About Us
Who We Are:
Parents for Math Choice is an advocacy group of concerned parents from the Tigard-Tualatin School District in Oregon. We are parents who believe in the need for a rigorous, focused, and coherent mathematics curriculum that will give our children the mathematics education they deserve and allow them to compete in the global economy.
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In association with NYC HOLD NATIONAL - Honest Open Logical Decisions on Mathematics Education Reform -
a national coalition of individuals and advocacy groups - parents, educators, mathematicians and scientists, and other concerned citizens working to improve mathematics education in our nation’s schools. www.nychold.com ___________________________________________________________________________________________
Why We Organized:
In the Fall of 2008, the Tigard-Tualatin School District (TTSD) implemented the College Preparatory Mathematics (CPM) curriculum for grades 6-12. Many parents knew very little about CPM and assumed it was a solid curriculum. However, as students and parents began to experience CPM, questions started forming about its effectiveness. Parents began networking with other parents who had similar concerns and some parents took it upon themselves to research CPM in more detail. The effort of that research further convinced parents that CPM is not a solid curriculum and, in fact, is a controversial reform curriculum that lacks mathematical content.
In November 2008, we decided to organize our efforts and formed the group Parents for Math Choice. Our numbers are growing daily as more concerned parents learn about our efforts and decide they want their voices heard.
Our Concerns:
1) the “student-centered” learning concept which has very little direct teacher instruction
2) the substantial group work and group grading (with randomized groupings)
3) the significant lack of math content and rigor throughout all texts
4) the spiraling instruction within/across the texts failing to provide closure
5) the rigidity of the curriculum not allowing for independent learning
6) the incompleteness of the text with too much reliance on on-line assistance and classroom work
7) the controversy surrounding CPM and the lack of data supporting performance results
Our Objective:
We support the district’s desire to offer options to students who historically have disliked or struggled with the traditional math curriculum. Students learn differently and have various abilities and aspirations. We believe the district needs to address those differences and offer students choices that best meet their needs. We are asking the district to offer two math tracks - one being a more traditional math program.
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