John P. Walker: Common Core math standards have not raised the bar
On May 1, I lost a 4-3 vote to return Modesto City Schools to a traditional high school math in a first step towards regaining local control of what is being taught in math classes. The 20-page report presented was full of copy-and-pasted talking points that are not supported by the facts. The current Common Core standards did not raise the bar. Placing Algebra 1 in 9th grade while discouraging student acceleration is proof enough of the complete disregard for actual facts in place of talking points.
The report made no mention that the MVP curriculum being used is based on an experimental teaching approach called discovery.
In addition, the district brought in a “ringer” from SCOE to present due to the lack of anyone at the district management level with a STEM background.
Yes, I lost this battle, but those that voted against me did so based on bad advice.
Actually talking with students and parents would have potentially led to a different result. Listening to the student representative would have been a step in the right direction. The students are the ones that really lost here, and I will not quit fighting for them.
John P. Walker, Modesto
This story was originally published May 4, 2017 at 2:58 PM with the headline "John P. Walker: Common Core math standards have not raised the bar."