Texas SBOE Testimony by Randy Houchins - Common Core Math in Texas
Channel: Voices Empower
Date: 17/02/2015

SBOE Testimony, 13 Feb 2015

Good morning. My name is Randy Houchins. I’m a parent of a 5th and 6th grader in the Leander Independent School District. I thank you for your time and for your attention to the concerns I will highlight today.

Some of you may remember me from the November 20, 2014, hearing, where I testified on how my 5th grade daughter was adversely affected by the new math TEKS, crying for hours each night over her math homework. For those of you who may not remember or were not in attendance for the November hearing, I am a degreed Mechanical Engineer who has been designing complex oil and gas drilling machinery and closed loop control systems for that machinery for the last 21 years. I use math every day.

Imagine my surprise when I cannot help my elementary student with her math homework this year.

I am not alone in this surprise and subsequent frustration… Many parents in Leander are trying to make sense of the problem and are taking action. We have spoken at every Leander ISD School Board meeting since November 2014. All that we’ve discovered has brought us back to the State Board of Education.

The addition of the “Process Standards” as well as the moving of TEKS from upper grades to lower grades has essentially made the TEKS Common Core. Now school districts like Leander can legally say they teach the TEKS yet use instructional material that is 100% Common Core aligned. Let me emphasize: This is happening now. We elected you to represent the people of Texas, and a majority of Texans do not want Common Core. We got it anyway because of what was done in the TEKS. We are not happy about it…

This struggle our kids have with the math TEKS is not a roll out or implementation problem. It is a Common Core Problem. What you have done to the TEKS and by allowing school districts to purchase instructional materials and textbooks that are not on the SBOE approved list has caused this problem.

I strongly encourage you to listen to the latest Alice Linahan interview with Dr. Milgram where he clearly explains that the new TEKS were corrupted at the end of the writing process.

One of Dr. Milgram’s stipulations in working with Texas SBOE and the TEA on the new TEKS was that the Charles A. Dana Center would not be involved. Once the Dana Center got involved and Cathy Seeley was able to add Phil Daro’s Process Standards, Dr. Milgram distanced himself because he could see where it was going. He knew where it was going because these Process Standards are what created a problem for California in 1992—and that’s where he was called in to straighten it out. California dropped to 49th in the country in math. Bottom line: Dr. Milgram does not approve of the TEKS as they stand today...

The Dana Center is now lobbying at the Capitol to provide school districts across the state the “Professional Development” that has been identified as needed to teach the new TEKS. How is this not a conflict of interest when it is the Dana Center that pushed these Process Standards into the TEKS? This push for new Math Standards is not about educating our kids; it’s about making money! Cathy Seeley of the Dana Center has also lobbied school districts directly, and it is her plan that has been implemented by Leander ISD. The Leander ISD Math Improvement team has posted “selfies” with Cathy Seeley on their Facebook and Twitter accounts …And Cathy Seeley’s plan IS Common Core…

We urge you to call Dr. Milgram back in to review the TEKS and give his assessment. Then we implore you to review and revise the TEKS to remove the Common Core material.

We do not want the Charles A. Dana Center involved in Professional Development for teaching the new TEKS…

We as parents cannot look at your good intentions in revising the TEKS. We are living the outcome of your revised TEKS. If you do not take action to correct this and remove the Common Core material, many of us will abandon public education. Just like Dr. Hines from the Wednesday testimony, I, too, have purchased Saxon Math (pre- 2004) textbooks.

I again thank you for your time and attention. Any questions?