I oppose the proposed D86 integrated math proposal that the D86 board of education will approve on Oct. 29. For me, the primary reason is lack of data. As board member Turek knows, since he served with me on the D181 BOE that approved the failed Learning for All math plan, data matters.
The D181 BOE relied on the administrators’ and teachers’ representation that “raising the floor” by accelerating every student one year in math would “raise the ceiling” and improve math outcomes for all students. There was no data to support this representation, but the BOE was asked to trust the teachers and administrators — the experts. Sadly, LFA failed miserably and it took a new board majority and administration to reverse course and undo the LFA plan.
Please write the D86 BOE, and especially Mr. Turek, at [email protected], and ask them not to make the same mistake. Unless the D86 Math Pathways team can present data that establishes that their currently unwritten, untested, unpiloted integrated math proposal will improve the math outcomes for all students, the BOE should vote no. If the BOE trusts that the staff on the Math Pathways team are experts and that their proposal will improve math outcomes for every single student, then the BOE should not be afraid to ask — in fact demand — this data. It is the right thing to do before approving an unwritten road map. — Yvonne Mayer, Burr Ridge
