Berkeley Heights Public Schools BTC Parent Survey Final Results

Nov 29, 20228 Comments

The BTC Math Survey has reached 107 responses. Here are the FINAL results.

107 responses for 135 Children

82 Parents (77%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement:
“My child has expressed feeling more confused in math classes.

For Parents with Children ONLY at CMS 30 of 46 Parents (65%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children ONLY at GL 27 of 33 Parents (81%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children at GL AND CMS 25 of 28 Parents (89%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement.

82 Parents (77%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement:
“My child has maintained or improved their math grade without having to complete extra assignments since being in a BTC classroom.”

For Parents with Children ONLY at CMS 31 of 46 Parents (67%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children ONLY at GL 27 of 33 Parents (81%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children at GL AND CMS 24 of 28 Parents (86%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement.

77 Parents (72%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement:
“My child has experienced a decline in their Math Grade since being in a BTC Classroom.”

For Parents with Children ONLY at CMS 27 of 46 Parents (60%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children ONLY at GL 26 of 33 Parents (79%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children at GL AND CMS 24 of 28 Parents (86%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement.

80 Parents (75%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement:
“My child has maintained their Math Grade since being in a BTC Classroom.”

For Parents with Children ONLY at CMS 30 of 46 Parents (65%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children ONLY at GL 26 of 33 Parents (79%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children at GL AND CMS 24 of 28 Parents (86%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement.

89 Parents (83%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement:
“My child has improved their Math Grade since being in a BTC Classroom.”

For Parents with Children ONLY at CMS 34 of 46 Parents (73%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children ONLY at GL 30 of 33 Parents (91%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children at GL AND CMS 25 of 28 Parents (89%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement.

69 Parents (64%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement:
“Since being in a BTC Math Class we have had to pay for tutoring for my child.”

For Parents with Children ONLY at CMS 25 of 46 Parents (54%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children ONLY at GL 20 of 33 Parents (61%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children at GL AND CMS 24 of 28 Parents (86%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement.

74 Parents (69%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement:
“Since being in a BTC Math Class my child has expressed enjoying math less.”

For Parents with Children ONLY at CMS 28 of 46 Parents (61%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children ONLY at GL 22 of 33 Parents (73%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children at GL AND CMS 24 of 28 Parents (86%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement.

85 Parents (79%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement:
“Since being in a BTC Math Class my child has expressed enjoying math more.”

For Parents with Children ONLY at CMS 32 of 46 Parents (69%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children ONLY at GL 26 of 33 Parents (78%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children at GL AND CMS 27 of 28 Parents (96%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement.

69 Parents (64%) Disagreed or Strongly Disagreed with the Statement:
“The Board of Education has been receptive to my concerns on BTC.”

70 Parents (65%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement:
“The Superintendent has been receptive to my concerns on BTC.”

71 Parents (66%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement:
“The Math Supervisor has been receptive to my concerns about BTC”

56 Parents (52%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement:
“My child’s teacher has been receptive to my concerns on BTC”

For Parents with Children ONLY at CMS 21 of 46 Parents (46%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children ONLY at GL 16 of 33 Parents (48%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children at GL AND CMS 19 of 28 Parents (67%) Disagreed or Completely Disagreed with the Statement.

86 Parents (80%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement:
“I feel the District should stop implementation of BTC”

For Parents with Children ONLY at CMS 36 of 46 Parents (78%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children ONLY at GL 25 of 33 Parents (76%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement.
For Parents with Children at GL AND CMS 25 of 28 Parents (89%) Agreed or Completely Agreed with the Statement.

Parent Comments:

“My son just said math is fun. He’s suffered from math anxiety in the past so was happy to hear this (honestly haven’t been paying much attention to the controversy surrounding this). I was very impressed with his math teacher’s enthusiasm for teaching at back to school night.”

“I spoke to a few parents. seems no one is happy. It could be a good model on paper but as it’s is true for anything and everything, implementation and adaptation are key. Communication was missing from superintendent and math supoabout the rollout. I don’t want to think like this but I feel as though this is the way to get teachers off the hook and put all or most burdens on students and parents.”

“This method of students teaching students with NO direct instruction by teachers is unacceptable.”

“The district needs to switch back to traditional direct instruction immediately.”

“Stop this thinking classroom ASAP! This isn’t the year right after pandemic to be experimenting with students grades. How can there be NO direct instruction?”

“The program has been rolled out prematurely without proper teacher oversight – my son had a teacher last year that was well versed in the teaching of this math however this year his teacher is not and the class is paying for it – as juniors in an honors class they should not be hurt because the teacher is not teaching – they need the ability to resubmit the homework’s for those topics that were not properly instructed and they should have the ability to have their grades changed – and the district needs to provide better oversight of the teachers and this program”

“Luckily an adult in our household is capable of tutoring our kids. The idea that teachers aren’t teaching, helping or correcting in MATH is absurd. Schools are for instruction with the goal of learning. Seriously, what is the purpose of letting kids teach each other- It’s social hour and kids are failing, do better…”

“Schools should go back to traditional way of teaching math until they can provide a thorough training for the teachers. This is not the time to experiment but try to make up lost teaching time during the pandemic.

Stop this thinking classroom and switch back to traditional instruction!”

“Stop this thinking classroom, our children not Guinea pigs!”

“Playing with how Math is taught in public schools is not a joke. For high school students it’s a graduation requirement.”

“After the pandemic learning loss this is NOT the year to be experimenting with a new Math program. No communication before the rollout and being reactive is not the best way to approach children’s education this year. Please stop BTC.”

“Where are the MATH. Textbooks Mr.Ziobro said are available for students?”

“Why are there no math textbooks?”

“The district needs to pause the implementation of the Thinking Classroom model and evaluate if it is successful.”

“BTC might be a challenge with addressing the learning concerns and pacing with the curriculum”

“The classrooms should have more direct instruction along with the BTC. Not everyone learns the same so equal traditional and BTC learning would be best for ALL students”

“My son, who is an excellent math student and in an advanced class, has expressed feeling less secure in his math skills since the implementation of BTC.”

“I am not sure I fully understand the BTC concept. If I read it “literally” it sounds like teaching students to think (not a bad thing) but if concept and principles are not there (or shaky), then students will struggle with this approach.”

Graphs:

btc_final Download

RENEWED PARENT FRUSTRATION AND MORE POOR DECISION-MAKING FROM DISTRICT ADMINISTRATORS

TISHA’S COMMENTS TO THE BOE ON BTC

THE ‘WORK TOGETHER’ GROUP IS AT IT AGAIN (STILL)

THINKING CLASSROOM OR SINKING CLASSROOM

THINKING CLASSROOMS AND PARENT CONCERNS

MY THOUGHTS ON THE THINKING CLASSROOM INFORMATION SESSION

HOW CAN WE IMPROVE THE CURRENT THINKING CLASSROOM MODEL

ONE MORE REALLY LONG ARTICLE ABOUT PROFICIENCIES AND METRICS

SLIDING GRADES AND PROFICIENCIES

BEYOND STANDARDIZED TESTS AND METRICS

GOALS, PERFORMANCE, AND METRICS