She makes good money for this logic
Dora Gonzales is the head of the District 11 math department. She has been in place since Norm Ridder was superintendent. After the February 2004 math town hall and the very clear feedback from parents that they were not happy with the state of math in D11, Ridder began to have second thoughts about keeping Gonzales on board in her math role. She had a troubling habit of forcing lousy curriculum and textbook choices on schools in the district. Most schools took her advice because she and certain executive directors left the schools little choice. Schools with strong math leaders, such as Holmes Middle School, resisted the pressure and maintained math curriculum that actually works. As a result, Holmes is one of the highest performing middles schools in D11 in the area of math. Students depart Holmes with an understanding of math, and they are generally prepared to move on to the next level. Due to Gonzales' failed leadership, thousands of D11 students are being cheated out of a basic math education.
Ridder decided to implement a restructuring of his administrative staff in 2004. Superintendents move people and change titles of their executives every couple of years to make the public believe that they are actually doing something (Terry Bishop is going through this process himself). Ridder informed board members that he was changing the job title to Gonzales' job, and that she would have to reapply for her position. He stated that he was confident that Gonzales would not be hired for her position due to the demand for improved math in the district. Ridder expressed concern that if he fired Gonzales or asked her to step down from her job, the Hispanic community would rise up in anger. He never thought to inform the Hispanic community that the decisions made by Gonzales were particularly harmful to them.
Recently, Gonzales was invited to speak at a League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) meeting in Colorado Springs. The topic was obviously math. Gonzales was invited to speak because the Latino community is becoming more knowledgeable about the state of education in D11, and particularly with regards to the math education, or lack thereof.
Gonzales was peppered with questions about D11 math and any plans she had to improve the performance of the district. Gonzales was challenged on her support for constructivist math programs such as Everyday Math. She defended these programs, claiming that traditional math programs and approaches (commonly called programs that work) were historically harmful to minority children. Citing no evidence for this claim, she told the LULAC members that constructivist math was the correct fit for D11 and for Latino students.
The LULAC audience was not buying Gonzales' defense of a failed math program for the district. They had seen the data, and the evidence was clear: Latinos, and all other "groups" of students, were not learning math in D11. The audience asked Gonzales why the data was showing that her programs were not working. She had no answer. She assured them that the data don't tell the whole story. She could not explain what information she had that DID tell the whole story, and she became frustrated.
Gonzales finally told the LULAC audience what really mattered the most. When they wouldn't accept her excuses and lack of plan for improvement, Gonzales went for the logical conclusion. She said, "Well at least you should be happy that you have a brown face running the math department."
Ridder decided to implement a restructuring of his administrative staff in 2004. Superintendents move people and change titles of their executives every couple of years to make the public believe that they are actually doing something (Terry Bishop is going through this process himself). Ridder informed board members that he was changing the job title to Gonzales' job, and that she would have to reapply for her position. He stated that he was confident that Gonzales would not be hired for her position due to the demand for improved math in the district. Ridder expressed concern that if he fired Gonzales or asked her to step down from her job, the Hispanic community would rise up in anger. He never thought to inform the Hispanic community that the decisions made by Gonzales were particularly harmful to them.
Recently, Gonzales was invited to speak at a League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) meeting in Colorado Springs. The topic was obviously math. Gonzales was invited to speak because the Latino community is becoming more knowledgeable about the state of education in D11, and particularly with regards to the math education, or lack thereof.
Gonzales was peppered with questions about D11 math and any plans she had to improve the performance of the district. Gonzales was challenged on her support for constructivist math programs such as Everyday Math. She defended these programs, claiming that traditional math programs and approaches (commonly called programs that work) were historically harmful to minority children. Citing no evidence for this claim, she told the LULAC members that constructivist math was the correct fit for D11 and for Latino students.
The LULAC audience was not buying Gonzales' defense of a failed math program for the district. They had seen the data, and the evidence was clear: Latinos, and all other "groups" of students, were not learning math in D11. The audience asked Gonzales why the data was showing that her programs were not working. She had no answer. She assured them that the data don't tell the whole story. She could not explain what information she had that DID tell the whole story, and she became frustrated.
Gonzales finally told the LULAC audience what really mattered the most. When they wouldn't accept her excuses and lack of plan for improvement, Gonzales went for the logical conclusion. She said, "Well at least you should be happy that you have a brown face running the math department."
There you have it. The most important issue at hand in the whole math debate in D11 is that a Latino is the head of the math department. As one of the LULAC members asked: "Is it supposed to somehow make us happier that our kids are being screwed by a fellow Latino rather than by a white?" Thank you, Dora Gonzales, for confirming what many of us already knew. You aren't there to serve the community or to advance the education of kids. You are there to serve other interests, and based on your overly high salary (over $100,000 when benefits are included), the interest you serve is largely your own.
posted by Craig Cox | 5:55 PM
3 Comments:
Dora didn't cite evidence that constructivist/fuzzy math programs work for minority kids or kids from low socio-economic families because it doesn't exit. Evidence does exist that these programs are particularly harmful for these children. Dr. Tom Loveless, a former math teacher, heads up the Brown Center for Education issues at the Brookings Institution. He has studied math issues in detail and has written that constructist programs are particularly bad for at-risk kids for any number of reasons, including that many times, they don't have adults in the home who can help them, they don't have expensive tutors or computer programs to help them learn basics not taught under these programs, or their parents/guardians are intimidated by school officials who insist that these programs work. The bad data has piled up for years now. There is no excuse for what is going on, and how these programs have failed, and continue to fail, thousands of kids.
Mr Cox,
I have written before and could not help dropping this manhole cover. http://www.d11.org/doi/ "Welcome to the Division of Educational Support Services. This Division was created by the Board of Education and Superintendent, Dr. Terry Bishop to ensure that all school sites and other divisions have the necessary support and tools to impact student achievement. Employees in this Division have the opportunity to collaborate with each other and with those we serve. Equally important to this Division is using research based strategies in our work and in our delivery. This Division is diverse and talented. Departments that make up this Division include Instruction, Information Technology, Special Education, Title and Grants, Learning Resources, Athletics and Student Discipline. Finally, this Division is excited to help lead the effort to send our graduates out into the 21st Century prepared and able to tackle a world that is constantly changing.”
~ Mike Poore, Deputy Superintendent for Student Support Services . So you see there, its all fixed!
It looks as if you are right, Anony. Mr. Poore (or is it "Doctor" like everyone else?) says that all of the resources are there to prepare our kids for the 21st Century, so yes, that settles it!
Sadly, we all know that his effort at actually accomplishing anything stopped after he wrote that little blurb for the web site. The only legacy that this district and so many other public school districts will leave for the 21st Century is that their failure to provide a basic education for our kids will be responsible for this country continuing its decline down to second tier status on the world stage. No standards, no rigor, no expectations, but plenty of excuses.
Yes, Mr. Poore, you are certainly are having an "impact on student achievement." It is noted that you didn't claim to be having a positive impact.
Post a Comment
<< Home