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~ Bob Moses, quote in Math Literacy: Radical Equations, Time, 18 June, 2001. |
Little wonder that so many City of Richmond Public School (RPS) students struggle with basic math skills when a majority of RPS School Board members and top administrators fail to do their own homework. (See information that immediately follows this report about Bob Moses' Algebra Project).
Upon learning that RPS had some of the worst SOL math scores in Virginia, Maurice Henderson, the vice chairman and 5th District member of the RPS School Board, had the gall to tell Richmond Times Dispatch reporter Zachary Reid:
"There's no alarm here
....There's no news here. We're headed in the right direction [...] My
only concern is that we stay focused on the things that are broadly making our
schools better and not get burdened with or wrapped up in this singular
moment."
Really? Some of the worst scores in
Virginia? No alarm? No News?
How can Henderson honestly think
that a 97 percent failure rate (only 3 percent passed) at Martin Luther King,
Jr. Middle School is not news nor cause for alarm?
How can it not be news if only 7
percent of the kids at Henderson Middle School (a 93 percent failure rate)
passed the test? The Capital City Program, located in Gilpin Court at a school once attended by tennis-great Arthur Ashe but now serves students with behavior issues, had a 4 percent pass rate.
How can it not be news when all
Richmond middle schools failed to pass the test? When pressed on this issue, key
members of RPS central administration tried to explain away these scores by claiming that they did not receive fundamental information about the new math test
from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) until February 2012?
Really? When asked about
this, VDOE spokesman Charles Pyle and Julie Grimes, provided
the following materials that seem to contradict RPS claims
they were not provided necessary information in time to
prepare students and teachers for the new math tests.
***
Here is a release and additional information
regarding efforts that VDOE undertook to assist school divisions in preparing
their students for the new Math SOLs:
- http://www.doe.virginia.gov/news/news_releases/2012/feb22.shtml
- This is from our website concerning the Math Institutes http://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/mathematics/index.shtml
VDOE has provided targeted professional
development in a “train-the-trainer” format through Mathematics Standards of
Learning Institutes in 2009, 2010, and 2011. The 2011 Mathematics SOL
Institutes continue to support implementation of the 2009 Mathematics
Standards of Learning, framed by the five goals for students becoming
mathematical problem solvers, communicating mathematically, reasoning
mathematically, making mathematical connections, and using mathematical
representations to model and interpret practical situations.
- This is a page that has been on our website for a while with multiple resources related to the new Math SOLs http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/mathematics/index.shtml
If you look at the dates on the documents in the
chart under the “Test Blueprint” column, you can see that these have been
available since 2010 (with the Algebra II one having revision date of 2011). Math instructional videos for teachers have been
available on our website for a number of years, and have been added to:
- http://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/mathematics/resources/videos/index.shtml
- SOL Practice Items: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/practice_items/index.shtml#math
- Mathematics Crosswalks have been available since 2010: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/mathematics/math_crosswalk_09_01.pdf
Here are a few of the supts. memos related to new
2009 Math SOL resources:
· MEMO
#317-09 2009 Mathematics Standards of Learning Curriculum Framework
and the Impact on Assessment
· MEMO
#230-09 K-12 Mathematics Standards of Learning Training Institutes
· MEMO
#139-09 Changes in Standards of Learning Mathematics Tests in 2012
2010:
· MEMO
#223-10 Implementation of New Standards of Learning Test Blueprints
for the 2009 Mathematics Standards of Learning
· MEMO
#210-10 K-12 Mathematics Institutes
· MEMO
#274-10 Public Comment on the Supplement to the Curriculum Framework
for the 2009 Mathematics Standards of Learning
2011:
· MEMO
#303-11 K-12 Mathematics Standards of Learning Institutes and
Professional Development Resources
· MEMO
#240-11 English and Mathematics Capstone Course Implementation
· MEMO
#234-11 K-12 Mathematics Standards of Learning Institutes
2012:
· MEMO
#230-12 K-12 Mathematics Standards of Learning Institutes
· MEMO
#123-12 Mathematics Word Wall Vocabulary Cards for Grades K-5
· MEMO
#032-12 Supports for Implementation of the 2009 Mathematics
Standards of Learning
The Civil Right to Radical Math: Robert Moses - US News and World ...
www.usnews.com › Home › Money › Best LeadersOct 22, 2006 – Harlem-born, Harvard-educated Robert Moses is a radical in the most traditional ... First as a civil rights leader and now as an advocate for the poor and founder of the math literacy program the Algebra Project, Moses has looked at ...Moses, who had taught math decades earlier at New York's Horace Mann ...Robert Moses : Biography
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmoses.htm
Robert Moses was born in Harlem, New York, on 23rd January, 1935. ...Moses left teaching to work full-time in the civil rights movement. ... Moses currently teaches algebra and geometry to high school students at Lanier High School in ... Radical Equations: Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project
www.amazon.com › ... › Education Theory › Reform & PolicyRadical Equations: Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project [ Paperback]. Robert ... Amazon Price, New from, Used from ... Telling the story of this remarkable program, Robert Moses draws on lessons from the 1960s Southern voter ...Robert Parris Moses - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Parris_MosesThis is about the educator and civil rights activist; for other uses, see Robert ... NewYork, January 23, 1935, usually known as Bob Moses) is an American, ... 1960s Civil Rights Movement and later founded the nationwide U.S. Algebra project.Algebra Project: Bob Moses Empowers Students - New York Times
www.nytimes.com/.../algebra-project-bob-moses-empowers-students....Jan 7, 2001 – The ghosts of Mississippi do not haunt Bob Moses, but they are there. ...Mr. Moses, who was among the first civil rights workers to penetrate ...You visited this page on 9/7/12.Civil rights icon Robert Moses promotes middle school algebra ...
www.washingtonpost.com/.../civil-rights...robert-moses...algebra/.../ ...Sep 9, 2011 – Robert Moses, the legendary SNCC organizer, came to town to advocate... has taken up much of his last 30 years: algebra as a civil right for kids.Civil rights pioneer and education reformer Robert Moses visits ...
african-americanstudies.pages.tcnj.edu/.../civil-rights-pioneer-and-ed...Jan 23, 2012 – Dr. Robert P. Moses, who played a key role in the drive for voting rights... Radical Equations: Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project. ... The College of New Jersey | 2000 Pennington Road Ewing, NJ 08628-0718 ...Radical Equations: Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra ...
books.google.com › ... › Educational Policy & Reform › GeneralRating: 3.5 - 23 reviewsMy rating for this book isn't a rating of the Algebra Project itself. I think what Robert Moses did during the civil rights and has done for education is courageous, ...
Confidential to teachers who posted comments to this blog on Saturday --
ReplyDeletePlease send me some contact information (and any other information) y'all might have that can help me get to the heart of the SOL math score mess. I would like to speak with teachers concerning the support you DID NOT receive. Thanks!