(Addendum: For updates on the "Children First" New Agenda, or Blueprint, and for current perspectives, please see my Web article Chancellor Joel Klein's "Children First" New Standard Curriculum for NYC Public Schools. The "dire predictions" for Children First mentioned in the letter below are linked here.)
Dear Chancellor Klein,
I wish to draw your attention to an essay that I have just placed on my education web page in which I offer some dire predictions for the results of Phase I of the Children First initiative. It is linked at
www.math.nyu.edu/mfdd/braams/links/
under the heading "BJB Essays" at top right.
Abstract:
I offer some personal observations and predictions regarding the Children First initiative of New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. I predict that in January, 2003, as he announces the results of the first phase of Children First, Chancellor Klein will lock himself into a curriculum reform driven by the ideologies of balanced whole language instruction; NCTM-style constructivist mathematics; and continued bilingual education for English language learners. The lock will last for the remainder of his tenure. The reward structure will be based on support from foundations that share the mentioned ideologies. Children will come last.
I hope that you will prove me wrong.
For constructive suggestions about mathematics instruction I would like to refer you to my replies and those of some of my colleagues to a set of questions by Mr. Evan Rudall. My replies are here:
www.math.nyu.edu/mfdd/braams/links/quest-0211-bjb.html
More generally I would refer you to the set of articles posted under "Math and Science Instruction" on my web page, cited earlier, and to the articles posted under "Introduction" and under "Issues in Mathematics Education" in the left column on the NYC HOLD page:
In many ways the experience with mathematics reform in California can be a model for New York City, and for more information on this there is no better source than the Mathematically Correct web site under the heading "Mathematics Education in California":
and the California sub-page of the MC web site:
mathematicallycorrect.com/calif.htm
I would highlight further the books "What's at Stake in the K-12 Standards Wars: A Primer for Educational Policy Makers", by Sandra Stotsky; and "The Schools We Need - And Why We Don't Have Them", by E. D. Hirsch, Jr.
With regard to reading instruction I would urge you to heed in full and without reservation the advice of the National Reading Panel and the National Institute For Literacy:
www.nationalreadingpanel.org/
www.nifl.gov/
and also to take special notice of the article "Whole Language Lives On: The Illusion of `Balanced' Reading Instruction", by Louisa Cook Moats.
www.edexcellence.net/library/wholelang/moats.html
cc: Mr. Evan Rudall, Ms. Kristen Kane (by email)
Yours Sincerely,
Bas Braams
--
Bastiaan J. Braams (Research Associate Professor)
Dept. of Mathematics - Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
New York University - 251 Mercer Street - New York, NY 10012-1185
Email: braams@math.nyu.edu
Web: www.math.nyu.edu/mfdd/braams/
The opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by New York University.