Educational issues affecting San Mateo, CA (and others too!)
In case we need yet another wake-up call…
“The case unveiled Tuesday was stunning in its breadth and audacity. It was the Justice Department’s largest ever education prosecution, a sprawling investigation that involved 200 agents nationwide and resulted in the arrest of 50 people in six states.”
Current problems may eventually be ironed out of the NGSS curriculum. There was a nice display of positive progress at the 3/7/19 Board meeting, but there is still a significant way to go. There will be problems during the transition. Parents unfortunately appear unaware of / unconcerned by this issue.
It is very unfortunate that it took a year to occur, but I am pleased to report that we finally had an excellent exchange of views about the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) at the San Mateo Union High School District Board meeting last night (3/7/19), and I feel more hopeful for the future.
I could post my presentation today, but that would give only my side of the story. I will defer that until I also have time to write a description of the presentations from the District and the ensuing discussion with the SMUHSD Board members. I hope to get that done before the end of the weekend.
After a wait of almost a year, the Next Generation Science Standards agenda item will finally be discussed at this coming Thursday’s (3/7/19) Board of Trustees meeting. A link to the entire meeting agenda is here. I have been told that the NGSS item will come up around 8:00 PM, but this timing is only approximate. The District will give the following PowerPoint presentation, and I have been granted six minutes to respond.
I just sent the following email to the SMUHSD administration and the Board of Trustees in preparation for this event:
Finally, as my last note in this series of articles before students sign up for next year’s classes, I would like to remind everyone of an article I posted here back on March 4th, 2017. Newer high school students have probably not seen this article:
It references an article written by another author who is a very intelligent, talented, and driven Chinese-American who “graduated from Harvard University summa cum laude and earned two perfect scores on the SAT (1600 in 2004, and 2400 in 2014) and a perfect score on the ACT.” He says, “In high school, I got into every school I applied to, including Harvard, Princeton, MIT, and Stanford.” He later joined an M.D.-Ph.D. program at Harvard Medical School and MIT.
His perspective runs counter to a lot of conventional high school counseling, but I found it extremely interesting, believable, and compelling.
As with anything worthwhile, his article is a lengthy read. I list a few critical points in my synopsis which I urge you to read first before tackling his detailed text.
This question arose in a NextDoor discussion the other day. Students who will major in science, particularly the physical sciences, or who will be required to take calculus at their prospective college, should stick with calculus as I explain below.
I am posting this short note to alert followers of my blog that the controversy regarding the reported high drop rate in the Aragon accelerated math classes has been resolved. Additional information from a meeting I held on 2/15/19 with Assistant Principal Ron Berggren has been added to my earlier article Alarmingly High Drop Rate for Aragon’s Accelerated Math Classes?? Please be sure to read it carefully as it bears on a number of important educational issues.
