December, 2002
Dear Chancellor Klein, Deputy Chancellor Lam and members of the Children First Numeracy Working Group:
Please help those of us who cannot afford to tutor our kids so that they can learn basic math and succeed in the various tests that determine what middle schools, high schools and colleges our children will attend. My Children are learning math that is not very useful anywhere else outside of District 2.
Enough is enough.
I consider may daughter a victim of TERC.... She was in the 4th grade when the program was introduced. Now - four years later - teachers recognize the shortcoming of TERC and my younger child's math teachers have confidentially reassured the parents that will find some way to teach math that isn't in the curriculum so the kids will have basic math skills. When my daughter hit middle school, the math teacher revealed that the children from District #2 did not know the fundamentals of math. The teachers express their concerns quietly for fear that they are defying the district mandate and could get in trouble for speaking their mind.
Let's admit it has been a mistake!!
It's too late for my daughter who gets nothing but 90+ in Math but cannot do long division. If you act, there will still be hope for my son!
I agree wholeheartedly with the letter below.
Deane Beebe
436 East 88th Street
NY NY 10128
Appended: Open Letter to Chancellor Joel I. Klein and Deputy Chancellor Diana Lam.
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