My Final Speech to Manual (5-22-09)

As I thought long and hard on how to break the news to my students regarding my departure to the Building Excellent Schools Fellowship next year I concluded that a spoken word poem would be most fitting. And so for a series of days I worked on the words that I'd deliver to the entire school, trying to explain why I'm leaving while sending my love to those who will remain. Below is a copy of what I shared this morning during our community meeting.

This last year of teaching has felt much more like just preaching
Work hard be responsible and do the right thing,
Go to college, get your degree and earn some ca ching.
I’m selling to all, but not all are buying,
Some students don’t believe, they think I’m just lying.
And even some who do and follow my path
Don’t necessarily choose to step it up when in math.
So as the year went on I began to wonder,
What would it take, to make some real thunder?
What if I started much sooner, much younger,
Could we develop an intense academic hunger?

What if I started when you were just three?
What would your future look like, just where might you be?

What if I had Mr. Crews when he was four
and forced upon him education galore.
What if at five I taught Mr. Rice
To work really hard and always be nice
If at six I had Shaqua and worked her each day
Would bad words come out, would f bombs be in play?
At 7 there’s Donovan walking to school
Perhaps he’d be better at following the rule
At eight I see Kquame and his back pack’s a mess
His difficulties now perhaps would be far far less
Dulce and Diana attend when they’re nine
Coming in early, even standing in line.

What if I started when you were just three?
What would your future look like? Just where might you be?

Working at Manual for over two years
Needing to leave nearly brings me to tears
But when I think of Sinamen and Destiny too
I realize quite quickly it’s what I must do
So many of our students are great as they are
Heading to college I know they’ll go far
But what of our ones who can’t read, write or speak?
Whose academic skills are so very weak?
Those for who fractions are scary and hard
Who’d choose over writing to work in the yard

And then there’s character and values on top
Accessing middle class, avoiding the mop
The idea that hard work pays, just compete
Avoiding McDonalds, in the back flipping meat
Perseverance and manners, being polite and on time
All beat the idea of begging for one little dime
Living the good life and striving for it each day
Entering the game of life with a legit chance to play

And so when I think of Latha and Iaisha,
When I consider the futures of Dominique and Kanesha
I’m forced to consider what’s my best form of attack
I can’t watch from a far, I can’t just sit back
I read and research everything that’s out there
Who’s getting it done, who’s making life fair
I conclude one solution to closing the gap
Opening my own school to put on the map

A school for your cousins, your brothers and sisters
Where little kids come to work hard for their misters.
We’ll embed college in their cute and tiny heads
They’ll be lawyers and doctors assigning the meds
Make it Happen Academy will be a great school
We’ll change the community with one simple rule
Every kid has a shot at the life that they dream
No matter their money or race or even their team
At my own school where you’ll start when you’re three
Imagine the future, where might those kids be?

And so I bid goodbye to my Manual crew
My little brother Ronnie, and the faculty too
To Paschall and Frazier, Monet and Ms. Kreiger
I’m sorry to leave, but I must, I’m so eager
To the rest of the staff who I love so very much
I know you’ll get it done and come through in the clutch
And to student like Nichols who taught me to believe
That some TLC can help kids really achieve
I’ll think of you next year as I learn and prepare
To open a school of quality seen far too rare.
That prepares little ones to compete with the best
And ensures them a chance at life’s treasure chest.

What if I started when you were just three?
What would your future look like? Just where might you be?

Spoken Word (4-24-09)

On weeks like this one I'm forced to question
Whether any student will take my suggestion.
Work hard, be responsible and do the right thing
Let your good qualities shine, for God's sake let them sing.
We work hard at our school to develop a culture
That won't let the world eat them up like a vulture.
All jobs in the 21st century require such thinking
yet so many of my kids continue their sinking.
From cursing to ditching to smoking the weed
Why can't they pick up a book and maybe just read
Decisions, decisions are made each and every day
I watch as each child goes on their own separate way.
Why can't they see, their blind to the big picture
This little community seems like their one and only fixture.
Please look outside of this small five points town
If not your now smile will soon be a frown.
Our great kids are great, but still dissapoint
When we find them on Monday rolling a joint.
We push and we push as the year comes to a close
Get it on track, we speak with such prose.
But results are what matter, can you read, write and speak
I worry, I worry, so many students are weak.
Think of their future, the life that awaits,
Change their ways now or find a series of check mates.

Leadership through Optimism (4-15-09)

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of listening to Geoffry Canada, CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone, speak at a luncheon for urban education reformers and practitioners. His speech was insightful, engaging and most certainly energizing. Telling stories from the Harlem community he works tirelessly to serve while conveying essential information, the luncheon was a kick in the pants and in the end, a call to action. Reflecting on the speech sometime later, there is one driving message that still stands with me. "Do the work."

Canada explained a great deal about how the Children's Zone functions in Harlem and how each piece of his "support conveyor belt" is connected, but when all is said and done, his message of "do the work" remains. As he shared his experiences, both past and present, he kept coming back to the fact that we must engage in this work at full throttle. Underneath this impetus to push forward was a clear statement of "no excuse is acceptable." He may not have said those words, but it was clear from his tone and his message that there is no room for failure. His approach to problem solving was impressive, bold and a little crazy all wrapped together.

Consider his leadership approach. A staff member on the Children's Zone comes to him with an idea, could be any idea at all. If it is going to have a positive impact on the children in his community and serve their mission of preparing each and every child for college then that idea will almost certainly come to fruition. Canada's response is never in the form "sounds good, but..." or "I like what you're saying, but..." His reaction (from my reading of his text and listening to him speak) is always along the lines of "this is going to work, now let's find a way to get it done." The optimistic approach to leadership, the avoidance of excuses, these are the qualities that seem to ensure the success of his organization. It's so easy to say "sounds great, but we don't have the money," or "that would really benefit our 4 year olds, but we don't have the staff to support it." What's challenging and I'm sure exhausting is always being open to new ideas that you know are of benefit to your mission and in turn, constantly finding ways to implement rather than discussing ways to avoid.

Transfer this idea to any organization, whether in the private or public sector, and it's clear to see that leadership through optimism (as Canada referenced repeatedly in his speech) is the most valuable asset he has. On a micro level, it's easy to consider the classroom, where teachers can look out at their sea of students and say I'd really like to engage my kids with this difficult text, or I'd really like to teach these guys Pre-Calculus, but I don't think they can. Their skills are too low, their attitudes are too negative, their families don't support us. Forget about the negative and take a page from Canada's book...if you know it's in the best interest of your class or organization or business, find a way to make it happen.

When you consider the severity of problems plaguing urban education from teaching capital to funding to high drop out rates to dilapidated buildings to lack of quality leadership it's easy to say forget it. We can't do this. Instead, I urge you to consider the Canada approach. Think about what needs to get done and "do the work." Don't wait for permission, don't read all the rules, just engage in what needs to get done. Success will only come to our most troubled cities when more people follow the Canada way of leadership through optimism blended with a "no-excuse" attitude. Every beat the odds school in our nation has some version of this philosophy running through it's veins. Let's inject a dose into all of us and see what kind of results we can get.

Shoddy Safety Nets (3-18-09)

I've come across many teachers who believe that one of the most exciting things about teaching is that every day is different. New challenges, dynamic students, "never a boring day," and ever changing content are just a few of the cited reasons for this belief. However, when mid-March comes around and you've spent every day of the year pushing students to learn Algebra while forcing them to abide by the expectations of the school, it's hard not to think that every day is the same.

I still have those special days where kids do and say amazing things. Don't get me wrong, I love my students and I love those moments where magic happen in the classroom. Nonetheless, putting those immaculate events aside, teaching freshmen mathematics in a "no-excuse" classroom is both repetitive and exhausting. How many consecutive days can you hound students to get into dress code, use appropriate language, act appropriately, and most importantly, use every one of the 85 minutes in class to learn mathematics. At some point you’re going to hit a wall. What makes the whole dilemma even worse is that you can never let down. You have to break through the wall. Unlike a job where sitting in your cubicle and fake working for an hour or so each day is common practice, there is no room for such downtime in the “no-excuse’ classroom. Burnout is not just an urban teacher problem as many careers face this same point of exhaustion. However, in our profession, the results are not that of bottom line dollars, but that of human life. Thus, we have no choice but to keep pushing and never give up.

Two weeks ago a couple of homeless adults came in to speak with my advisory group of 14 students. They told us their life story, detailing how they reached their personal rock-bottoms, and described the struggles they go through on a daily basis. Continuing their conversations, both men explained their efforts to get out of their situation and the never-ending challenges they face that inevitably seem to lead them back to the streets. I watched as the “homeless forum” sank into some of my students. It made a difference in their thinking and in mine too.

So often, teachers like me dream of the wonderful places our students will end up. Alma will be a public trial lawyer with a beautiful family, a cozy home and 2.4 kids. Donovan will be a famous public speaker, touring the country and inspiring youth to stand up for their lives and achieve their goals. Ronnie will be the CEO of a non-profit organization working to provide healthcare to every child living in the United States. Lupita will be a respected pediatrician, caring for kids with both extensive medical expertise and an enormous heart, always being sure to provide the young ones with a lollipop as they exit the office. What we rarely if ever discuss is the opposing perspective. What about the kid who ends up addicted to drugs, flat broke, disengaged from society and living on the streets? It’s all well and good to support our students in every way possible to reach their ambitions and to constantly encourage and promote their forward progress, but we must look at the counter-argument. What about our kids who are at risk of becoming homeless adults, and not world-renowned published authors?

After listening to our homeless guests and reflecting more deeply on their experiences I began to realize who exactly was at risk of joining their ranks. What I concluded was that it wasn’t me. Meaning, middle class kids like myself (I’m 27 by the way), who have a college degree, a strong network of close friends, a tightly knit family, and financial independence and saved assets, are very unlikely to live on the streets. There are so many safety nets that would catch me well before I lost everything should my life turn “bad,” for lack of a better word. If I developed a drug addiction or lost my job or was in a horrible accident I wouldn’t be alone in my recovery, whether social, emotional, financial or physical. There would always be someone there to get me back on track and remind me of the life I am capable of living. In extreme opposition to my situation, take my worst off students. Living with one parent who can barely take care of themselves, major deficiencies in skills and knowledge, lack of social skills and awareness of middle class values, a dysfunctional and broken family, and a network of friends who are in nearly the same situation.

If we, the school, don’t ensure that this child is able to prosper in the highly competitive and demanding world that lies beyond our building’s walls then that student may very well end up homeless one day. My intention in that statement is not to simply be negative and say that our students are doomed to a life of stress and struggle. However, it is my intention to say that the school has more of a responsibility than some of us recognize, especially those outside of urban education.

When I hit that wall of exhaustion where I’ve had it with doing the same thing day in and day out I have to consider the opposite perspective to the wonderful dreams that many of our students will no doubt achieve. It’s our job to not only prepare students to get where they want to go, but to also ensure that they don’t end up begging for money on a street corner and moving from shelter to shelter. I have a college degree, am fiscally sound, a caring and capable family and a group of friends who could help me in a variety of ways should I ever need to rely on them. Our students in many cases may not have any of these supports and therefore have a safety net filled with holes. It’s our job to do everything in our power to ensure that they never slip off of life’s trapeze and hit that shoddy net. If so, it may not catch them.

Negative Six Minus Eight (3-5-09)

First and foremost, my apologies for my recent hiatus. Life has been a little nuts, and as such I haven't been doing as much blogging or none at all for that matter. A big thank you to those who recently posted comments regarding my previous two posts. Your insights are thought provoking and greatly appreciated. Keep sharing as it makes all of us think a little more and that's how we get smarter.

On to today's blog...

Proctoring the CSAP is always the most depressing time of the year for me. Having only taught in the most difficult environments (low socioeconomic, urban) over the past 6 years I have yet to be part of a school that produces results greater than 15 % proficient or advanced on the 9th grade math portion of the assessment (compared to a state average of roughly 35 %). As I read through the directions of the math component on Tuesday and we embarked on the first of three math sections, I watched in complete frustration as my students answered the first sample question. - 6 - 8 = ____. The overwhelming majority bubbled the empty circle next to the response "2."

Nothing highlights my problems in succeeding as a teacher and closing the achievement gap better than that simple problem, - 6 - 8. We've worked with negative integers through out the year in a variety of capacities. From the "drill and kill" perspective, we've spent weeks going through mad minutes directly focused on adding and subtracting positive and negative numbers. Not moving on to the next set of skills until we'd seen substantial growth in this area, the typical student moved from doing 4 to 5 simple problems such as the sample in 1 minute to being able to handle 10 - 15. In terms of applying this skill to a meaningful task, students were taught how to find an equation when provided with a set of linear data. Using the linear model, students worked on making predictions about the future and used their equations to analyze real world situations such as cell phone bills, population growth, and job opportunities. This entire process started with finding the slope of a line which requires students to subtract positive and negative numbers on a regular basis. To support this necessary skill, the DO NOW's, starting problems for each day, asked students to find the slopes of points involving both positive and negative integers.

The bottom line is this. We encountered/worked with adding and subtracting positive and negative numbers over a long period of time. Most, if not all students showed growth in this area as they improved their skill set. This growth was evident in their ability to answer 16 simple arithmetic problems, i.e. -3 - 6 or -5 + - 8, in a minute, their accurate completion of DO NOW's on a daily basis requesting them to find the slopes of a line when given two points, i.e. (2, 5), (-3 , - 6), and their ability to utilize this basic skill and apply it to more complex Algebra such as determining the equation of a line when given a set of linear data. Nonetheless, despite all of the data that I've collected to monitor their growth and despite the tremendous amount of practice they've received coupled with intense coaching, the students failed to answer - 6 - 8 correctly. I failed.

Take Aways

The reality is that our students enter the classroom more like 5th and 6th graders in their skills and knowledge, particularly in the area of mathematics. Therefor, it makes sense for us to emphasize and reward growth. Meeting grade level proficiency would be a nearly impossible task for 90 % of our student body as this would mean increasing 3 to 4 grade levels in 3/4 of a year (don't forget, CSAP's in early march). While recognizing improvement is valid and necessary, it doesn't quite get the job done in a "results oriented" society. It's beautiful to bring a 9th grader from 6th to 8th grade levels of proficiency in a year's time, but this doesn't ensure our students the chance to compete with their middle class and affluent competitors.

The biggest take away I have is the fact that we have to change our approach if we're going to get the job done and become true "gap-closers." The obstacles are clear to see, the biggest being how do we ensure mastery of such vast content in such a short time span. This year, more than any other, I've used objective assessment data to dictate instructional and curricular decisions. Although this is a valuable practice, it also throws a wrench in our plan. If we constantly teach, re-group students, and re-teach to ensure mastery than how do we get through the content? Teaching for mastery takes far longer than the traditional covering of content, and in turn, makes it impossible to get through the depth and breadth of material assessed on the CSAP. That is unless we change the system in which we're teaching.

Solutions

There is a reason that highly successful "no-excuse" urban charter schools have a longer school day and a longer school year. Their low socioeconomic students of color need the time to catch up. There's also a reason that a huge percentage of these schools have summer academies before students ever step foot in an actual class come fall of their first year.

My solution to the dilemma of developing proficient 9th graders who come in way behind grade level is multi-stepped.

1.) All students have to attend a math skills boot camp prior to entering 9th grade. For three weeks in the summer students would work on nothing but the foundation skills necessary to engage in Algebra (fractions, percents, decimals, integers, ratios, operations, etc.). Students who feel they already have these necessary skills could test out of boot camp by performing at a proficient or advanced level on a rigorous assessment tool. Students enrolled in boot camp would take this same assessment at the conclusion of their three week period. If at this time they still score below proficient, they are placed in an additional class outside of their Algebra class that runs for a minimum of 9 weeks. At the end of this time students would have another opportunity to demonstrate proficiency on the high-stakes assessment. If they reach a proficient level of mastery they may exit the class and replace it with a regular class from the menu of options, but if they don't they are enrolled in another 9 week session. The entire "boot camp" program/philosophy basically says that improving isn't good enough and that proficiency is all that matters. It also sends the message to students that the school is going to do everything it can to level the playing field, but that it's up to the students to own their learning and to prove their mastering essential content.

- Issues with this plan are both financial (who's going to pay for the program) and staffing based (what teachers want to run a 3 week drill and kill math boot camp). Solve these two potential road blocks and you may have a workable piece to the overall solution.

2.) Urban schools need more time to handle the math dilemma, especially at the 9th grade level.
Schools have to constantly instruct, assess, re-group, and re-assess students. As such, I suggest a norm of 2 hours, everyday of mathematics. Many "beat the odds" school already employ this double math time schedule and their results are evidence of its effects. Should schools use the additional time wisely, creating a sense of urgency in the classroom and making every minute count in addition to constant assessment and monitoring of student learning, the 2 hours a day should be enough to reach mastery of essential content. Keep in mind that in this model students might move around to different teachers based upon their results of their assessments. On a weekly or monthly basis students could be re-distributed to work with other students who have the same learning needs. Rather than force three-tiered differentiated instruction to take place in a single classroom, students could be moved around to work with distinct groups struggling with the same deficiencies.

- There are certainly a slew of issues with this plan from school schedule to staffing capacity. However, consider the notion of going slow to go fast. If 9th graders could get caught up then the rest of their high school career would look a whole lot brighter. It's often said that failing Algebra is a great indicator of student drop outs. Let's reverse the cycle, emphasize mathematics with time, resources, and staff, and really close the gap.

Parent Involvement? Helpful or Hindering? (1-29-09)

This morning was one of those mornings that throws you off. It wasn't that I got up on the wrong side of the bed, or that I wasn't prepared to teach. I was running a bit late, but even that wasn't much to overcome. What really knocked me off course was the parent/student meeting that started my day.

Parent involvement in their students' school lives is crucial. There is no question that having an engaged family can most certainly benefit both the individual student and the school community. This positive side of the parent coin is one that I wish was the only side. Unfortunately, there is a negative side to this coin, no matter how infrequently it shows.

The parent this morning was such a negative and intimidating presence in the room that you had to question whether involving her at all was a wise decision. As the student sat with tears running down his face and the parent continued to unleash her intensely negative and degrading rhetoric I found myself feeling more and more uncomfortable. Trying to gain some semblance of productivity, the teachers and I continued to go back to the positives we've been seeing as well as interventions that we believe could be used to support this student in improving. No matter what we said it all went back to the same thing.

The parent didn't say it and it wasn't written anywhere, but all I kept hearing was "you suck...what's wrong with you?" Was it really such a shock to see that this student was floundering at school and has been for years? This is a kid who hasn't "legitimately" passed a class since elementary school and has more disciplinary referrals then there are members of the Senate.

After having a few hours to reflect on the experience and others that I've had in the past of similar caliber I derived a few notions. Here they are in no particular order.

1.) How could this parent not be angry?
- Whether she did it to herself, meaning that the parenting techniques used during the student's childhood led to his current state, or this is just how things turned out after a valiant effort as a mother, it's almost impossible not to see where the anger comes from. If I had a financially inadequate and personally unsatisfying job, lived in a run down house and had one child who was completely failing in his academic endeavors for a series of years I too would be pissed. To stay optimistic and provide constant positive support to that student and to the school would become a nearly impossible task. I don't believe this gives a parent the right to degrade their child in front of their teachers, but it does allow me to empathize with her position.

2.) Parental involvement can be a hindrance to our work
- Parents have a right to know about their child's progress at school and to be involved in their child's life. However, once we engage with certain parents and discover that their presence can at times be more harmful then helpful we must take such knowledge into consideration in future attempts to support that student. So many of our students have heard "negative talk" for so long that simply piling more of it on at the high school level won't do anything to turn things around. The famous study titled "The Early Catastrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3" makes a clear note of the differences experienced between children of professional families and those growing up in poverty. According to their study, children being raised by professional families hear an average of 166,000 encouragements compared to 26,000 discouragements over the course of a year. Inversely, children from welfare families will hear an average of 26,000 encouragements versus 57,000 discouragements over that same year. I believe our students have heard enough of the negative. It's time to focus on the positive.

3.) Some of our biggest problems don't have clear solutions
This is obvious, but at the same time needs to be addressed. The student we were dealing with this morning has serious learning deficits in addition to chronic behavior problems and a lack of motivation. Combined, he becomes one of our greatest difficulties when it comes to ensuring that he receives an education that will allow him to thrive in both school and life. Finding solutions to making sure he learns what he needs to be successful from both the academic and character side of the education spectrum is a daunting if not impossible task. However, it is the task that we've chosen to take on and the task in which we must succeed.

This morning was a tough morning. The kind that makes you step back for a second and realize the realities of where you're working and who you're working with. It's scary to think that millions of parents like the one I encountered this morning are raising millions of children across this country. Regardless, it is our job to move past mornings like the one I had and put all of our energy into educating our students. This morning wasn't a new experience for me, but it really does get me each time it happens. Part of you wants to give the student a big hug and another part wants to ream into the parent. When you let your emotions subside you realize that all you can do is work your ass of to make sure you save that student. The parent may be too far gone...the child can be saved.

Math teacher...who said anything about math?

Progressive vs. Traditional – Who’s right, who’s wrong (12-17-08)

There I was, sitting in the kitchen at an antique wooden table staring at a giant page of numbers. Rows and columns filled with digits jumped off the paper, screaming at me where only an hour ago my mother’s turkey loaf had done the same. The multiplication table was my nemesis (no different then the turkey loaf). I don’t remember what grade I was in or who my teacher was, but the sound of my father’s voice reaming into me about how important it was to master this matrix of data from one through twelve still resonates in my head. As the family embarked into the living room to watch one of the classic Star Wars films on the latest and greatest technology, laser discs, I was stuck at that antique wooden table, staring at numbers and for the one and only time in my life, wishing it was the turkey loaf instead.

School didn’t have to make sure I mastered my multiplication fluency, my family did. In fact, there are a lot of things school didn’t have to do for me.

Here are just a few examples

• How to act around professionals: My father always had business colleagues over at the house.
• How to advocate and negotiate: I learned this through compromising with my mom from an early age.
• How to speak using professional language: It’s all I heard from birth through adulthood.
• How to persevere in difficult situations: That’s all I saw. No one around me ever folded growing up. There was no task that couldn’t be accomplished. From starting companies to getting patents approved…anything and everything was possible.

Now let’s go back to that pesky multiplication table. My personal experience strikes at the heart of the national debate between progressive and traditional math instruction. The reality is that not all students from the multitude of backgrounds that we teach need the same thing. In fact, providing them with the same instruction is a complete disservice. To argue for Saxon math (the most traditional drill and kill curriculum I’ve ever seen) or Interactive Mathematics Program (IMP – the most inquiry, discovery based curriculum available) is a ludicrous notion if the students that the curriculum is going to serve aren’t taken into consideration.

The bottom line…I don’t think it mattered what curriculum my math teachers used during my middle and high school years. Regardless, I was going to have my math fluency down…not much of a choice when your father is an engineer. However, when I consider the students that I’m teaching, impoverished minority adolescents entering 9^th grade with only 8 % demonstrating grade level proficiency, it’s clear that my fate as a numerically literate individual is not the same for the clients I serve unless our school does what my family and my school were able to do for me.

It’s no secret that every “beat the odds” school I’ve visited across Colorado and the country uses direct instruction as their primary means of delivering information. Their thinking…we have way too much to cover because we’re already two to three years behind. There is no choice but for the teacher to own the content and for the students to sponge it up. As a result, you don’t see collaborative groups working through open ended projects at their own pace. You don’t see spiraling curriculums in place where the teacher moves on even though the majority of the class hasn’t shown mastery because they know that the topic will come back sometime before the end of the year or maybe next year. In fact, what you see is the opposite. A consistent push for mastery of specific learning outcomes that are the foundation of mathematics understanding.

Coming out of college all I could think about was getting students to see relevance in their mathematics and engaging them in exciting, dynamic learning experiences. I wanted them to discover the big ideas of mathematics with my facilitation, but I didn’t want to force or rush it. I taught with little to no urgency. In contrast, the schools that are preparing our most under serviced youth in this nation, poor, minority students, for college and beyond teach as though every minute was a last breath in an effort to resuscitate a drowning victim. These schools recognize the Lisa Delpit perspective that so cautions us of worrying so much about engaging and encouraging our “behind grade level” students that we fail to teach them the rules of the game.

Her argument is framed around writing and literacy, but its message resonates in the world of math education just the same. If all we worry about is engaging our students in mathematics thinking and we fail to teach them function-notation or the various ways to write a ratio then we are not preparing them for life. There is a way the game of life is played and grammar, punctuation and sentence structure all play a role. Just because a student is able to organize some creative thoughts on a piece of paper doesn’t mean we’ve gotten them ready to compete. Those thoughts need to be presented with a commanding understanding of formal English language if we want them to be taken seriously and accepted when they enter the global economic workplace. Math is no different.

We can’t simply pat our students on the back for finding a pattern in a sequence of numbers. They need to be able to use the professional terms associated with such mathematics. I found the “recursive routine” and the “starting value” is ________ and the “rule’ that gets you to the next “term” is ___________. Students need to engage in the fundamentals and formalize their understanding using the same mathematics language that will be presented to them when they enter college. If we want them to become successful college students then we have to treat them as such from early on. This includes not only our interactions with them, but the way in which we deliver content and what we deem as acceptable mastery before moving on to the next piece of content.

In the end, the debate between progressive and traditional math instruction is one that we all know the answer to, we’re just not talking about it. Picture it as a possible 100 % combination. Meaning, in a perfectly balanced classroom we would see 50 % of one mixed with 50 % of the other. In my case, having been pounded with “math facts” from an early age I would have thrived regardless of the ratio, but it’s clear that a progressive leaning combination might have served me better, say a 70 % progressive/30 % traditional ratio. On the other side of the spectrum, if my students are provided with the same 70/30 split then it is unlikely they would ever really catch up and be able to compete with their middle and upper class counterparts. An ideal ratio for my 6^th and 7^th grade 9^th graders would be the inverse, a 70 % traditional/30 % progressive ratio. As I emphasized earlier, not every child needs the same education and to provide them with the same, even at a high quality, would be doing a great disservice.

There is no singular solution to this national debate between Progressive and Traditional math instruction practices. Both have a place in the American classroom. However, both can’t have the same amount of weight in different classrooms serving different students. We must look at who is producing results, for which students and with what practices. The Avon, Connecticut’s and Cherry Creek, Colorado’s of our nation will most likely prosper regardless of curricular and instructional practices decisions. The same can not be said about the Newark, New Jersey’s and Oakland, California’s. Education reform in the world of schools and math must consider the assets and deficiencies of the clients they are serving if they are to be truly effective.

As the “beat the odds” schools in our country are living and dying by the motto “every minute counts” so too must our push for delivering appropriate and necessary math instruction to our under serviced students. It’s not ok to simply engage in mathematical thinking and to share ideas. It’s a great start, but it doesn’t get kids who are four and five grade levels behind to catch up. If our philosophies clash with our realities then we must waive “bye-bye” to philosophy and “hello” to reality. Results are the only thing that matters and instead of thinking like education reformers lets think more like venture capitalist. What’s the bottom line?