Posted: Monday, September 10, 2007 1:00 am | Updated: 11:51 am, Wed Nov 25, 2009. By Scott Goss
Student scores on the math portion of last year's Maryland School Assessment exams would appear to back up county administrators' insistence that the math curriculum used in schools is working.
While some grade levels and some schools did show declines in math from 2006 to 2007, math proficiency from third to eighth grade was at its highest level countywide since the testing began in 2003.
Some of last year's most impressive gains on the math test were actually made at the middle school level, where poor reading proficiency among special education students caused all six county middle schools to miss state-defined Adequate Yearly Progress this year.
Such statistics have not done much, however, to quell concern among parents who believe the county's math curriculum is overly skewed to the state test, while failing to prepare students for careers in the fields of science and math.
Parents frustrated by the math curriculum became increasingly vocal and well-organized last year, regularly commenting at school board meetings and even launching a Web site intended to serve as a message board for sympathetic students, teachers and parents.
The debate was essentially put on hold in June when county administrators announced they had contracted two math experts from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County to conduct a three-month audit of the county's high school math curriculum.
Those three months are up at the end of next week.
Carolyn Teigland, the top county educator under Superintendent Carl Roberts, recently said she does not know what to expect of the report's findings or how it will be presented.
"CCPS expects to receive a paper report, but we don't know yet if the auditors will be making an actual presentation," she said. "We have already formed a public engagement committee that will select the forum for releasing the findings to the public."
School administrators have so far declined to name the two experts conducting the study.
They say they have only turned over material used to conduct the study but have not been active participants in the audit's preparation.
Teigland said the schools provided hundreds of student work samples from unit tests, textbooks, standardized test data and other materials to Cecil College, which has hosted the math experts while they conduct their analysis.
In addition, the auditors reportedly interviewed teachers, both individually and as a group, although Teigland said administrators have not asked what questions were posed or what answers were given.
She said it is also difficult to predict what will happen after the audit's results are released.
"Some things we may be able to address relatively easily, while other suggestions could involve a fiscal element which may have to go into next year's budget," she said. "It really depends on what they recommend, but any change in resources would require a pilot program before full implementation."
In the meantime, county school administrators will conduct a review of the math curriculum used at middle and elementary schools this fall.
Also, a committee that includes parents will recommend ways the county schools can better include parents in math education at all levels.
"A result of last year was we found out the public didn't feel like we were talking to them about the math program," Teigland said. "We're going to be looking at ways we can address those communication issues."
Pam Kaste, a leading voice among parents calling for a replacement of the county's current math curriculum, said she is convinced county school administrators are making an earnest attempt to objectively assess and improve the way math is taught here.
"Of course, there are lingering concerns that the two lone UMBC personnel may decide that the integrated math does not need to be replaced," she wrote recently in an e-mail. "Such a decision would hardly be expected from math experts, and would be inconsistent with the views expressed by CCPS high school teachers, parents and stakeholders with math expertise, as well as data from the Maryland Higher Education Commission - but still, it is a possibility."sgoss@cecilwhig.com |
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