The Fayette

County school system is about to embark upon a textbook

adoption process for mathematics, with an expected

presentation to the Board of Education of an approved

program sometime in the spring of 2001.

This

adoption cycle coincides with the state cycle of textbook

adoptions, and each school district statewide can expect

a rollout of an approved list of textbooks from the state

Department of Education sometime in November.

While a

district may certainly adopt and purchase a program not

on the state list, this is not often done due to

large-volume purchasing incentives that are negotiated at

the state level with textbook publishers. The textbook

adoption committee for mathematics will begin meeting in

August of this year and meet throughout the 2000/2001

school year until final selections are presented to the

board for a vote.

The

textbook adoption committee will be comprised of 20

teachers, one county office representative, two

administrators, one school board member, one community

business representative, and eight parents. The process

will be divided into two subcommittees, one for

elementary math and one for middle and high school math.

A textbook

adoption class will be conducted for teachers Aug. 1 and

2 to acquaint anyone new to the process with the methods

used to evaluate various programs and how they fit the

math curriculum objectives for Fayette County. Parents

serving on the committee will also be afforded a similar

opportunity.

For the

past year, a committee of educators has also participated

in a seminar entitled "Effective Mathematics

Classrooms: Explorations and Conversations," led by

county Math Curriculum Coordinator, Kay Seabolt. This

group of 27 people, eight of whom will also participate

on the textbook committee, spent more than 100 hours

looking at the Fayette County math curriculum, the most

recent research on how students learn math, and the

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)

standards.

On April

12, the NCTM will unveil their much touted standards

revision. I was unable to view a draft copy, but have

ordered one which will be available as soon as it is

formally introduced at the annual NCTM meeting this week.

Nationally,

there has been much speculation as to whether or not the

revised standards will represent a long awaited and hoped

for "middle ground" position on the

simultaneous need for a more solid foundation in basic

skills along with a more advanced emphasis on concepts,

problem solving and technology. Many parents and

activists nationally believed that the 1989 set of NCTM

standards overly favored conceptual learning over

proficiency in arithmetic. Time will tell.

Locally,

parents of elementary students have a unique and very

important opportunity during the next few weeks to

express their views on what our next math program should

look like. Surveys will begin to be sent home as soon as

this week.

Some

elementary parents have already received the survey which

asks them to identify "three things [they] would

like to see and three things [they] would not like to see in the new

math program." Other questions relate to parents'

views on homework, asking them to convey their beliefs on

"how much" and "what type" of

homework they would like to see, and how willing they are

to assist with their child's homework.

Parents

will be asked to rank in importance various components of

math education such as basic skills, math games, hands-on

activities, problem solving, real-life application, and

use of technology.

Please take

a few minutes to thoughtfully answer these surveys and

return them to your child's school. These surveys will be

used by both parents and educators at each school site to

determine parent views and wishes for the next math

program.

This is

your opportunity to let your voice be heard before a decision is made.

This is the curriculum equivalent of perestroika.

I look

forward to serving on this committee, and to an open and

positive textbook adoption process. Hopefully, when all

is said and done, we will have selected a product that

will be just what Fayette County needs to continue on in

our quest for academic excellence.

Your

comments are welcome. Please email to [email protected] .