instead of having students take exams in order to benefit from advanced education programs for the gifted, the board of ed will take a more cautious and long-term approach, a high-ranking official said yesterday. the board of ed has announced that it will train 3,000 coordinators responsible for the education of students showing excellent academic results in elementary schools. the so-called gifted coordinators will be sent to elementary schools in every neighborhood in brooklyn to monitor all students, working closely with their teachers, the coordinators will then pick final candidates for special education programs run by public and private universities based on math and science potential. the board of ed also plans to raise the enrollment limit at science high schools and change 100 ordinary high schools into ones that prioritize mathematics and science. special emphasis will be placed on institutions located in poor and underserved neighborhoods. science high schools have traditionally been reserved for geniuses our new schools will be modeled after “super science high schools” in Japan, but directed at all the people according to a board of ed source. smile. now the real story. and more of the real story.

a good idea: In a storefront at a Marblehead strip mall, six students aged 10 to 12 sit at folding tables and stare at math equations handed to them moments before by their teacher. For the next two hours, they will puzzle out dozens of math problems with little assistance. The students are among the first 35 pupils at the newest satellite branch of the Russian School of Mathematics. The school, which teaches algebra to kids as young as 5, began in founder Inessa Rifkin’s Newton kitchen 12 years ago. At the time, Rifkin believed her son was underachieving and decided to start a small class for teenagers. Today, the school has 1,800 students at its Newton location, a camp in New Hampshire, and branches in Acton, Marblehead, and San Jose, Calif. The North Shore branch opened earlier this month.

a bad idea:As the New Jersey Department of Education continues to redesign its high school curriculum to add more rigor, officials have moved away from one of the proposed plan’s most controversial elements: requiring all students to pass Algebra II. Algebra I already is a graduation requirement for this year’s freshman class, and plans are to make geometry – or a course with equivalent content – mandatory. But the proposed Algebra II requirement has been relaxed, enabling students to comply by taking a yet-to-be-designed course that builds on Algebra I and geometry. Marlene Brubaker, a science teacher at Camden County Technical School in Pennsauken, criticized what she called a “one-size-fits-all approach” to education.

“I have the highest regard for people being able to do higher math,” Brubaker said. “However, you need to have appropriate levels of math and science for the careers the students are shooting for.”

As it is, she said, her students lost time from their technical course work to get tutored for standardized tests in math and language arts. She worries what will happen if the state requires multiple exams for graduation. She would like to see versions of third-year math that target differing needs of students.

At a legislative hearing two months ago, Joseph G. Rosenstein of the New Jersey Mathematics and Science Education Coalition called the Algebra II requirement an “intellectual Ponzi scheme.”

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i am not sure what an “intellectual Ponzi scheme” is, but it seems clear to me that the good people of new jersey have this wrong to the detriment of the kids in that state.

two good ideas: a group of republican lawmakers are pushing an education proposal which will enable florida students to better compete against students worldwide. the bills (HB 1293, SB 2654) would set forth requirements for florida students that would ensure they had to take higher level math and science classes in order to graduate. this can’t be done on the cheap so it would be nice to see the republicans, embrace, smile, rep. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, who is pushing his own education bill that would raise the state sales tax by 1 cent to pay for education. at a Florida Education Association press conference Bullard pointed out that there is no way lawmakers can address standards without looking at the money. he said,“We can’t have the conversation about increased standards and not begin to address the issues in and around increasing the funding or providing revenue that will help alleviate the burdens, of teachers, administrators, school boards school systems, et cetera.,” the increase in the sales tax by a penny for three years, would generate $3.5 billion for schools. let’s hope the folks in florida do a bit more than “have a conversation”, for the kids sake. more to come.

Andrés Alonso is an immigrant with four Ivy League degrees. He has been tasked in Baltimore to bring a culture of high achievement to a school system where historically only about half the students have graduated. It is an enormous task, one at which many have failed, not only here but in cities across America. But Alonso, a 51-year-old bachelor, believes fervently that the poor, minority children born into America’s underclass don’t have to be stuck there. His urgency and intensity, often fueled by little more than diet Lipton green tea, have inspired some employees and alienated others. Read more.

here is a story from the phillipines dealing with the performance of girls and boys in 8th grade algebra. read it.

here are some recent articles on algebra around the country. we have to bell this cat. there is no way around it. the thing to understand is that this is not very hard to do. what is required is sustained will on the part of the community. the first article deals with some efforts in minnesota Charlie Weaver: What’s worse: A tough test or a free pass? and the second concerns efforts in orange county california.

Question from Danny Martin, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Education and Mathematics, University of Illinois at Chicago:
While I agree that we need to give focused attention to the needs of African Ameircan males, I am always very troubled by the ways in which these these boys, and their needs, are framed. I am particularly troubled that the needs of African American boys are determined based on how they differ from white boys and African American girls. Comparisons such as these produce the damaging message that African American boys are changeworthty and that there is something wrong with them rather than something being wrong with the practices and systems that devalue their very being. A comparison with white boys, for example, carries with it an assumption that outcomes for white boys should the norm and goal for black boys. I would argue that this is an artificially low standard and that black boys should be allowed to develop and thrive to their full potential, not based on what is deemed acceptable or good for white boys. Comparing black boys to black females carries with it a dangerous and pernicious assault on black masculinity. The assumptions under both comparisons seem to be that, in order to be successful, black boys must become less black (more like white boys) and that they must become more feminine (more like African American girls). What I also find troubling is how many so-called experts and policy-makers proliferate this rhetoric without ever questioning the very premises on which they operate. Anyone who frames the needs of black boys in terms of how they differ from white boys is in no way an expert. To begin your discussion here says that you, a priori, accept the inferiority of African American boys. In my view, there is nothing inherently wrong with black boys. Many of the behaviors of these young boys are responses to systems of oppression that continue to mount vicious assaults on them everyday.

My comments are not meant to romanticize the state of black males. However, I question the very way that the so-called “problem of black boys” is framed. Black boys don’t need to be like white boys and black boys don’t need to be like African American girls. Black boys need to be cared for, loved, and respected. The truth is that too many people who work in schools and other societal institutions do not care about black boys.

I’d like your guests to comment on my assertions. If the above issues are too heavy-hitting, I’d like your guests to address the following question: How much day-to-day work do you do with African American boys, outside of research?

Thank you.

Danny Martin, Ph.D.

Michael Holzman:
I agree that African American male students should be allowed/encouraged/helped to achieve their full potential.

Comparisons wth White (or Hispanic or Asian) boy and girls are useful for pointing to inequities with the allocation of resources, including teacher professional development.
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these are both valid and necessary ways of seeing the world. i was at a conference once where one of the speakers mentioned that in some not so recent year the number of asian students with perfect act scores was greater than the total number of african american students taking the test. it seems to to me that while we ought to be aware of the negatives of these comparisons we have to face the facts. it’s the only way to move forward. more to come.
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Algebra-for-All Policy Found to Raise Rates Of Failure in Chicago

this is to be expected. one of the most important issues in this process is developing a cadre of teachers who have real expertise in algebra in particular and mathematics in general. mandating that a larger number of kids take algebra without insisting that the people who teach them actually know algebra is a recipe for higher failure rates. more important, there is no doubt that algebra proficiency is a necessary condition for academic success so the fact that failure rate rises when we insist on broader student participation in the algebra classes is not a reason to stop teaching or to stop insisting on algebra for all ninth graders in chicago. be clear, the african american high school dropout rate is around 50%. this number is a reflection of the inability of our children to deal effectively with basic algebra! we must continue to support efforts that aim to increase our children’s participation in this game.

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Henry M. Levin:
I am not sure that one can generalize about group size and pedagogy for black males since it depends upon the subject, teacher skills in different instructional modes, and the use of balancing different approaches rather than relying on a single one. However, any approach that more nearly personalizes instruction is helpful. Personalization can be based upon small group or even tutoring approaches. But, it can also draw upon guided independent study on topics of interest or of curiosity to the learner. My own experience suggests that personal mentoring has a very positive effect for the education of black males. If we can get members of the school staff or the larger community to take on mentoring tasks for individuals or small groups(advice, friendship, guidance, connections to employment and other opportunities, assistance with homework and assignments), we can get some very good results.
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…my strong sense-based on at least sixteen years of teaching mathematics in CUNY: this is the surface of the story. what is often missing in most classrooms, at the deepest level, is “a spirit of respect” on the part of those charged with teaching for those who are being taught. how do i quantify this? i am not sure but i know it when i see it and feel it and it is real. anyone who has had reason to go into a public school in nyc will understand what i am saying. the very first encounter with the “public safety officers” is rarely a pleasant one. imagine children being forced to deal with this for most of their formative years. what is the result? many, many exceedingly talented young folk who are conditioned to expect disrespect so their posture is one that puts them in opposition to the teaching and learning game, which requires at the very minimum a level of trust and openess on the part of all parties concerned. that trust has to be earned by the teacher and the institution. it is quite frequently the case that by the time folks are ready to open up the semester is over and the cycle has to start again. the point is that mentoring is not the thing in and of itself, mentoring is a function of that deep respect for the individual who has been put in your charge. folk who respect you will mentor you in a manner most useful to you for they will have taken the time to understand as best as they can what your needs are and how best the skills that they possess best addresses those needs. respect implies mentoring. they will earn your trust. mentoring does not imply respect. it is to this task that we focus our attention: at an individual level, at the level of family, at the level of institutions and at the level of the larger community. let me be clear: black teachers can disrespect black students and white teachers can respect black students. the argument that i am making is not located in skin color.

i am particularly interested in ways in which i might make concrete the “spirit of respect”. more to come. thoughts? be well.

see: http://www.edweek.org/chat/transcript_05_17_2007.html