So what does the state of Washington's math education have to do with Real Estate you ask? I would suggest that if our state doesn't get a grip on math education, people intimately concerned with their children's education might be less inclined to relocate here. Isn't one of the first questions we as Realtors are often asked when new families are moving into our area is which are the best schools ?
I am going to put my parent, grandparent and engineer's hat's on to write this blog.
Washington State is one of the worst performers in the United States in terms of grades K-12 math performance. The Fordham Foundation which is one of the accepted experts in measuring math performance by state (and counties) has given Washington State an "F" grade in its public schools math teaching. At issue is the quality of the math standards our state has employed. When employing our existing standards our students (and teachers) have been "falling on their swords" over a long period of time.
In addition to (or because of ) the above situation our Governor has now decided that the soon-to-be employed graduation standard tests (WASL), for reading, writing and math will no longer use the math portion of the exam - because our students can't pass it.
There is much activity on-going in our legislature at this time to provide an upgraded set of math standards for teachers to employ in grades K-12. Numerous individuals, school districts, technical organizations and other groups have people participating in committees or in other ways to advise our legislature. For example, one such group http://www.wheresthe/math.com has provided a revised version of the Washington Exemplary Mathematics Standard: 2008-Revision 2 (PDF) for consideration by the legislature
Our state government appears to here-to-fore not recognized (or admitted) that our math standard, as provided by the State Superintend of Instruction, has fallen short in those categories necessary to put our students on a level with leading states and counties in the world (California, Indiana, Massachusetts, Singapore and Finland to mention a few).
How could a state that claims some of the leading technological companies in the world (Boeing and Microsoft) have allowed such poor math performance in our school system?
I encourage all of you Realtors, moms, and dads to become aware of and do what you can to correct this problem. Who knows, in doing so we might get rid of this "new math" most of us can't understand and revert to a form of the old, tried and true system?
Sweeping changes in math education philosophy including the selection, retention and salary structure for math teachers must be part of the improvements considered.
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