The following letter was presented to the South Orange-Maplewood School District at its July 20, 2015 meeting:
I’m Kelly Heinze an, early childhood music educator for the past 18 years with an MS in secondary education, and mother of 4 children in the SOMA school district. I’m here to ask that math levels 3 and 4 (“college prep” and “honors,” respectively) be combined in the middle school.
I never understood what other parents were going through until my twin fifth grade daughters were placed in “college prep” math going into MMS. According to the criteria, which I have studied extensively, they missed cutoffs in separate areas of a point or two or a percentage in one area was off a bit. In one case, it was a matter of one test, given on one day. Both daughters are competitive, strong and motivated students. When I saw how their fifth grade year was going, all of the tests and all of the anxiety, I knew what was coming. I knew I would have a fight on my hands to get them into the highest sixth grade level math class (Honors).
Even though they were close to the cut-offs, they didn’t get a letter inviting them to the step up program. I had to yell, scream and throw people in high places (that I like) under the bus just to get a phone call back allowing my daughters into the class. A class, in my opinion, they didn’t even need. Now, according to the criteria, my daughters should NOT have succeeded in the step up program. With two days left, one child has a 92% and the other an 89%. These clearly are children who prove that the criteria for Honors is invalid, and there are many more who fit this statistic.
I’m here for the families who don’t understand that leveling within a grade is micro tracking. I’m here for those who don’t have the understanding that the term “college prep” is erroneous, insulting, and manipulative. Our district is operating from a fixed mindset as researched by Dr. Carol Dweck and supported by Salman Khan, a math expert that can no longer be ignored. Our district is basically making the decision that our ten and eleven year old children are operating at a specific level in math and should be placed on a track that they have to fight over two levels in order to ever be considered for advanced math or science courses at the high school.
We are told that they can work out of it, but it isn’t realistic. The mental fight the child has to go through to over come the feeling of “not being good in math,” is one that they often give up. Being placed in an easy track makes children complacent and their brains do not grow without a struggle.
I recently directed 50 fifth graders at Seth Boyden in their school play. I heard children cry over a math placement test. I heard them say, “I am not good at math anymore.”
Our school district is not operating from a growth mindset. Our school district is not recognizing that children learn through the process of the struggle. It recognizes only success at a fixed time. This is dangerous. Salman Khan says that with math sometimes a concept can allude a child two or three times and then once it clicks, that child will soar above another student who has been consistently operating at a high level. I have heard children say, “I like being in level 3, it’s easy.” Placing children in level 3 (College Prep) is creating an environment for underachievement.
In my field, early childhood music education, research says that by the age of four children can become basically musically competent, in other words, have the ability to sing in tune and keep a steady beat. If I was operating from a fixed mindset, I would tell the parents when their child turned four, and graduated from my program that they probably should not pursue music or dance because their child is not musically competent at this time. Children can become musically competent along side their peers anywhere between the ages of four and 10.
Stop telling our children that they cant achieve the highest standard level. Please get rid of math tracking within grade levels.
Dr. Carol Dweck video on growth mindset: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTsF2TaEaJA
Salmon Khan: The learning Myth: Why I’ll Never Tell my Son He’s Smart: https://www.khanacademy.org/about/blog/post/95208400815/the-learning-myth-why-ill-never-tell-my-son-hes
Kelly Heinze is a Maplewood resident, early childhood music educator, and mother of four children who have attended the South Orange-Maplewood School District.
