From a Newton, Mass, paper opinion column.
Mountain: Math curriculum doesn't add up
.............. So then, after eliminating any potential mitigating factors, what could possibly account for the steady decline in the sixth-grade math MCAS scores?
The only logical and remaining explanation is change that occurred in the Newton math curriculum itself - the subject matter of what is taught and how, what is emphasized and what is not, what has been omitted and what is new. In short, what has changed in the elementary and middle school math curriculum to have affected such a dramatic decline in the MCAS scores?
Answer: the new math curriculum, otherwise known as anti-racist multicultural math.
Between 1999 and 2001, under the direction of Superintendent Young and Assistant Superintendent Wyatt, the math curriculum was redesigned to emphasize "Newton's commitment to active anti-racist education" for the elementary and middle schools. This meant that no longer were division, multiplication, fractions and decimals the first priority for teaching math. For that matter, the teaching of math was no longer the first priority for math teachers, as indicated by the new curriculum guidelines, called benchmarks, which function as the primary instructional guide for teaching math in the Newton Public Schools.
In 2001 Mr. Young, Mrs. Wyatt and an assortment of other well-paid school administrators, defined the new number-one priority for teaching mathematics, as documented in the curriculum benchmarks, "Respect for Human Differences - students will live out the system wide core of 'Respect for Human Differences' by demonstrating anti-racist/anti-bias behaviors." It continues, "Students will: Consistently analyze their experiences and the curriculum for bias and discrimination; Take effective anti-bias action when bias or discrimination is identified; Work with people of different backgrounds and tell how the experience affected them; Demonstrate how their membership in different groups has advantages and disadvantages that affect how they see the world and the way they are perceived by others..." It goes on and on.
These are the most important priorities that the school department has determined for teaching math from grade one through eight, as documented in the Newton Public Schools Benchmarks.
Nowhere among the first priorities for the math curriculum guidelines is the actual teaching of math. That's a distant second. To Superintendent Young and his School Committee, mathematical problem-solving is of secondary importance to anti-racist/anti-bias math.
Meanwhile, the sixth-grade MCAS math scores keep going down. Yet the architects of this PC lunacy will sit there with a collective straight face and whine to us that they have no idea why these scores have declined since 2001.
It's interesting that the math curriculum guidelines for Weston, Wayland and Winchester are devoid of any mention of anti-racist math. But then again, those public schools have consistently ranked higher on the MCAS than Newton.
When a school department determines that ideology should take priority over academics, standardized test scores gradually decline and educational standards suffer. It doesn't happen overnight. It takes time for the decline to take its inevitable course.
And inevitable it was. Since 1999, coincidentally the year that Jeffrey Young became superintendent, our schools have plummeted from seventh to 35th in the overall state MCAS rankings. Thus, with the implementation of Mr. Young's ludicrous anti-racist/anti-bias math in 2001, the current dismal scores on the sixth-grade math MCAS should come as no surprise.
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