Linda wrote on Jan 11, 2008 10:29 AM:You'd think that certificated teachers would not need to be trained at taxpayer expense. Has math changed that much?

It's about improvement wrote on Jan 11, 2008 11:25 AM:if you read the article more closely you will see that it says the grant is being used to improve the instruction. just because a teacher understands the content does not mean the students will through osmosis. there are always better ways to deliver it to the classroom so that students better comprehend the content. if teachers during my learning years had used better methods of getting the concepts across i may very well have learned math.

Observer wrote on Jan 11, 2008 11:38 AM:Why do some resist change when it helps? With so many Vista students below grade level or failing I find this an excellent program with proven results and more to come. Thanks be given for grant money. Hail to the program!

Teachers never stop learning wrote on Jan 11, 2008 3:37 PM:To respond to Linda's comment above, no, math has not changed that much. But, teachers are lifelong learners who are always trying to improve. More training is always beneficial to the students. Doctors, physical therapists, sales people...all professionals benefit from ongoing education.

To Linda wrote on Jan 11, 2008 7:48 PM:Yes, math has changed quite a bit! 1+1 = whatever makes you feel good, just as long as you made the attempt to answer the problem. You see, our children these days are so doped up on anti-depressants and other drugs to keep them from acting like real children that most simply sit there and stare at their work, not really knowing what they are to do with it. So, when they actually do something with the work given them they are to be praised for making the effort. (Can you see my tongue planted firmly in my cheek?). Yes, it is sad that we have to teach our teacher how to teach. But, that is what it has come to. Time to take you children out of school and teach them yourself: You are at least as capable as these teachers who need to get training on how to teach! Now, let us see about the math concerning the cost to teach our teachers to teach: $809,000/66=$12,257.58, or about 1 to 1.5 months of a teacher's annual salary. The real question here is, "who was in the classroom while the teacher was going to school to learn how to teach, and who paid that bill?"

To Teacher never stop learning wrote on Jan 11, 2008 7:54 PM:Great attempt to justify the need for teachers to keep learning, but your comparisons are a bit lacking compared to your earlier statement about math not changing. You see, Doctors, physical therapists, sales people all need to attend school because things ARE changing: new procedures, tools and drugs, for the Doctors and physical therapists, and new products to be sold by the sales people. In fact, most professional continue training to learn NEW things, not simply to brush up on subject they already know and use daily in their job. That said, YES teachers should most certainly continue to take continuing education. But, it should be substantive material (like learning new ways to teach math and science) and not some wild and crazy ski trip, cruise to Alaska, or trip to India to learn puppetry (we already have too many puppets sitting on the Board).

To: To Teacher wrote on Jan 12, 2008 8:45 AM:Obviously, teachers attend workshops to learn new ways of teaching all children. Math has not changed, but ways of teaching and reaching different types of students has improved over the years. Teachers are always striving to improve, there is always research being done to improve instuction. We get new materials and need to be trained in how to best use them. Where in the world did you get the idea that teacher training has anything to do with wild and crazy ski trips, Alaskan cruises or puppetry? Your post was ridiculous. There is no pleasing you people. You complain that our district doesn't do enough. Then you read an article about a grant we received, and you all want to complain that teachers shouldn't need more training.

Insanity wrote on Jan 12, 2008 11:41 AM:The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting diffent results. Before these new math programs about half our students were below grade level in Math. The most important thing to change is how they teach. Even though these changes were made late in the year hundreds of students tested higher in Math. I think it is time to give our teachers the support they need to get the job done. We are not asking for more money just money spent wiser.

To Insanity wrote on Jan 12, 2008 12:57 PM:You are very right about the insanity definition. But, there is more to it than what you state here. It is equally insane to throw out something that works in favor or new and untried methods. And, after such insanity has utterly failed, it is just as insane to continue to search for that magic bullet training method when you need go no further than your own history some 30 years prior to find the answer. Why have we gone from #1 in the County to dead last? And, why are we not returning to that which worked so well before? Is that not equally insane as simply continuing to seek new tools? Why not spend some of that grant money to research what worked before and train our teachers in those methods?

Vista has changed wrote on Jan 12, 2008 7:03 PM:There is a very simple reason to why what worked 30 years ago no longer does. Vista is not what it was 30 years ago. Look at the population of students. Much of Vista is now a low-income, primarily Spanish Speaking town. These students can and will learn, but there are many challenges that were not there 30 years ago.

To Vista has changed wrote on Jan 13, 2008 9:24 AM:I grew up in a town were more than half the students spoke a foreign language at home. English was the only language spoken at school, and more than half of these ESL students went on to College. Many of them are today College Professors. So, tell me what is so hard about teaching these " low-income, primarily Spanish Speaking" students? Or is it simply the attitude of those doing the teaching that needs to be looked at! Children will learn if you put learning first! But, when you spend time attempting to analyze how best to serve them and constantly try new and unproven methods you will find that your results will typically be less than desirable. If in fact it is true that Vista is now "a mostly low-income, primarily Spanish Speaking town" then I guess what you are saying is that our schools should start emulating those in Mexico? Oh yes, with our dropout rates being what they are within the Hispanic Community our schools already are emulating those in Mexico! No sir, we owe it to these children to provide them with the best opportunity to get out of the Barrios and become productive citizens. So, since the US has a strong history of immigration from non-English speaking countries, yet a solid history of the children of those immigrants becoming leaders in our society, we obviously had an educational system that worked well in the past. What we have today is actually segregation disguised as multi-culturalism. By the way, the Roman Empire fell after it began to allow multi-culturalism. The only thing that has really changed in Vista is the attitude of those running our schools! Children are children, it is NOT the place of the school to look into their home life, family life, ethnicity, race, etc.; it is their job to TEACH them what they need to know to become good productive members of society!

Vista has not changed wrote on Jan 13, 2008 9:45 AM:Vista is still run by the elite cronies who only care about themselves. Vista still builds roads without sidewalks, curbs or gutters. Vista is still not business friendly. And finally, Vista is still bullied by the VUSD into not enforcing Vista's Codes. By the way, Vista also has more Millionaires and Million Dollar home today than they did 30 years ago. But most of these people realize the public school system is worthless. When you make claims about the changes in Vista and imply that we can't achieve similar result as those achieved in the past simply because there are now more low-income Spanish speaking people living in the community you are making a racial comment that shows you for what you truly are. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."