimately carve their niche in society. After all, we are not proud of our
graduates for passing a test, we are proud of them for rising to the challenge and proving
they are ready for what lies ahead. Therefore, we urge you to take these issues into
consideration while you are developing curriculum. Thank you.