Friday, April 5, 2019

Independent Surveys of WCPSS Teachers Shed Light on What Parents are Seeing (Part 2)

Earlier this week, I shared the Part 1 of the results from the WCPSS math teacher surveys I recently conducted.  This article lists the remaining comments.


Category: Adoption Adherence

  • At this point we are being told from our assistant principal that even supplementing before hand isn’t being “true to the curriculum”.  So we are told to use the books no matter the outcome.
  • The schools with no problems just aren’t using the curriculum
  • The teachers that I observe using the curriculum faithfully are far behind the needed pacing for the NCFE.
  • I have used it more than any other teacher in my PLT; all other teachers have gone off independently to teach the course standards and only use the workbooks as supplemental material. As a result, my students are behind other classes at our school.
  • I supplement the materials almost on a daily basis. I have tried using the activities/lessons in the MVP manual without doing so, and my students just simply don't respond. I have a few that will complete the lessons, but many will sit there and not lift a pencil.
  • I just do what I want. I use the old school math books because the MVP quadratics books are so terrible.  This (MVP) is ridiculous. That’s why my kids are doing great.
  • I know for a fact not all schools are using this, as their principals support the knowledge and professional direction of their teachers.
  • I taught MVP Math 1 the first year my school implemented it. It was exhausting and stressful. My assistant principal "over" the math department at the time insisted that we implement it exactly as it is supposed to be. Luckily, my department chair was teaching it with me and disagreed. We did most of the tasks but additionally supplemented/didn't do all Ready, Set, Go's as is.
  • Teachers are having to supplement most of the material to meet the standards. A lot of the standards are touched, but not in depth. When teachers have to supplement majority of the time plus do MVP, we are creating double the workload and it's getting exhausting.
  • I feel like I am being judged for my commitment to the program and for pointing out that no one else is working closely with MVP. 
  • WCPSS doesn’t know what we are doing (what we are teaching).
  • I have reached out to superiors to find out how “mandatory” the curriculum is.
  • I would bet only 20% of the teachers are using it as designed with no supplement
  • I am doing what'd best for my students by using MVP as supplemental. 
  • I enjoy having a textbook for the curriculum. There are some lessons that I skipped because I did not see how it would be beneficial to my students when numbers got involved. 
  • Needs supplementation but engaging and fun. Needs a quality teacher to deliver it. 
  • The Math 1 & 2 teachers at XXXXXXXX High have adjusted to MVP without a ton of back lash.  One of the teachers told me there was not much change in students' final grades from traditional to MVP.  I think some students like it and some do not.  The teacher has a lot to do with this as well.  Also, they are still supplementing a lot in addition to using MVP.  
  • I believe in MVP, if followed with fidelity... correctly... I can truthfully say, as far as teaching Math 1, I’m the only teacher that has taught MVP math 1 with fidelity these last 4 semesters at my particular school (so if it’s happening at my large school, this issue is probably happening everywhere)
  • MVP is a great curriculum for math students.  I understand the downfall at times with not having a lot of practice.  However Wake County has been very straightforward about teachers using supplemental resources.  WCPSS has answered the question in most trainings that each teacher is allowed and encouraged to use supplemental resources.  This would be the appropriate time for teachers to have practice problems to strengthen the concept.
  • I teach a sheltered class with the MVP curriculum and my students have responded well to the materials. I think if we were to keep a consistent curriculum, then students would prosper. Also, Having a curriculum that is mapped out for 3 courses helps streamline the standards from course to course. 
  • I like the MVP as a supplemental resource.  We use it as an interactive notebook with a vocabulary section in the back of each workbook as well as supplemental notes and practice for most lessons.  
  • I like many of the task activities as it promotes math discourse among students and higher level thinking skills.  
  • The writers of MVP never intended for their workbooks to be the only materials we use; if you visit their websites many of them have interactive notebooks with supplemental notes.  It is our job as educators to use the tasks in the best manner we see fit and supplement where needed based on our standards.  It doesn't mean the tasks aren't a great resource; it's just that notes and practice are also part of the learning process.

Category: About Students

  • Gone is the flexibility of taking an extra day because the kids just don't get it. Gone is the flexibility of doing a fun activity to reinforce a concept. Gone is my control over what I think is needed and necessary in my classroom. 
  • I am a firm believer that practice makes perfect. MVP does not provide practice. 
  • teaching something like exponent laws for the first time these students need a LOT of practice on it, not the few questions they get in the RSG.
  • MVP uses the premise that if students DISCOVER the relationships involved in math, they are more likely to retain it.  While this is true, it is a question of the amount of time that is involved. By the time students have gone through the workbook materials and struggled to discover the needed relationships, there is little or no time for reinforcement. No time for practice. 
  • We are seeing that students are woefully unprepared for the rigor of Precalculus and AP Calculus, having come through Common Core mathematics, and the MVP program is only going to exacerbate this problem. 
  • My kids are lost with MVP.
  • My kids are in private schools. Most parents have no clue the kind of crap they are teaching at schools here.
  • I think it’s a crime what they are doing to these kids.
  • What happens when our students are so soured on math due to MVP that they lose interest in studying advanced math?  How will WCPSS look compared to other school districts if we are no longer able to offer AP Calculus due to lack of student interest in taking the course?
  • There also isn’t enough practice. Very minimal practice that I must supplement.
  • The expectation is too high for some students and most students just waste the entire class trying to learn.
  • How well are the students being prepared for the next level of math? Are they truly learning the needed skills through the MVP curriculum? Will these students have solid enough skills to be prepared for the rigors of Precalculus and AP Calculus? If a student does not understand factoring or completing the square, I don't know how I will be able to teach them the four conic sections. If a student does not truly understand right triangle trigonometry, I don't know how I will be able to teach them the Laws of Sines and Cosines, vectors, and polar equations. 
  • In Precalculus, a teacher depends on the students to have solid algebra skills that are used in advanced problems. Are we truly preparing our students for advanced math? Are they really learning the skills they need to be learning in math? What happens when our students are so soured on math due to MVP that they lose interest in studying advanced math? Will we have enough students to be able to offer them AP Calculus in high school?  How will WCPSS look compared to other school districts if we are no longer able to offer AP Calculus due to lack of student interest in taking the course?
  • I did tutor one student last semester in H Math 3.  She came to me kind of late in the semester, but as far as I could tell, she was pretty smart.  Her grades were not reflective of this, mainly because of how the course was being taught.  I told her not to take pre-cal because I did not think she was ready for it.  (I recommended taking AFM first) 
  • My kids couldn’t do that (MVP)!
  • I just feel so bad for the kids.
  • These kids are not getting what they need.
  • They (students) don’t need me to ask them more questions.
  • I felt that it was very difficult to be absent from that class as I had to facilitate most of every single day in class. I did not find it as easy to just "hand over" the task to the students and have them come to these insightful conclusions that the mvp creators insist will happen. We then had to be absent for additional training days as this was just coming to fruition in wcpss.
  • I am nervous for the Math 3 implementation next year. Since we changed to common core my coworkers and I have been busting our butts to perfect our current Honors Math 3 course, and I feel like the students are learning a lot, prepared for Precalculus and beyond, etc. I do not feel confident that MVP will do that for them.
  • I am sure MVP is nice for teachers who do not think and don't care what their students learn. However, those of us who work hard to make sure students are learning the appropriate material this has been a waste of time and money. 
  • Additionally, in the event of a substitute I cannot use review pages from a book but instead have to the students work on an investigation without a math teacher. 
  • Our school chose not to pilot math 3 this year for that reason... students who start math 3 next year will have only known MVP for Math 1 and Math 2, so MVP for Math 3 won’t be quite the shock as it is now... I see the kids that are honor students struggle... so I explain the task and how the skill ties in.  Then I usually go over skipped questions or tasks and then I give them the rule (because I’m their tutor, not teacher- different job description). 
  • This curriculum is helping our students find their deficits by actual testing their ability to understand, apply and "do" math. This allows our students to actually know their skill level and improve it to succeed  in later mathematics classes and logical based problem solving for the rest of their lives. 
  • All this curriculum does is bring out the weaknesses that were already there while not allowing students to memorize math instead of learning.
  • Some may see math as a memorization of a bunch of rules and procedures, however anyone who knows what math really is knows this is not true.
  • Our old ways did not teach math so there will be some growing pains from the part of both students and teachers, but that doesn't mean the curriculum isn't the best way to teach our kids math. 
  • My job is to help my students be prepared and able to meet future challenges.  MVP helps them to do this.  
  • Students are challenged everyday in my class to think of ways to solve a problem.   
  • In this day and age I have to prepare my students for jobs that don’t even exist yet.  So making them a problem solver and good thinker should not be an argument.  
  • My students have never been this engaged in lessons before, and I have learned so much about the different ways my students approach problems than ever before.  I really see the value in meeting students where they are in their thought process rather than forcing the method I like the best and believe is the easiest on them and then having them regurgitate the information back to me.  
  • Students are learning problem solving skills that they will be able to apply to any problem they encounter rather than me showing them how to do one problem, practice it a couple times until they get the hang of it and then move on.  With this approach, students often can only answer a problem if it is presented to them in the exact same way and aren't as comfortable attempting a problem they haven't seen written in the exact same way.  
  • I used to think I was a great teacher because I could "dumb down" the content so much and teach it the easiest way I knew how, and students could regurgitate it right back to me in the moment, but those skills never lasted past the unit test.  
  • MVP has created an environment where kids can learn critical thinking skills.  I wish I had these 20 years ago.  
  • The main problem that I am seeing in my classroom with learning is too many students (I teach two classes of 39), which leads me to not have the time I need in class to properly support each student's learning as they think through the problems. I would implore you to take this passionate energy you have and go to the legislature and ask them to properly fund the school system so that they can hire enough people to have smaller class sizes that allow teachers to properly use the MVP curriculum in a way to support learning. 
  • Teachers who have recently graduated from math education programs have been trained in how to use task-based learning, but the rest of the teachers in the county have been through many different philosophies of learning, so they need time to become good at teaching with a curriculum that really pushes students to learn.
  • The learning happens in the practice, in the collaboration... in the productive struggle... last year, I witnessed students who were scared to answer questions, become an active participant because it was more about process!  We can fix calculation errors... those are easy to fix... it’s harder to fix process errors... they became more confident in the process... now... does that mean they’re proficient... HELL NO.. but they’re more confident.  And half the battle with math is the lack of confidence.  Children and adults alike walking around making it ok to struggle in math, learned helplessness... people will turn around in a quick second and shout “I can’t do math.” But they wouldn’t turn around and say, “I can’t read...” that’s my struggle... 
  • There’s an appropriate time and place for algorithms and discovery.  Yes, it has to be a COMPLETE LEARNING CYCLE... but the reality is there are teachers who are skipping tasks or part of tasks that they feel are unnecessary (the lack of trust part), without realizing that it’s needed for the understanding... it’s usually a link between the task and the “skill” of the task...
  • I realize I teach math 1 and not honors or high achieving students... but I do tutor them... in my most humble opinion, high achieving students are great at following directions! There’s nothing wrong with that... they like rules! You give them the rules and they’ll follow them... MVP doesn’t give the rules, they’re discovering the rules and then applying them... that’s a huge and painful shift for our high achievers as well. 
  • In my classroom, we use the tasks and I make sure we debrief before we leave class... if we don’t, they can’t do the HW... no system is perfect, I realize that...  but it’s super interesting to watch these student flourish, and even better, to watch honors kids come up with stuff on their own instead of “following a given rule”. Do I think it all comes down to the teacher... more than not... but I don’t know a remedy or even that there is one
  • My school is all about diversity. It doesn’t matter if you can teach.
  • We (as teachers) need to get feedback from students.

Category: Equity

  • The material is not good for students who don’t speak English because of so many words. 
  • MVP does not address needs of honors students or lower achieving students with learning disabilities or language barriers. 
  • I feel like this material is incredibly frustrating for my students who don't speak english, and for my students who struggle with reading.
  • Asking lower level students to stay engaged in a math discussion while doing word problems and not directly teaching them how to answer the problems frustrates my students.  They shut down and give up. I have to do a lot of supplemental instruction just to get them to understand the concept. 
  • It fails to meet students where they are and it caused a lot of frustration among a lot of my students and did not leave a lot of room to experience true success.
  • A lot of the students in my Math I class experience fatigue or inability to do the problems due to language barriers or lower reading levels. 
  • My standard level students do not have the math skills to work at an abstract level, nor are they willing to engage in the discourse that is necessary to make problem-based learning work at this level in the classroom. 
  • It’s criminal. There is no vertical alignment.  I don’t even know what these lower level kids are going to do.
  •  I don’t think one size fits all in education. That’s what mvp is.
  • I also have to frontload knowledge due to my classes being inclusion. When I taught honors I didn’t have to do that as much. When in inclusion they are completely lost with prior knowledge. They also have a hard time reading the overly involved tasks.
  • I am reaching bc I am absolutely miserable and at this point feel I have nothing to lose. “The experts” tell us that MVP supports all types of learning capabilities for our students which is one of the many reasons for adopting it. Yet this curriculum is doing exactly what they claim they are “trying to prevent”, pigeonholing students in to task based learning. At best, mvp should be used as a resource. 
  • Children with differing styles and abilities seem to be affected the most by this
  • I now teach foundations (yearlong) and honors. We are giving the same curriculum to the same students and that's doing a disservice to both classes. 
  • MVP is not sequenced like a traditional book.  All Glencoe or Holt textbooks start with a Chapter 1 and then increase in order (Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3 and so on).  MVP does not have chapters but has modules.  The modules are not all printed in the same typeset or layout.  Furthermore, the modules are not in sequential order.  There are not colored graphics whatsoever and the font is very small even with my glasses.  If a student was visually impaired I do not think this print would be acceptable.
  • I think that the MVP curriculum is best suited for middle grades students taking Math I due to its pacing. 
  • My opinion is for the average to above average math student, MVP is a good resource overall.
  • One other issue that I find highly concerning in Wake County is the way academic/honors courses across other subjects are currently being taught.  Many high schools have or are moving to only offering Honors Level classes at certain levels of English, Social Studies, and Science.  Classes are mixed with students who normally would be in an academic level class and students who would normally take Honors level.  This is supposed to "bring the academic level student up".  What I have heard from teachers is that it lowers the curriculum as accommodations must be made  to ensure the academic level students still pass.  While I know your focus is solely MVP, I do know that many parents are not aware of this compromise in their child's education.  While they still get an Honors credit and may be highly successful in the watered down course, they are not getting the same material at the same level students once received in Wake County.  How will this affect them in college?  While no math classes (to my knowledge) have made this switch, I find this method highly disturbing as a teacher and a parent of a future high schooler in Wake County.
  • This course is great for honor level students (middle school level).  By the time students are in the 9th grade and taking math 1 they are on level.  
  • In college I did learn about a lot of different learners and as I remember, audio learners represents the smallest proportion of the population.  The biggest population of learners is hands on and interactive learning.  Therefore MVP hits a much greater amount of students versus traditional lecturing. 

Category: Job Security / Fear of Retribution

  • It’s sad that we have to choose between doing what is best for our kids and doing what is told by the county
  • Basically “do this or else”.  I have teachers saying that they’ll only do this to pay their mortgage
  • We were given a script to say at meet the teacher night in support of this. If we do not comply with supporting this, even if we are only acting in support of, we could easily be fired on the spot for insubordination. Which now a days is the only way to get fired.
  • Teachers can’t speak out about this, even if you tell us it is confidential and/or anonymous. Most of us have to pay the bills so we cannot afford to lose our jobs- especially the young and single teachers. 
  •  “We have to be on board, especially to parents”, or it’s our job. 
  •  I am a single teacher and need my job- which I love when I get to do it.
  • To be brutally frank, I do not feel the need for my name to be kept confidential. I hope that in our professional community, my colleagues and I are free to discuss the merits and challenges of the materials we are trained to use in class and how we as professionals see the potential and actual benefits to our students.
  • You all will not probably get very many responses and/or honest for fear of their job
  • We were literally told we “will support and by-in to the mvp program.”
  • Teachers were told point blank, you will use this or you will be put on an action plan
  • They (WCPSS) monitor teachers like crazy. Like big brother in Wake County.

Category: Teacher Satisfaction / Dissatisfaction with MVP

  • In addition, the year before MVP was adopted, the teachers were asked for input on 2 different SUPPLEMENTAL packages. We were all under the impression that this MVP crap was to be used for supplemental purposes. When we returned to school in August we were told it was a mandatory curriculum. This is not fair and this is not a very trustworthy move from central office.
  • My understanding is that MVP is on a 3-year contract with WCPSS (currently in Year Two), and I am hoping and praying that they choose NOT to renew. In the mean time, I cringe at next year's roll-out of the MVP materials for Math 3.
  • This curriculum takes away my creativity as a teacher.
  • After leaving the training, I am seriously considering looking for a math teaching position outside of WCPSS, just to get away from MVP.  While it has aspects that I like, I am not convinced that a strict following of the MVP curriculum (as I was given the impression was expected - no deviating allowed) is in the best interests of my students.
  • When I go to county meetings for math 2 so many of the teachers are fed up with the material
  • I almost threw up every time I heard the county say, in that parent meeting, how they are supporting the teachers.
  • As a veteran teacher of 20 plus years, I know feel less competent than I did my first year teaching.
  • Other school teachers may not reply bc they have their administrators support to not use this but they are keeping that top secret or hush hush from the county office. 
  • The school that I am at had respectable, high test scores. We did not need to revamp anything. Why are we being punished for teaching Math 1,2,3 well?
  • I, and many of my colleagues, do not feel as if we can comment using our names and school.
  • I am very much against the MVP approach for teaching math.  Several reasons:
  • BLOCK SCHEDULING!  Students can be away from math for a whole year
  • Not enough time for students to discover concepts and be assessed appropriately
  • I spent well over 400 hours in the last 2 years creating packets for each unit since we do not have a textbook and I do NOT want to recreate the wheel yet again.
  • I have made hundreds of videos, answer keys, quizzes, group quizzes, online assessments, and Tests that directly fit my teaching style.
  • I have had a ton of success with my students and have seen their growth in math.
  • Students have a lot of gaps in math.  (Math 1 &2 seems to be easier than Math 3)"
  • At XXXXXXXX High we opted NOT to do the MVP for Math 3 this year.  Now, we are being forced to do it next year.  I am absolutely against it and I am not sure what I am going to do about it.  I am very thankful you have taken action to voice the reality MVP teaching.
  • Do not mess with the WCPSS math chair!
  • I would want to know exactly who chose the curriculum.
  • We are now the subjects of scrutiny bc our parents will speak up, and rightfully so. Until the MVP meeting with the parents in our library occurred, I had never witnessed a single county office personnel in our school to “support” the MVP teachers. 
  • My personal feeling is there was a lull in leadership when decisions had to be made about this curriculum and thus the person who made the decision to buy MVP is trying to save face because they bought it and it is bad.  They are full support at the county office because God forbid they admit they made a mistake with this purchase. 
  • My school will be adopting MVP Math 3 next year. I am not very happy about it. I have over 25 years of experience teaching HS Math, and now the county is going to tell me exactly what I need to say & do in my classroom.
  • I was hired by WCPSS to teach my students the state math curriculum. I do not feel as though MVP will allow me or help me to do my job adequately.
  • I am hesitant to say much to my superiors, please know that the teachers do appreciate all of the hard work this parent group is putting in. We have not enjoyed implementing MVP and are frustrated but to a certain extent our hands are tied. Some administrators are more willing to budge than others, some are more open to hearing input than others. 
  • Math is not a conceptual thing. You need to learn the foundations before you can apply it.
  • MVP is a great way to engage students in math and not just lecturing them. 
  • It requires students to think for themselves and not just memorize and repeat procedures and algorithms. Students who are used to that may struggle, especially if they are not pushed to adapt and overcome. We should not look at that as a bad thing, however we should see it as an amazing opportunity. 
  • I would be happy to talk to you about this at any time and help you understand what MVP is really about and why it is a phenomenal curriculum.
  • MVP is absolutely the best thing that could have happened to mathematics education. It is research based, it is reachable for all students, it allows students to discover and make deeper connections with math that I was even previously unaware of as a teacher. It opens their minds to what Math truly is instead of memorizing a bunch of formulas and processes. 
  • I’ve had better math discourse, better collaboration, and communication, and overall better understand of the material I am teaching. I LOVE MVP!! 
  • I love the MVP curriculum because students can’t memorize an A on a test.  They have to challenge themselves to understand a concept they can Google and actually know what to do with it.  Isn’t that what we want for this generation? 
  • I absolutely love MVP and believe that it truly supports all learning styles.  
  • I truly believe studying math is a study of processes, problem solving skills and strategies, and that is exactly what MVP does.  
  • The retention of material from Math 1 to 2 to 3 is so much higher than it was before!  LOVE MVP
  • In grad school, we learn about research that is done in mathematics classrooms around the world that studies how students best learn math. The main themes that have come out of that research is that students should have the opportunity to engage in tasks that allow them to access their prior knowledge, build on that prior knowledge, and make conjectures that they test until they can make conclusions. 
  • The role of the teacher in this case is to facilitate that learning, asking probing questions that clarify student thinking, asking students to re-voice each others' thoughts, positioning students as owners of their thinking, providing tools for students to verify their thinking and reasoning, and helping students formalize their thinking to the mathematical register (i.e. changing student language to math language). Many tasks are out there in the world that can do this, but the cool thing about MVP is that the entire curriculum is designed to be this way, and is aligned directly to the standards in the NC Core Math Standards. Thus, it is a well-designed way to help teachers move their practice towards a more research-based way of teaching. 
  • I’m a silent cheerleader for common Core math and mvp
  • It is a COMPLETE paradigm shift and quite frankly, the colleagues on my team don’t trust it, because it feels uncomfortable... it feels uncomfortable because we, as teachers, are used to doing more work than students and the program forces us to truly facilitate learning... what does that mean as a teacher... a lot of work on the front end - completing the tasks, reading through the notes, asking questions, bouncing ideas, time that some of us are “scared” to take, or have an excuse why we don’t have the time... but we’ll spend 2 hours formatting a stupid worksheet that we’re going to complete in front of them, and they’ll forget it all tomorrow... there’s no teaching and learning happening when students copy notes or problems, they’re just great copiers
  • To be direct, may I ask what you hope to accomplish with this survey? I am very open in my support of the implementation of the MVP curriculum materials and the philosophical approach behind them. The materials are designed for students to be active participants in the construction of their own knowledge, a well-founded and research-based approach to teaching in all disciplines.

This concludes the anonymous teacher comments.

Conclusion

To answer the question posed in the last comment, what do I hope to accomplish with this survey?  As I said in my School Board presentation on April 2 (2h 15m mark), I want to give the silenced teachers a voice.  But, just as importantly, I want to continue give parents the full picture of what is going on with MVP.  The school system ONLY parrots the party lines and talking points for MVP:

I will continue to shed light on the truths that we are uncovering about MVP on a daily basis, because if you parents only listen to WCPSS and the MVP folks, you are only hearing one point of view, which is contrary to what you are seeing with your own eyes.

Lastly, I would like to thank all the teachers who shared their comments, both pro and con MVP.  There is room in this world for different points of view.  Hopefully seeing all the comments in context of one another demonstrates that we have a problem and ignoring one side of it is only going to make matters worse.

Cartoon courtesy of: http://www.weaponsofmathdestruction.com/

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