NV Ed Board Pres: “We Can’t Teach Them Math!!!”
May 17th, 2007Incredible:
May 16, 2007
MEMORANDUM
TO: Members of the Nevada State Assembly
FROM: Dr. Cliff Ferry, President
Nevada State Board of Education
SUBJECT: Senate Bill 184
It was my privilege to testify Monday, May 14, before the Assembly Education Committee regarding SB 184, specifically Section 20, dealing with the requirement for four years of math for students who want a “regular diploma.” I would like to summarize briefly my position, as supported by the State Board of Education:
1. Math is difficult and uninteresting to many young people (and adults). I believe that requiring 4 years of math will cause more dropouts. I believe there’s some evidence that credit deficiency rather than failing the high school proficiency test is a major cause of dropouts. . . . I’m in favor of major efforts to improve math instruction rather than more of the same.
2. One of the issues in improving math instruction is, as you know, the current shortage of math teachers. I don’t think the supply will increase significantly and the demand will increase as students in the program approach the 12th grade.
3. Additional credits could very well diminish programs in career and technical education, the arts, music, drama, etc. These are programs that engage high school students in significant ways.
The State Board of Education has proposed that the existing “advanced diploma” be used for the advanced requirements and that students who opt out would earn our regular diploma. At our meeting on May 5, 2007, the Board made that a possibility by enhancing the advanced diploma to match Section 20 proposals by a change in regulation language found in NAC 389.663.
If Section 20 is passed and any of our fears come to pass, then it would be easier for school districts to change their requirements rather than waiting for a change in statute.
No matter what happens students planning to use the Millennium Scholarship will enroll in a curriculum that meets the Millennium demands, without changing the law.
If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at 775-738-3278 or cfferry@frontiernet.net. Thank you for your consideration.
CF/da
May 18th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
The problem with continuing to reduce education standards to the lowest common denominator is that sooner or later someone is going to figure out that you can’t divide by zero! Do we really need the Nevada State Board of Simplification?
May 22nd, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Unbelievable statement by a crucial agency of the state. I have been trying to get more financial literacy into our local schools in Carson and Douglas counties. Maybe the answer is to change the curriculum to something that is interesting and pertains to the real world experience. If it is something these kids can use immmediately they will probably grasp it and have interest. Let’s not count them out yet!
My ‘offer message’ to the schools has been to provide the education personally as a guest speaker in the classrooms (a foot in the door) the response has been somewhat understandable. Due to NCLB there is not time enough in the curriculum to allow for extra financial literacy programs. I give credit to Carol Lark, Douglas Superintendent of schools (formerly Clark County) who passed on my ‘offer message’ to all school district principals. I got one response from a sixth grade teacher who just hasn’t had the time to schedule me.
Through my own efforts several other teachers in grade school are also interested but have not had the time to schedule my visits yet, eventhough I “fit right into their curriculum” according to one of the teachers. I was invited to attend 2 Douglas High seniors’ math classes and talk about credit cards and ‘moving out’ budgeting and they were all in awe. It was all new to them and something most never think about until they are in debt. The only way I got invited was due to my own 18 year old student getting extra credit for bringing in a guest speaker.
I’ve been invited to a 2nd grade classroom in Carson two years in a row to talk about saving money, etc. One teacher seems to think this an important issue.
My organization recently sponsored a Chamber luncheon in Carson City with the topic on education. We had the Superintendent of Carson schools and the President of the school board (and another board member) there to speak and answer questions. I also had an invited guest from the dept. of education for the state of Nevada there. I got the last question into the program which was “regarding the current mortgage market situation and the crisis of the majority of our country living beyond their means and using payday lending as the worst possible option is there anything in the current school curriculum that addresses these issues?”. The answer was basically “no”. Let’s change the curriculum.