Analysis of the Oct-Nov 2019 WCPSS MVP Math Curriculum Online Survey Responses

Background

Back in August, 2019, WCPSS staff and the voter-elected School Board gave parents who complained about MVP the collective middle finger when they denied parents' complaint (and subsequent appeal) about the program.  One concession WCPSS made was that they would throw another $125k of taxpayer money at the problem by commissioning an "independent" survey to look at the program and/or its implementation.  They later hired Florida-based MGT Consulting for this task.

MGT conducted their review in the October - November timeframe and that included a 9-question online parent survey which ran October 29 - November 13.  The first few hours of the survey being online was met with outcries from parents, as there were no spaces allowing write-in comments.  MGT quickly fixed that, citing what I remember to be a technical issue.

MGT's Report

The results of the review were presented to the Student Achievement Committee (and hence, the public) on December 16, 2019.  My synopsis of the report was this: MVP is great and wonderful!  In fact,  it's so great and wonderful, we only need to perform SEVEN major corrective actions to make it work! 

The presentation by MGT was quite a sales pitch, and presented all aspects of MVP in only the most positive of light.  It was as though they were given marching orders such as: We're going to keep MVP.  Please make sure your report doesn't contradict that.

Anyway, all positives were emphasized, and any negatives were glossed over and dismissed as though they were known issues already being diligently worked by the WCPSS curriculum staff.

One such area glossed over was the parent survey feedback.  MGT reported that 3125 surveys were submitted.  They boiled the survey responses down to one summary chart, which only showed the most chosen response for each of the 9 questions!  I thought the detailed report may have done the analysis more justice, but it did not.  In my opinion, this is very amateurish at best, and statistical malpractice at worst!

Public Records Request

The next day, I submitted a public records request to WCPSS.  I wanted to see the full survey responses because frankly, I believed that the feedback from as many as 3125 parents deserved more attention and consideration than it was given.

I'll spare you the details, but would you believe I had to fight quite hard to get those results, including emails and School Board speeches?  I felt WCPSS was trying to use a 3rd party to hide public records paid for (and written by) the taxpayers.  Eventually, WCPSS and MGT relented, and on April 17, 2020, I received a 207 page PDF file.  Original version of survey responses (received 4/17/20, 207 pages)

The first thing I did was search for my own input, as I had saved of copy of my own survey answers.  My input was NOT there.  I eventually determined that the survey responses sent to me was a snapshot taken at November 2, 2019 11:23 AM EDT, as noted in the file itself.  This was 11 days before the survey ended, and seemed to only reflect the input of about ~2425 of the 3125 total survey responses reported by MGT.  Seven hundred parents, including me, were not represented in this file.

I reported this to Tim Simmons at WCPSS, and he promised to follow-up.  On June 5, 2020, I received the updated file, which I am calling version 2.  Version 2 of survey responses (received 6/5/20, 292 pages)

This file is better in some ways.  It is better labeled.  It also has fewer odd characters missing, which seemed to confuse the original version.  It also addressed what appeared to be an error related to the comments for question 5, which were omitted from the original version.  One shortcoming of version 2 is that it omitted the write-in comments for question 1, which totaled about 18 pages in the original version.  I assume that is a careless oversight.  Whatever.  Any single page in either of these documents is as damning of MVP as any other.   What's another 18 pages when WCPSS has not heeded the massive volume of MVP rebuke (data, reports, surveys, walk-outs, evidence, public comment, protests) already provided them?

Update 6/22/20: WCPSS Tim Simmons provided me an addendum with the missing comments for question 1 that were omitted from the Version 2 file.  See MGT Parent Survey V2 - Q1 Comments for the additional 20 pages.

Table of Contents for Final Version

Question	Original Version   Received 4/17/20	Version 2 Received 6/5/20
How did you first learn about the MVP Math Curriculum?	Labelled as Q2 Pages 1 - 31	Labelled as Q1 Pages 1 - 9
Answers to “Other (please specify)	Labelled as Q2_4_TEXT Pages 1 - 12	Pages 1 - 9
Write-in comments	Labelled as Q14 Pages 13 - 31	OMITTED but provided in Addendum
What is the difference between the MVP math curriculum and the previous math curriculum?	Labelled as Q3 Pages 32 - 65	Labelled as Q2 Pages 10 - 62
Which statement best describes the level of rigor / challenge provided by the MVP math curriculum?	Labelled as Q5 Pages 66 - 100	Labelled as Q3 Pages 63 - 112
Which statement best describes your experience with the WCPSS mathematics resources website?	Labelled as Q7 Pages 101 - 124	Labelled as Q4 Pages 112 - 140
Which statement best represents your child's experience with the MVP math curriculum?	Labelled as Q8 Pages 125 - 126 Write-in comments OMITTED An error code is shown:  “WIDGET_ERROR.MISCONFIGURED”	Labelled as Q5 Pages 140 - 185
Which statement best describes your child's performance on math assessments since the implementation of MVP Math Curriculum?	Labelled as Q9 Pages 127 - 145	Labelled as Q6 Pages 185 - 211
I have received updates, resources or other communication from my child's teacher about the MVP math curriculum.	Labelled as Q10 Pages 146 - 159	Labelled as Q7 Pages 212 - 230
Since the MVP math curriculum was implemented in my child's school, I have had to spend more time helping them at home.	Labelled as Q11 Pages 160 - 185	Labelled as Q8 Pages 231 - 261
Since the MVP math curriculum was implemented in my child's school, my child has spent more time working on math assignments/homework.	Labelled as Q12 Pages 186 - 207	Labelled as Q9 Pages 262 - 292

After I read a good bit of the document, I saw a trend.  There were many superlatives which seemed to characterize parents' ire towards MVP.  I decided to make my own graph showing the frequency of such words and word forms.

I believe this bar chart to be much more informative about the parent surveys than the chart MGT produced.

Summary of Select Superlatives

Note 6/22/20: This chart is based on the Version 2 file and does NOT include the words found in the addendum provided on 6/22/20.

I hope this report was informative.  Please be sure to vote this November.  All School Board seats are on the ballot and most of them need to be replaced.

Instructional Update Reveals MVP Guidance to WCPSS Teachers - No Wonder There's Confusion and Failure!

Parents have been asking since February for clarity about what goes on in the MVP class and the role of direct instruction, supplementation, etc.  WCPSS glossed over it in the Green Hope-only MVP FAQ they provided in March, but parents have continued to hear from students and teachers who performed or described the classroom experience in a way which still resulted in a lack of learning and failing grades.

That input from students, parents, and teachers, led me to sketch this image of the spectrum of how MVP is used.

WCPSS staff, who will not engage in a conversation with parents because they're hiding behind their lawyer, have said or written nothing to me to correct or clarify my assertion.  They broke yet another promise to deliver all things related to MVP understanding on June 7, by providing only a 1.5 page response containing MORE promises.

If it were not for teachers, parents would know very little of what is going on behind the school house doors.  I recently received an instructional update from someone at one of Wake County's 60+ MVP-adopting schools.  This conveys guidance received regarding how MVP is to be handled in class with respect to other instructional methods.

• We have never said you can't supplement.  Teachers are expected to differentiate and supplement for students as needed.  But it must be done while staying true to the MVP structure. 
• MVP must be used as the primary source in math instruction.  Students need to experience the productive struggle to form stronger math understanding and skills. Supplement with other materials as appropriate.  Examples:
• Notes after the MVP lesson to highlight the key vocabulary from the lesson and for students to use as study guides (students copy or you provide guided notes they can glue into a notebook)
• If a lesson requires prior knowledge (example: specific vocabulary or skill), and that is not the focus of the lesson, but you know the students have never learned that vocabulary/skill, you may use supplemental materials to ensure they have the knowledge needed prior to the lesson
• If a standard is not found within any lessons, you must supplement to ensure students are taught that standard
• You should not be providing supplemental packets prior to lessons where the material found in the packet is what the students will be discovering during the unit’s lessons
• You should be having students work in small groups often/daily
• As you walk around checking in with groups, you should facilitate and guide their discussion
• If the majority of the class seems stuck, there’s no reason you can’t redirect their attention to you and you guide them as a whole group until they are “unstuck” then let them continue in small groups
• You should not sit back and wait for them to ask you for help; you are there to ensure the discussions happen appropriately; ask probing questions or give reminders as needed 
• If you have behavior concerns: 
• assign the groups strategically
• give them less time in groups
• remind them of the rules/expectations often
• assign roles within the group
• sit with a group or hover in strategic areas, etc.
• contact parent, reach out to the appropriate case manager and/or administrator 
• If an activity focusing too heavily on a non-standard skill, alter the lesson by demonstrating that activity rather than having students take excessive time on a non-standard skill

On one hand, that is the most specific insight parents have had related the MVP in-class guidance.  On the other hand, wow.  Look how much more WCPSS is asking teachers to JUGGLE while maintaining this facade of MVP fidelity.  It is no wonder we are seeing a breadth of results across the county.

I meticulously dissected those words to create a visual flowchart. This is not an official chart issued by WCPSS and it may not be 100% accurate, but it's pretty close to what the words say.  And the words ARE from WCPSS.  But if you follow the flow chart closely, it's understandable:

THIS ^^^^ is what WCPSS is going to continue to pour money and time into, while sacrificing your students' bad learning experiences and grades into  "improvements" over time, bit by bit, until every teacher can manage to "get by" without getting caught supplementing and without students' grades suffering so much that the current level of parent pressure is maintained.  It's a game and it's a facade.  And your students are the losers.

Show in a more simplified manner, this chart is equally as helpful:

So I have a few observations:

1. There is admission that the teacher needs to vet the materials for standard compliance.  I thought MVP matched NC standards and that was mandatory for the procurement vetting process?
2. Likewise, there may be tasks MVP does that are NOT relevant to standards, and those too, must be vetted by the teacher and minimized. 
3. The right side of the flow chart demonstrates a key weakness of MVP.  The teacher could very well spend the majority of class time on the MVP task where many students are stuck.  The teacher can iteratively redirect students and guide them, but eventually class-time may expire if the teacher doesn't pull the rip-cord in time to provide the notes (which are not allowed until after the lesson). 
4. What happens when less than half the students are stuck?  You keep on truckin' until the bell rings and hope those kids 1) have internet at home, 2) know what to search for on internet or 3) can afford a tutor.

Maybe if Wake County can perfect the process of MVP, then our results will be as good as what they have where MVP guru and founder Travis Lemon is a teacher, in American Fork, Utah.  Their results have (NOT) been spectacular!  See MVP Ground-Zero Math Performance Data Exposed, and it Ain't Pretty: An Analysis of American Fork Junior & Senior High Math Trends

Hey, I have an idea for a new & improved process!

This article has been updated

This article has been updated with:

Public Records Account of How a Testimony about MVP was Obtained and Later Retracted

When Reality and Marketing Collide: Critically Examining MVP's “Real-World Scenarios”

BY GUEST WRITER Hava Edelstein

In my opinion, MVP tries to dress up pretty standard word problems as being way more than the generic rather contrived word problems that they are, the kind that are pretty standard in mathematics textbooks. And that is fine.

The difference is that other textbooks aren’t claiming that their contrived word problems are instead Engaging Real-Life Scenarios that Create Entry Points for Differentiated Learners and Facilitate Equity and Intrigue in the Mathematics Classroom. And Compellingly Generate Rich Student Discourse Around Multiple Solutions, can’t forget about that.

That claim is not fine; that seems misleading or even dishonest to me, as if the MVP word problems have some secret sauce or innate superiority to them. I just don’t think they do.

Judge for yourself, I’ve paraphrased 25 MVP problems below: “real-world scenario” or “pretty contrived”? And if by chance it is a “real-world scenario”, would you describe the math problem as particularly unique to MVP or more like standard math textbook fare?

Particularly engaging or more ho-hum?

I believe we could open a number of different math textbooks (remember those, the things with example problems and explanations in them) and hand the word problems in them to individual students or small groups to solve, with a much better outcome on both procedural fluency and conceptual representation than MVP.

Because even if there is no longer direct teaching, there will at least be clear written explanations and worked examples and answers in the back of the book for every other problem, all very standard basic things that are lost in the MVP curriculum, in exchange for (this claim of) Engaging Real-Life Scenario Problem Solving. And now presenting...

25 MVP “Real-World Scenarios”, paraphrased for space/time reasons:

1. Scott is doing pushups to get in shape and every single day he does exactly 2 more than the day before.
2. A chain email is sent to 8 people and each of those 8 people sends it to exactly 10 others.
3. A candy machine gives out 7 candies per quarter; it holds 15 pounds; each pound is 180 candies.
   
4. Augustus is a child who won’t do his homework so his parents give him 10 candies the first day he does it, 20 on the second day, 30 on the third day, and so on.
5. Scott takes up running and runs 1 mile the first week, with plans to double the amount he runs every week.
6. Vanessa has $60 to spend on rides at the state fair, and each ride costs $4.
7. My little sister has a piggy bank that starts with 5 pennies, and exactly 3 pennies are added every day.
8. There are 5 gallons of water in a pool and it fills at a rate of exactly 2 gallons every minute
9. In the Library of Congress, books are larger than average, so each box holds on average 6 books. How many books are in 6, 10, or n boxes?
10. The population of a town is decreasing exactly 1.5% every year.
11. Joe sells vacuums and makes $500 each month plus $20 commission for each vacuum he sells.
    
12. A parking garage charges $3 for the first two hours and $2 for each hour after that.
13. Chandler rides her bike about 12 miles per hour. How many miles will Chandler travel in 30 minutes?
14. Travis and his friends have seen their teacher creating two-column proofs, so they decide to do the same.
15. Tehani is studying a quadrilateral and wonders if she can prove that two particular triangles in it are congruent.
16. Tehani and Tia are playing a guessing game where one person describes some features of a quadrilateral, and the other person guesses whether it is a square, rectangle, or rhombus.
17. Mason explains to Mia why he thinks conjecture 1 is true using the diagram below.
18. Malik’s family is redoing their back yard and draws a map of their plans onto a cartesian graph.
19. Zac is designing a gazebo and starts by inscribing a hexagon into a circle. At a later point, Zac decides to inscribe an octagon instead.
20. An 8 inch round pie is divided into 5 equal slices, a 9 inch round pie into 6 equal slices, and 2 rectangular pies divided into 2-by-4 inch and 3-by-3.25 inch rectangular pieces. Which piece of pie is the largest and which is the smallest and how do you know?
21. Madison is designing a garden with concentric circles and paths that look like spikes, per the design below.
22. Benji, Chau, and Kassandra are building three sand castles, each one twice as big as the previous one.
23. Benji, Chau, and Kassandra are using a triangular prism base in their sand castles and want to calculate the volume of them.
    
24. Carlos, Carlita, and Zac are playing a geometry game where they each try to form the largest triangle by connecting points A and B to a point of their choosing on segment MN, called point C. and last but not least,
25. A zombie invasion is wiping out the population. The number of people are diminishing fast. Each day that goes by 48% of the living population is lost.

Editors comment: This article originally appeared as a Facebook post. I wanted to share Hava's finding because I agree that the MVP word problems are no more "real world" than any other made up math word problem! Again, our leadership has drank the Koolaid on how much better MVP is for "real world" problem solving. But it's not. -- Blain Dillard

What Comes First: The Relationship or the RFP? Did MVP Enjoy a One Year Competitive Advantage in WCPSS' 2016 Curriculum Selection Process?

Mathematics Vision Project (MVP) was introduced two years before it was chosen by the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) as the Math 1, 2, and 3 curriculum.

According to WCPSS’ FAQs about MVP, released March 1, 2019, the process to find a new high school curriculum began in the Fall of 2016 with a Request for Proposal (RFP) sent out to publishers and Open Educational Resources (OERs) to submit their curricula to WCPSS for review.

Interestingly enough, there was a Triangle High Five High School Math Summit at Green Hope High School July 15, 2015, which included Mathematics Vision Project (MVP) presentations.

The MVP class was described as follows:

Learn about how a task-based curriculum such as the Mathematics Vision Project (MVP) can engage students in rigorous problem solving activities, but also support skill and procedural fluency development. Get hands-on practice for facilitating the classroom discussion of a learning task. Learn how you can sequence tasks to support student learning using the Comprehensive Mathematics Instruction (CMI) framework. Let us show you how these pieces work together to support all of the many instructional demands placed on teachers. Watch student engagement sky-rocket!

The presenters were Beth Neill (Mary Elizabeth Neill) and Mary Rogers, both teachers for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. They also both had a side job as facilitators for MVP. Here is their PowerPoint presentation:

https://static.sched.com/hosted_files/trianglehighfivehighschoolm2015a/56/High%205%20Math%20Summit%20Presentation%20.pptx

Some other presenters and attendees at this 2015 Math Summit were: Anna Jackson, WCPSS; Sonia Dupree, WCPSS; LuAnn Malik, CHCCS.

Two years later, Mary Elizabeth Neil and Mary Rogers appeared as MVP Facilitators on an attachment signed on June 14, 2017 in the Professional Development Contract between WCPSS and MVP.

When Travis Lemon was presenting MVP Math to WCPSS earlier in 2017, he mentioned having two Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools’ (CHCCS) teachers with him and asked those in attendance to be sure to visit them that evening (as seen in the slide below). Were those two CHCCS’ teachers Mary Elizabeth Neill and Mary Rogers? It is not known if the two CHCSS teachers present were there as paid or volunteer endorsers.

Lemon also shared a graphic that showed significant College and Career Ready proficiency gains on the Mathematics 1 End of Course exam in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro City School District after their first year of MVP implementation; however, scores used for the pre-implementation year were incorrect, which inflated the improvement. Similarly, multi-year data for CHCC shows that the relative improvement in proficiency was no better than for (pre-MVP) WCPSS over the same span and less than relative improvement in NC statewide.

A folder with the various WCPSS MVP Purchase Orders and Contracts is available for further examination.

Triangle High Five, SAS, and The News and Observer

Let’s look closer at the Triangle High Five Initiative and how this relates to WCPSS’ plan to implement MVP Math in Wake County. It is described as a regional consortium of five public school districts in the Research Triangle area (Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, Durham, Johnston, Orange and Wake County Public Schools). Five Triangle businesses, including SAS and the News and Observer, contributed $500k to start the Triangle High Five Initiative which was established to improve student outcomes and graduation rates.

Analytics Magazine noted that “SAS is a founder of the Triangle High Five Algebra Readiness Initiative, which helps mathematics teachers identify and engage in highly effective instructional practices as they address the disparities in mathematics achievement related to race and income.”

When looking at the 2015 Board of Directors some familiar names stand out: James Merrill, WCPSS Superintendent; Dale Burns, who was the Orange County Superintendent, but previously and later he was the Superintendent at WCPSS; Thomas Forcella, CHCCS Superintendent;

Additionally, there’s the Triangle High Five Math Collaborative, which includes Sonia Dupree, WCPSS; Michelle Tucker, WCPSS; Christina Zukowski, WCPSS; Drew Cook, WCPSS; LuAnn Malik, CHCCS.

Triangle High Five Math Happenings and Events

In April 2015, The Triangle High Five Math Collaborative wrote this letter to the Academic Review Standards Commision asking them to keep common core and integrated math:

https://www.ednc.org/2015/04/20/triangle-high-five-a-letter-to-the-academic-review-standards-commission/

In July 2015, the Triangle High Five Math Initiative held a Math Summit at Green Hope High School. https://trianglehighfivehighschoolm2015a.sched.com/. Two CHCSS teachers and MVP facilitators (Beth Neill and Mary Rogers) taught the class “Teach Like an MVP."

In August 2016, the Triangle High Five Math Collaborative held a Math Summit at the SAS World Headquarters: https://www.sas.com/en_us/events/16q1/math-summit-2016/district-contacts.html. CHCSS teachers and MVP facilitators (Beth Neill and Mary Rogers) taught the class “Week of Inspirational Math.” http://www.sas.com/images/email/c27977/secondary/MS_SEC_121_MRogersBNeil_WeekofInspirationalMath.compressed.pdf

In August 2017, The Triangle High Five Math Initiative held a math summit at NC State.  Robert Q. Berry delivered the keynote address over two sessions. He was the president-elect of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and associate professor in the University of Virginia Curry School of Education. His research focuses on equity issues in mathematics education, with a particular emphasis on the experiences of African American boys in school mathematics.https://ced.ncsu.edu/event/nc-state-triangle-region-high-five-math-summit-2017/ and https://ced.ncsu.edu/academics/professional-education/professional-development/ (professional development credit).

In September 2018, NC State held an Equity Day to “raise awareness of equity issues and motivate students to be socially active.” On the CHCSS website, there is an article about how The Triangle High Five Math Initiative has been dissolved but their “collective commitment to student success endures.” Cathy Moore, the current WCPSS Superintendent, was in attendance. https://www.chccs.org/site/Default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4&PageID=1&ViewID=6446ee88-d30c-497e-9316-3f8874b3e108&FlexDataID=16865

Summary

CHCCS administrators were key players in influencing WCPSS’ decision to use MVP Math as the countywide math curriculum. To date, they still work together to write some of the MVP workbooks used in WCPSS math classes. All of these folks were vital in the curriculum decision making process. They were all part of a group that was making presentations about MVP Math a year before WCPSS began the process of finding a new math curriculum.

We were unable to find that any other publishers were invited to work with WCPSS ahead of the high school math curriculum selection process. In February 2017, the Wake County school system held community input sessions to get feedback on whether to implement McGraw-Hill Education’s “Core-Plus Mathematics” series or the Mathematics Vision Project MVP online materials. “We have confidence that all of the resources that you will be exposed today have very high standards,” said Brian Kingsley, assistant superintendent for academics, in a video being played at the input sessions. “There were several people who weren’t invited tonight because they didn’t meet the bar that this group of people that you are about to meet with did.” https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/wake-ed-blog/article134281324.html

The Triangle High Five Initiative appears to have dissolved in 2018. The link to the 2018 Triangle High Five NC State Summit is “not found.” Additionally, their twitter page, @TriHi5, hasn’t been active since 2017. Their website appears to be deleted. Did it dissolve because they were successful in their quest to keep Common Core and integrated math, address the disparities in mathematics achievement related to race and income, and ensure MVP Math was implemented in WCPSS and other districts?

The News and Observer contributed money to the Triangle High Five Initiative. Did this influence their coverage of MVP Math issues? The News and Observer has provided minimal coverage, reporting only the news that the public already sees. They have not investigated the MVP Math issues thoroughly and have not interviewed many of the parents speaking out against MVP Math or the students walking out to protest MVP and the right to a sound math education.

Timeline

2004 - Five Triangle businesses, including SAS and the News and Observer, contributed $500k to start the Triangle High Five Initiative which was initially established to improve student outcomes and graduation rates, and address the disparities in mathematics achievement related to race and income.

August 2014 - Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools implemented MVP Math.

April 2015 - Triangle High Five wrote a letter to the Academic Review Standards Commission asking to keep common core and integrated math.

July 2015 - Triangle High Five held a High School Math Summit at Green Hope High School. Two CHCSS teachers and MVP facilitators (Beth Neill and Mary Rogers) taught the class “Teach Like an MVP.”

Fall 2016 - RFP sent to publishers and OERs to submit their curricula to WCPSS for review.

February 2017 - Travis Lemon gave an MVP presentation to WCPSS and in the slides stated “Take the opportunity to visit with two Chapel Hill Math teachers while your are exploring the MVP materials. They are here tonight!”

February 2017 - WCPSS held Community Input Sessions at Sanderson, Rolesville, SE Raleigh, and Enloe for MVP Math and Core-Plus curriculums.  No sessions were held in the western part of the county.

May 2017 - Brian Kingsley presented MVP Math to the BOE at a work session.

June 2017 - MVP Math contract was approved at a WCPSS board meeting.

June 2017 - Beth Neill and Mary Rogers were listed as MVP Facilitators on a Professional Development Contract between WCPSS and MVP (specifically Travis Lemon signed).

August 2017 - Triangle High Five held a High School Math Summit at NC State with NCTM president elect.

August 2017 - Additional PD funds approved by WCPSS BOE.

August 2017 - WCPSS rolls out MVP curriculum for Math 1 countywide.

June 2018 - Multiple MVP Math contracts approved by WCPSS BOE.

August 2018 - WCPSS rolls out MVP curriculum for Math 2 and Math 3 (optional this year) countywide.

May 2019 - WCPSS and CHCSS collaborate on MVP Math workbooks used in Wake County.

Guest Author: Sandy Joiner

Myers-Briggs and Why MVP Doesn't Work at Scale

I am no professional educator like the elite experts who created and/or selected this Mathematics Vision Project (MVP) curriculum for my school district - Wake County Public School System - but I have been through 6 years of undergrad and grad school, and countless hours of corporate training in my 30+ year career.  I even taught a few classes myself at the college and professional level.  So I'm no stranger to the education process, and like most parents, I've got some common sense, too.

Cliff Notes Version

Setting aside the debates about "integrated math vs. sequential math curricula" and "procedural fluency vs. conceptual learning," I think the crux of the problem with MVP in WCPSS can be explained with these 3 observations about education mechanics:

1. Facilitation as a teaching style is very difficult to do well, especially for math personality types
2. Facilitated discovery as a learning style does not match all students' personality types
3. Facilitation as a primary teaching style is not a good fit for teaching math

The Gory Details

Introduction to Facilitation

This may be oversimplifying it, but I think teachers are called to their field because 1) they care for children and 2) they have a knack for explaining things.  With MVP, the approach to pedagogy (the study of how knowledge and skills are exchanged in an educational context) has shifted from direct TEACHING to more FACILITATION.  With facilitation, EXPLAINING THINGS is removed from the equation.  The job of the facilitator is not to explain things, but to coerce and manipulate students into EXPLAINING THINGS or figuring things out for themselves.  This is especially challenging in MATH, where such a large component of MATH education involves explaining and understanding concepts never before encountered.

Facilitation not a Good Fit for All Teachers

I've been a student of excellent facilitation and I've tried to do it myself.  It is hard.  It requires psychology and a keen sense of observation of human interactions.  It is not a natural method for most people, and probably more difficult for those of us who are among the Sensing-Thinking-Judging personality types of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test - you know, like many scientists, mathematicians, and engineers.  On the other hand, facilitation as a profession may be better suited for people who are on the Intuitive-Feeling-Perceiving quadrants of Myers-Briggs.  These are just generalities, but corporations across America have used MBTI for years to help over 50 million employees do their jobs better.

Note: The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator is an introspective self-report questionnaire with the purpose of indicating differing psychological preferences in how people perceive the world around them and make decisions.  I expect that many parents in the Triangle area are familiar with MBTI through professional training in their jobs.    

Facilitation is not a skill set that can be taught in a 4 day (or 4 month) class to math teachers who, in general, have personalities which are not well-suited to lead teenagers in a pure facilitation experience 5 days a week.   I concede there may be a few MVP teachers around Wake County and other parts of the US who can do it satisfactorily 5 days a week, but in general, pure facilitation of MATH is NOT a transformation that is scalable to all math teachers.

Additionally, the learning styles of students which work best in that type model are unique to some students. How many students will continue to ask questions when the response from the teacher is another question, followed by another question, followed by another question? Only some. Others will pipe down and stop asking questions. My son did. So I will never say that MVP doesn't work for ANY students and ANY teachers. I think there are some combinations that might work. I'm saying that AT SCALE, and for ALL, if done AS INTENDED and AS DESIGNED - IT CANNOT WORK. And that is why we have intense pockets of complaints and random pockets of contentment around the county.

Facilitation & Discovery Learning not a Good Fit for All Students

Likewise, facilitation is not a one-size-fits-all method that works for all students.  HOW we learn is a function of the personality type of the student.  Forcing teachers and students into a teaching/learning model based largely on teacher facilitation and student discovery goes against the personality preferences of many teachers AND many students. This is neither EQUITY nor a recognition of the DIVERSITY of teaching/learning preferences.

For most teachers who at heart just want to use his or her tools (which may or may not include facilitation) to educate their students, it is a square peg in a round hole.  Forcing teachers into this model who are not so predisposed to it will inevitably lead to career dissatisfaction and attrition.  Teacher training is not the problem.  And student learning is not the problem.

Facilitating Math is an Oxymoron

Next, let's consider if facilitating the subject of mathematics even makes sense.  According to the Journal of Extension, "Although teaching and facilitating are not mutually exclusive processes, each method has a set of characteristics that distinguishes it from the other."   Look at this chart comparing teaching and facilitating, and think through each item with MATH in mind.  I've highlighted some of the key differences particularly relevant to math.  I'm not down on facilitation as a practice.  It can be an excellent way to engage a group to solve a problem that has issues and perspectives and politics and points of view and where the answer can be "it depends".  Is that the best model for teaching and learning MATH, where the answer is either right or wrong?  NO!  Indeed, there may be more than one way to solve every math problem.  Do we want to sacrifice learning at least one way that works at the expense of having a facilitated discussion about all the possible alternatives the student group can come up with?  Definitely NOT!  Can students learn significant mathematical concepts and skills from facilitation?  UNLIKELY!  Can students discover processes and concepts for which they do not have the prerequisite skills, like Pascal and Newton and Euclid did?  DOUBTFUL!  It's not to say that these students will never reach such platitudes, but we're in high school math.  We need the math teacher - not the students - to teach math.

MVP apologists tout these methods as THE solution to all that ails students in their future higher education and workforce selves.   Yet, in college, it is highly unlikely you would encounter such teaching methods until senior or graduate level courses, if ever.  And certainly it is unlikely that would be in a class, the purpose of which is to establish basic foundations of quantitative subjects like MATH 1, 2, and 3!  Where you see pure facilitated instruction is in the social sciences or professional continuing education training.  Facilitation requires students who are mature enough to be facilitated and a subject suitable for debate, alternatives, discussion, opinion, flexibility, grey areas, and emotion.  Sensing-Thinking-Judging personality types + facilitating + teen agers + high school math = an equation that does not add up to anything but frustration for both teacher and student.

Too Many Square Pegs and Round Holes to Scale

All of the above doesn't mean that I am against a math teacher using facilitation skills to engage a class during a lesson.  What I am against is a prescriptive approach where teachers who are ill-equipped to be facilitators are mandated to teach a subject which is ill-fitted for facilitation to students whose personalities may or may not be receptive to such a style.  Otherwise, what we have is a square peg IN a round hole teaching about a square peg WITH a round hole to a square peg IN a round hole.  That is why MVP cannot scale as is, and therefore, since WCPSS has already scaled it, that is why it is failing.

Author: Blain Dillard