Laurie (and her daughter) is also apparently an inventor of sorts: hanging foldable apparatus for scarves, ties, bandannas and the like, belts, leg coverings, suspenders, and other types of articles.

Retrieved 8-29-2011 from the Betrayed Web site: http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com

Sunday, August 21, 2011
Barbie and Jim Brady agree: Math is hard
By Laurie H. Rogers
Omigod! I'm so happy. The mystery is solved. I can finally go back to the peaceful life I left in 2007 when I first realized that Spokane has a serious math problem. Last week, I arrived home from Canada, to multiple emails and phone calls suggesting that I read the Aug. 14 Spokesman-Review article on college math remedial rates. Ever the accommodating advocate, I did, and now I know the truth.

The reason we're staring at an entire generation of students who lack basic math skills is that math is hard. No, no, it's true. Jim Brady, from Spokane Falls Community College, reportedly told SR reporter Jody Lawrence-Turner that math is hard, and Lawrence-Turner must not have been able to locate a credible contrary view - anywhere in the country. Plus, Jim Brady is dean of Computing, Math and Science at SFCC. He's in charge over there, so his opinion must be right.

How easy and obvious. And only three syllables. My world has been magically simplified. I feel a bit silly, though, having completely missed this for four and a half years. I never thought math is hard - certainly not basic math. I thought the district makes math hard - impossible, actually - then turns around and blames everyone else. I've argued that for years, to little effect at the central office and school board, and to nearly dead silence at the newspaper. Now I see why they view me with such disdain. I was wrong; why bother talking with someone who's wrong?

Math is hard. No wonder no one wants to hold the district accountable for the area's low pass rates on state math tests, high college remedial rates, low levels of math skills in graduates, and high levels of math anxiety across the entire city. If math is hard, that would be totally unfair.

The advocates I know across the country will be relieved to know the problem is solved and we can return to our families. They'll feel sheepish knowing how wrong we were - about math, about the problem, and about the solution. Indeed, like the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland says, we've been "wrong from beginning to end," and you can't be more wrong than that.

It turns out that the math problem isn't the awful curriculum, distracting learning environment, excessive constructivism, or administrative micromanaging, as we advocates have been saying. Those issues - and the scientifically conducted research on those issues - weren't mentioned in the newspaper's Aug. 14 article. They weren't important enough for the newspaper to examine them at all over the last several years.

• The problem isn't ineffective teachers, as the Spokane superintendent is always saying.
• It isn't poverty, as instructional coaches shouted out earlier this year in my community forums.
• It isn't a lack of patience on the part of parents, as district administrators frequently interrupted us to claim.
• It isn't a money issue (so adding more dollars to the budget won't fix it).
• It isn't too much local decision-making (so a federal takeover of public education won't fix it).
• It isn't due to weak standards, unmotivated children or uninvolved parents.
• And it isn't a data problem (so a new $4 million data system won't fix it).

We advocates always knew all of that.

But now we know that math is too hard. We must therefore stop expecting things from the leadership. It isn't fair to be angry about a failed K-12 math program or a failed college remedial math program, not fair to hold Jim Brady or the superintendent accountable for failing to accomplish something that's obviously impossible. Now we can understand why Mr. Brady and his SFCC colleagues chose recently to align the SFCC math program with Spokane's failed K-12 math program so that everyone can feel great about math. All of SFCC's remedial math students will be able to continue scaffolding their prior knowledge in order to achieve group consensus on reaching an equitable and socially just number and level of advanced skills, self-constructed in a metacognitive and collaborative stream of child-centered, deeper conceptual, problem-solving alignment.

What a relief. We no longer need to wonder about those privately schooled, homeschooled, and tutored students who do achieve in math, who don't test into remedial math in college, and who don't believe that math is hard. They must be anomalies. Perhaps they're gifted, weird, bionic, or maybe not even real. Honestly, we can't expect all of the children to be bionic or not real.

Besides, there are more important things in life than math. Things like shopping and movies, taking showers, making a perfect soufflé like Gordon Ramsay on TV, and monitoring one's horoscope. And there are tons of jobs our graduates can get that don't require math, like answering the phone, sweeping the floor, and cleaning swimming pools. People also could babysit, mix drinks or lifeguard. There are lots and lots of non-math jobs out there. Lots.

I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders, like I just ate a cream puff or a sugary confection. There's a humming in my ears and I feel a bit lightheaded. I hear Barbie in the background, burbling "Math is too hard" each time someone pulls on the string. How funny and cool that she's back with us. She really was way ahead of her time.

I did - just for a second - see a small dark shadow out there - insignificant really, what looked like hordes of foreign students pouring across the border to nab seats in our colleges, take jobs in our businesses, and drag American jobs overseas, never to be seen again - but that must have been the sugar rush one gets from eating a Twinkie or reading the local newspaper.

At last I get it. Jim Brady says math has been hard for decades, and I believe him. It's of no consequence that America's public schools have depended on the current version of reform math for 22 years now, and on other incarnations of reform math off and on for generations before that. Why make this complicated? Why persist in wrong-headed thinking? Why be antagonistic and difficult, or risk being labeled a nutjob, whacko or conspiracy theorist? Why make everyone feel so awful? Let's be happy.

I'm sure grammar is too hard, too. The district wisely chose to channel its resources away from grammar to more important things like equity and social justice. Cursive writing also is hard, and history is hard (too many numbers) - and civics. Who can even keep straight all of those branches of government? Especially nowadays.

You know what? The whole damn thing is too hard. I mean really. It's time to face facts. They can't teach our children because it can't be done.

And with this simple concept, pioneered by Barbie, confirmed by Jim Brady, voted on by the school board, implemented by the district, and delivered solemnly to us by The Spokesman-Review, we could reform and transform our entire society.

Numbers in general are hard, don't you think? All of those pointy edges. You have to add them and subtract them and ... what's that other one? ... I'm getting a headache already, just thinking about it. And why should we? They're all on the Internet. We can find them if we need them. Like, there's a 3 and a 7 and a 5. And another one - I forget it, exactly, but it has a circle on top of another circle, like glasses, except sideways and with no arms. I think that's all of them.

Now I can go back to more important business, like figuring out why so few graduates can get into college or get a job. It's a national problem. I think Jim Brady should run the Federal Reserve. Math is hard there, too. It's also hard in Congress, where they have so many zeroes. Let's all take a break from math, take a nap and not worry about it. Someone will do it for us. Like WALL-E. He'll do it. I love that little guy. The space dancing in WALL-E was so cute, and I'm glad he lived.

I'm hoping that Barbie, Jim Brady and the newspaper will confirm that weeding the garden is hard. I could really get behind them on that one. Also cleaning. And driving. And walking. And thinking. I've been doing way too much thinking.

Surprise me, Mr. Brady. Your comments have been a true gift. Give me more. I think my birthday is coming up soon.

Retrieved 8-29-2011 from the Betrayed Web site: http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Tutoring desperately needed; please help us
By Laurie H. Rogers

People have said to me: "Laurie, you sure seem upset about education. Your articles are angry."

Well, yes, some of them are. My anger springs from a deep well. When you see the deceit in the education establishment, the lies, the arrogance, the selfishness and self-serving behavior, when you realize how our children are being betrayed, when you hear sad and shocking stories from parents, students and teachers, and you fully understand how lacking our children are in math and grammar, when you realize that our children are "graduating" without the skills they need to be successful in their postsecondary lives, when you realize that good teachers are at risk of being fired for "ineffectiveness," when you go to meetings and hear well-paid administrators dismiss the relevance of a 38.9% student pass rate as they ask taxpayers for more money …

One does get angry.

Yesterday afternoon, I sat with a high school junior - a bright, articulate young lady. A friend of mine suggested I meet with her. On Monday, she and I talked for an hour before she went to work. This student has a dream. She wants to someday own her own business and be her own boss. Listening to her talk, you can see her doing that. You can see her running things, making a difference, being a voice of concern and compassion in her community. As I listened to her, my heart went out to her, and yes, I became angry on her behalf.

This student is having trouble in her pre-calculus class, and she didn't understand why. She's always gotten As in her math classes. She carries a 3.6 overall average. She passed all of the math tests given to her and always felt confident about her abilities in math. Up until this year.

This year, the pedal has hit the metal, and she must actually use her math skills for this pre-calc math class. She was startled to discover that she doesn't have much in the way of procedural skill.

"You should know all of this," her pre-calc teacher tells the class. His comments confuse her. She always learned what she was told to learn. All indications to her through grades and testing were that she was successfully learning it. Somehow, she got to her pre-calc class without proficiency in skills like long division, multiplication facts, radicals, fractions, negative exponents, the number line, algebra, or proper math vocabulary.

Hearing her teacher say, "You should know all of this," makes her feel stupid, the student says. It makes her feel unmotivated, and it worries her. The teacher is trying to stuff K-10 math skills into his students while he also tries to get through the pre-calc material. The class struggles to manage. They depend heavily on their counselors, nearly all of whom recently received layoff notices from the district.

The student told me how much her counselor means to her. "[The counselor] keeps me motivated," she said, adding that she and her classmates were devastated to hear of the layoffs. Meanwhile, they struggle to pass a math class that demands they have skills no one has taught them.

The student fretted about the impact this math class will have on her GPA, which she has fought hard to maintain. She's a good student, she says, and she hates not doing well. "I don't care whether they're right or wrong [about math]," she said. "I just want to go to college. Why wouldn't they teach us these things?"

Although this student is thoughtful and articulate, she also knows next to nothing in terms of grammar. She couldn't define for me a preposition, participle or adverb. When she applies to go to college in just more than a year, she will almost certainly test into a low level of remedial math AND into remedial English. These will all be non-credit-bearing classes, and she will have to pay for them.

Two hours after talking with the student, I went to the last meeting for the year for Spokane Public Schools' Citizens Advisory Committee, where I listened to the superintendent and various administrators talk about cutting money from district programs. One potential source of cuts, they said, are the counselors - those people that the student and her classmates depend on for support and motivation. Another potential area is curriculum improvements.

The administrators talked about various kinds of expenditures. They talked about cutting $54 million since 2002. And yet, the budget has increased substantially over that time. What's up with that, I asked them. As it was explained to me last night, it's a money shift. They "cut" programs in one bucket of expenditures, shifting the money elsewhere to a different bucket of expenditures. Therefore, the budget isn't really "cut" in terms of overall dollars - the money is just spent differently. That's why the district can cut teachers and counselors, while adding legislated distractions (and giving themselves raises and better benefits, apparently).

At the bottom of this shell game, are the students who don't have the curriculum or the instruction they need. Why are they in this position? How is it that the community must fight district administrators on behalf of academics? Why do administrators keep getting raises as our students keep failing? How is it that we've handed over our wallets to people who obstinately refuse to provide our children with the academic skills they need? How did we get to this ridiculous place? More important, how do we get out of here?

[Added May 14: A math teacher who is a friend of mine told me that, of 60 pre-calculus students in his district (another large district that does reform math), NONE could pass an 8th-grade algebra assessment that was purely basic algebra procedures. Most had 3.6 and above GPAs. The story is equally sad in reform districts across the state.]

It seems that we're going to have to help these students ourselves. They're staring at a bleak future. They need help now, right now. There isn't a moment to lose. The junior I spoke with must pick up at least six years of math skills in just over a year. It isn't good enough to help her and her classmates with homework. It isn't enough to sit down with them a day a week or even two days a week. It isn't enough to just show them the math skills - they must learn them to mastery. They must go back to somewhere around fourth grade and pick up the skills the district administration refused to give them.

Despite all of its bleating for community help, the district appears disinclined to accommodate this tutoring in basic math and basic grammar. I've asked repeatedly to be allowed to begin free tutoring programs in math at various schools, including the school my daughter's at now. I've been turned down repeatedly, or had impossible restrictions placed on me. Now, I'm not even getting the courtesy of a reply from the superintendent. [Updated May 14: The superintendent replied today. She said no.]

We will have to find a different way to get this done.

I'm looking for a few good people to help get these kids the math and grammar skills they need. If you're interested in tutoring, or in financially or practically supporting this tutoring, please write to me at wlroge@comcast.net . Provide your name, contact information, and what you're willing to do. You can help anonymously, if need be.

We'll need textbooks (I can buy them secondhand locally and online), paper, pencils, erasers, and most of all, a place to tutor (church, community center, etc.).

Folks, please get angry about where these students are. Then, turn that anger into action. We can't save 28,000 students. But, working together, we can help save some of them. We also can work on systemic change and on properly informing the community. Together, we can turn things around for our children and grandchildren and help them earn the future they envision.

Thank you all for caring, and while you're up, perhaps you could ask the Spokane school board to stop the district superintendent's contract from automatically rolling over this month.

April 16, 2011 - Laurie Rogers's speech at the Spokane Tea Party Rally

You know that our students are struggling. What you might not know is WHY. Our children are not being taught what they need to know in mathematics, grammar, civics, or other critical subjects.

Thank you for that wonderful introduction. Good afternoon, everyone. It's a fine day to fight for liberty.

I'm here today because I'm scared - for our children and our country. There's a thief at the door. His friends are at the window. They have the exits covered, and they're about to cut the phone line. These thieves aren't after the car or the jewelry. They're after something much more precious: Our children's education. And we, the people - are literally the last line of defense. Welcome to public education.

Public education is in dire straits. So much so that it threatens our great country.

You know that our students are struggling. What you might not know is WHY. Our children are not being taught what they need to know in mathematics, grammar, civics, or other critical subjects. They aren't being prepared to follow their dreams, or to take over the reins of this country. Our children, this community, our country are in jeopardy.

I respect and admire the teachers and staff who do their best to battle the bureaucracy. But it's the thieves in education who have the connections, the money, and the decision-making power. They have many friends - in the district, in Olympia, and in Washington, DC. It's their own desires that drive them - not our children's best interests.

Do it for the kids, they say, every time a bond or levy comes up for renewal. For the kids, they say, as they refuse to allow teachers to teach sufficient arithmetic or grammar. This isn't just a local problem. It's national. And it isn't just a difference of opinion. Their agenda is deliberate and purposeful.

You know Spokane has a dropout problem. You've read that the graduation rate suddenly improved. What you might not know is that our high school graduates don't need to pass a state math test or state science test to graduate. They don't need to know much grammar or ANY civics. Many high school students get As in Honors Math, and then test into arithmetic in college. Of those who take those college remedial math classes, almost half will fail or withdraw early.

Our kids simply don't have the skills they need to go to college, begin a trade, start a business, get a fulfilling job, join the Armed Forces, or even fill out a job application.

District administrators say they need more time. Our kids don't have more time. Spokane's pass rate on last year's 10th-grade math test was just 38.9%. Students needed just 56.9% to pass. 61% of our 10th graders couldn't pass a basic-skills math test on which the passing score was less than 57%. District employees called that student data - "irrelevant." Get angry, folks! I'm angry.

What will happen to our children? How will this country continue to absorb an entire generation of people who don't have basic academic skills? Our children are being left behind. America is being left behind. This is not a game. There are real and long-term consequences for all of us.

Meanwhile, the U.S. secretary of education - Arne Duncan - is moving in, taking over all of public education, as he says, "from cradle through career." He talks about the importance of local control, even as he works diligently to replace it with federal control. He wants to shove a federal agenda down your throat: national standards, national tests, and a national curriculum. Have you ever tried to deal with the district on behalf of your child? Wait until you have to deal with the U.S. Department of Education. And if you think the WASL was bad, wait until the feds are running the tests.

Sec. Duncan also wants a federal role in alternatives to public education, including homeschooling, private schools, and faith-based schools.

Forget that pesky 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which makes education a state responsibility. Forget the U.S. Code, which prohibits the Department of Education from directing policy or curriculum (20 USC 3403). Sec. Duncan and his allies are pressing forward, whether we like it or not. Proper process and the law don't seem to matter anymore. States' rights, the people's vote - just get in the way.

This federal education agenda will cost us billions of dollars. It won't make our children internationally competitive, but it will remove our voice. Once our voice is gone, it will be hell getting it back.

Ironically, we taxpayers are forced to pay these thieves to break into our house, steal our voice, our vote, and our children's future.

We still have to pay district administrators - as they fail to educate our children, as they ignore us, as they wait for the feds to tell them what to do, as they cut teachers and programs, while giving themselves raises. Last year, some of the Spokane levy - which was supposed to fund enrichment programs - helped pay for administrative raises. I tried to find out how much of the levy went for those raises. No one could tell me. Apparently, they "don't break it down that way." Can you believe that?

A year ago, in January 2010, the Department of Education estimated that $664 billion would be spent in 2010 on K-12 education, from all sources (federal, state, local and other). $664 billion. That was $28 billion more than the entire Department of Defense spent the year prior. $636 billion for the DoD. $664 billion for K-12 education. And look what we got for it. Our kids are failing, dropping out, not prepared for college.

Public education doesn't need more money. It needs to spend the money it gets better. We desperately need financial transparency and accountability for administrators.

Where did our money go? The Department of Education was criticized this year for being wasteful and redundant. In some states, taxpayers paid for things like iPads - for kindergartners. Washington State Gov. Gregoire "diverted" $208 million that was supposed to fund education jobs. She just took it for the General Fund. In Spokane, many administrators get more than $100,000 each in base salary. The Spokane superintendent gets about $220,000. Where is their accountability for student outcomes?

Folks, where does the buck stop in public education? Shouldn't district decision-makers be held accountable for the results of their policies? How will we hold them accountable when the boss is the federal government?

These are our children. This is our money. Federal, state, local - it's all our money, and it's being wasted on failed approaches and self-serving bureaucrats. But I believe in we, the people. I believe in your children, and I believe in this great Republic. We must all rise up and take back the classroom and our country from the people who are stealing them. You are not helpless. There are things you can do to save your children and grandchildren.

Join me on my blog, "Betrayed." Read my book "Betrayed" and other books like it. Join us at our next organizational meeting. Run for the school board. Get your legislators talking about education. Come talk with me. Together, we the people can turn around public education, send these thieves packing, and get our children and our country back on track.

In Liberty. And for our children. Thank you.