Sunday 15 March 2009 - Parental Choice denied in PWCS!!   At the March 5, 2009 PWCS Board meeting parental choice was denied by the defeat of the board motion to allow parents to choose the mathematical instructional model that best fits their children’s learning abilities and academic needs.  PWCS continues unabated in its full-speed implementation of Math Investigations in all grade levels. 

Kudos to Board members Milt Johns (Chairman), Gil Trenum (Brentsville), Betty Covington (Dumfries), and Julie Lucas (Neabsco) for asking tough questions of an ever evasive staff and voting to support their constituents.  Theirs was a vote in support of mathematical opportunity and achievement for ALL LEARNERS.

Opposing the motion were Board members Vice Chair Denita Ramirez (Woodbridge), Michael Otaigbe (Coles), Grant Lattin (Occoquan), and Don Richardson (Gainesville). 

Notably, speaking in opposition to academic choice, Vice Chair Ramirez asserted that Math Investigations was selected to “close the achievement gap” for low-income, African-American, and Hispanic-American students. 

The contributors to this website are of the conviction that one does not raise student achievement levels by dumbing down the content of our academic programs.  Denying groups of children the opportunity to achieve the same level of mathematics fluency and mastery as was allowed before the adoption of Math Investigations in the interest of “closing gaps” serves only to harm all student groups.