Comments on: Pushback on Willy Nilly Acceleration

By: Helen

Helen — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:55:39 +0000

I really don’t understand the business about “college-ready” implying “acceleration.” Seems to me that someone who does well in all their regular college-track courses (not AP, not accelerated, just algebra 1 in 9th grade and so forth) should in fact be ready for college. They may or may not be ready for a HIGHLY SELECTIVE college, but they should have a good education and be ready for the typical state school or whatever.

By: SwitchedOnMom

SwitchedOnMom — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:34:35 +0000

Thanks for the background on Mr. Willard. I had no idea. Sounds like he would be knowledgeable. And I agree, the reporting in this article could be stronger. I would have liked to hear from more than just one MCPS parent (not counting Mr. Willard), albeit the reporter chose a juicy one…an adjunct math professor at Montgomery College (our local community, for those of you outside the area readers)

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:54:18 +0000

I couldn’t agree with you more.

By: R.

R. — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:54:28 +0000

A question about reporting: Shouldn’t the paper report someone’s day job if it’s as relevant (or more so) as their PTA position? I’d like to hear more about Ted Willard’s insights into science and math education.

First hit from google:
[AAAS= (American Association for the Advancement of Science]
http://www.project2061.org/about/staff/willard.htm

AAAS » Project 2061
Ted Willard, Project Director, …

Ted Willard is project director for AAAS Project 2061. He oversees the project’s National Science Foundation-funded initiative to create tools that support the development of goals-based curriculum materials in science and mathematics….

In his previous role as a senior research associate at Project 2061, Willard was responsible for the development of the growth-of-understanding maps published in Atlas of Science Literacy, Volume 2. The maps in Atlas portray the relationships between specific learning goals and show how students’ understanding of key science ideas and skills might develop from kindergarten through 12th grade….