NYC
HOLD Honest Open Logical Debate On Math Reform
A Consortium of Concerned Parents, Educators, Mathematicians and Scientists
To: Harold O. Levy, Chancellor
Dr Judith Rizzo, Deputy Chancellor for
Instruction
Burton Sacks, Chief Executive for
Community School District Affairs
Dr Irving Hamer, Member, Board of
Education, Manhattan Representative
Trudy Irwin, Director of Education,
Office of the Manhattan Borough President
From:
NYC HOLD, Steering Committee
Re:
Community School Board 2 Calendar Meeting November 28, 2000
We
respectfully invite you to attend the calendar meeting of Community School
Board 2 in Manhattan scheduled for Tuesday November 28, beginning at 6:30 pm.
During the public session the Board will hear comment on District 2’s K-12 math
programs. Distinguished faculty of the Courant Institute of Mathematical
Sciences at New York University and concerned parents plan to speak.
The District’s mathematics reform is one component of the systemic instructional reform initiated by Anthony Alvarado in the previous decade. District 2 prides itself in being a leader in education reform in New York City. Our District piloted the New Standards Performance Standards in Mathematics which were adopted city-wide last year.
The implications of the relative success of our District’s math reform for the entire NYC school system should be evident.
In
our District, parent concern with their
children’s progress in mathematics is escalating; worries are being strongly
voiced about aspects of the new math programs just as full implementation takes
hold. School year 1999-2000 marked the first year the new K- 8 programs,
Investigations in Number Data and Space (TERC) and Connected Mathematics
Project (CMP) were mandated.
Parents
are tutoring in record numbers. For many of their children, the new
constructivist programs fail to provide a sound foundation in basic arithmetic.
Parents recognize the value of the new programs’ creative, hands-on classroom
and homework activities. However, many question the extensive time devoted to
such activities, ostensibly at the expense of explicit teaching of the standard
procedures and practice of skills. The absence of textbooks has exacerbated the
situation.
Concerned
parents have reached out to the NYU mathematics community in District 2 for
analysis and opinion of our programs in hopes of finding ways to amend or
extend the implemented programs to reach a better balance in the math
instruction.
There are clearly implications in the course the District 2 community takes
for
the work of the newly appointed Commission on Mathematics Education to review
math programs city-wide. We hope our experiences in District 2 can contribute
to the assessment of the Committee.
Parents, teachers and administrators in District 2 share a well earned pride in our exemplary schools and strong educational community. Parents see on a daily basis, through their children’s work and enthusiasm for learning, the results of the skill and commitment of the teaching staff and administrators in our schools. Parents appreciate the formidable challenges district administrators face in guiding systemic reform in a large and diverse community school district.
We look forward to an ongoing and meaningful partnership in District 2.
We sincerely hope you will take an interest in our concerns and efforts to advance the course of math education for our children.
Sincerely,
Steering Committee
NYC HOLD
Elizabeth Carson
Christine Larson
Garry Dobbins
Margaret Hunnewell
Mary Somoza, Member, CSB #2
Granville Leo Stevens, Esq
Maureen McAndrew, DDS
Michael Weinberg