VERMONT REFORMS FLUNKS FIRST SCIENCE ASSESSMENTS \doc\web\99\06\vismt.txt Vermont is one of 23 states engaged since 1992 in an effort to improve math and science education under a $10 million dollar National Science Foundation "States Systemic Initiative" grant. A major $4.6 million study by SRI concluded this spring that "the program's impact has been extremely hard to measure and evidence of improved test scores is even more tenuous". In Vermont's first science assessment, just 9% of the students "met or exceeded the standard", while on the NSRE math assessment, the percentages doing so in the vital areas of problem solving and understanding of basic concepts were 26% and 33% From: Roger.D.Rosenkrantz@VALLEY.NET (Roger D Rosenkrantz) Subject: BFP piece To: Gary.M.Degasta@Dartmouth.edu, Nanny714@aol.com, ZorroFRR@aol.com, Realsciguy@aol.com, Lsternberg@aol.com, Mlaudet@aol.com Reply-To: Roger.D.Rosenkrantz@VALLEY.NET(RogerDRosenkrantz) Comrades! Here is a first draft of an article dashed off this morning intended for the BFP in support of Norm Smith's recent op-ed. I need (as always) to shorten it-- though it would meet the op-ed specs of the Valley News. VISMT FLUNKS Vermont is one of 23 states engaged since 1992 in an effort to improve math and science education under a $10 million dollar National Science Foundation "States Systemic Initiative" grant. The Vermont Institute of Science Math and Technology (VISMT) was set up to administer the grant. To date, this program and a sister NSF program for urban centers has cost U.S. taxpayers about $600 million dollars. Have the objectives been achieved? [71 words] A major $4.6 million study by SRI concluded this spring that "the program's impact has been extremely hard to measure and evidence of improved test scores is even more tenuous". In Vermont's first science assessment, just 9% of the students "met or exceeded the standard", while on the NSRE math assessment, the percentages doing so in the vital areas of problem solving and understanding of basic concepts were 26% and 33%. [71 words] Now we have a Nov. '98 study from a group in Michigan (SAMPI) solicited by VISMT and the Vt. DOE which was based on visits to 57 ninth and tenth grade classes in 17 Vt. schools. They concluded that only 9% of the lessons observed reflected the kind of inquiry driven interactive teaching the current reform of math exonerates, while averaged across six categories, "76% of the lessons were perceived to have a neutral or negative effect", leaving most students unprepared for college level work in math. Thus, we have no indications of improved student learning or of significant changes in the way math is being taught. [107 words] The first objective listed in VISMT's inaugural Annual Report of 1992 was to further the integrated teaching of science, math and technology and train teachers to this end. Four years into the program, I learned in a phone call to Deputy Commissioner, Marge Petit, that not a single school in the state had produced an integrated SMT curriculum or even a course. Despite my repeated entreaties, she has yet to show me a single such curriculum "made in Vermont". When I wrote him about this in '96, the NSF Program Director for Vermont pleaded that schools could not be expected to produce integrated SMT curricula until the "curricular frameworks" (state standards) were in place. But, in fact, the Vermont state math and science standards run on parallel (i.e., non intersecting) tracks and do nothing to further the integration of SMT. A letter which followed from then VISMT Director, Frank Watson, revealed that Vermont and the other SSI states were already in full retreat from this worthy objective. For nothing better exhibits the power of mathematics than its ability to model the workings of nature. [[Sound proposals I sent VISMT and former Commissioner Mills along these lines, endorsed by no less a figure than Tom Romberg, who chaired the NCTM committee that set our national math standards, elicited not even the courtesy of a response.]] [222 words; bracketed: 40 words] The Vermont SMT standards were set by a cabal of VISMT and DOE insiders which did not include a single UVM math or science faculty member. The math standards are so weak in the vital areas of reasoning and problem solving that they must be considered subversive of the main thrust of the NCTM reform, which is to give kids the confidence that they can do math by building their reasoning and problem solving skills. Inasmuch as school curricula, student assessments, teacher training and professional development are tied to these standards, they are functioning to dumb down the entire system. The NSF funded curricula and texts linked to these standards are being singled out for dispraise by responsible organizations of scientists and mathematicians and are associated with declining scores on standardized tests. The whole effort is geared, not to prepare students for college level work, but for the industrial workplace. This was manifest in former Commissioner Richard Mills' plan to send kids into the work force armed with "certificates of initial mastery" that represented a sub par tenth grade education. [180 words] Six million of the NSF grant was budgeted for professional development (or "PD"), quote, "to provide in-depth training in SMT content and pedagogy". I was invited to organize a major two week conference for high school math teachers at UVM last summer, built around six short courses taught by six recognized experts. Though I was given assurances by my co-planners, Watson, Bruce Richardson and Bud Meyers, that moist of the math and science department heads and best math teachers in the state would attend, in the end one solitary teacher signed up and my conference was canceled. This happened at the very time State Board Chairwoman, Diane Wolk, published an op-ed, "Determined to Teach", in these pages calling for PD "centered on content". Requests for information about the programs and personnel of past VISMT conferences for high school math teachers have gone unanswered by VISMT's newest chief, Doug Harris. Not one of VISMT's three directors has held a degree in math or science. [163 words] On the other hand, as a VISMT employee, Marge Petit, who has no credentials as a mathematician, conducted a major institute on the design of school math curricula! Such "out of field" teaching is apparently sanctioned when done by VISMT or DOE personnel. My requests to the DOE, stretching back over five years, for data on the earned degrees and academic majors of Vt. teachers have also been stonewalled. In an article on out of field teaching in the current issue of Education Week , Vermont is one of only five states that fails to report the percentages of its teachers who lack a major or minor in the subjects they teach. This omission is especially glaring given that Vermont is also one of the few remaining states that does not require teachers to demonstrate knowledge of their subjects on a written exam. [142 words] These facts fully substantiate Norm Smith's recent column on this topic (BFP, April 2) . Fair minded folks would say the VISMT and DOE architects of this educational debacle have had their innings-- and they have struck out. It is time to relieve them of their commands before more damage is inflicted on Vermont schoolchildren and their families. [57 words] Roger