Math Fragment - TJMS "Bits and Pieces", what is this?

Part One

Our experience with the Math Program

I have two sons who attended the Thomas Jefferson Middle School for the 2010 - 2011 school year. I was alarmed that they did not have structured text books for math. Parents are looking for structured textbooks as those with topics and examples to follow and help students in practicing on weekdays/ weekends. How many of you parents were able to assist your children with their math homework based on using the math booklets called "bits and pieces"? When we looked at these books, there were no tangible examples to follow. Our sons told us that their teachers taught them from notes. Upon attending the parent/teacher conference, the math teacher told us that he got his notes from various on line sources. The only referring example that our children had was the notes gathered from a standard teaching session. This means if the child copies an error in his/her transference of information from the black-board, there is no other reliable resource for the child to refer to for clarification. As responsible and concerned parents, we spoke to the teacher and he agreed to fax his notes to us as a means of supplemental source to aid with homework and class assignment. This was done once by the teacher with no further compliance. When we followed up with the math teacher, he stated that we should send the child to see him after-school. When the child went to see the teacher, he was missing from the classroom. The other excuse given to us for informal text book was that the budget did not accommodate for the text book, so the alternative is to inject a trial and error system to compensate. What is the cost factor for purchasing these small booklets in comparison to purchasing one textbook? This math program has been around for six years, a trial run which has now become a permanent fixture. How can parents sit on the sideline and continue to embrace this experimental math program as an acceptable resource for teaching? The effective results of this teaching module and textbook used by Teaneck compared to neighboring schools using other math programs is reflective in the 2010 NYASK results showing below. Our current math average is even lower than the average for the State of New Jersey.

School - Math Average NJASK - Year
Thomas Jefferson grade -7- 61% - 2010
Thomas Jefferson grade-8- 61 %- 2010
Tenafly Middle School- grade-7- 87%- 2010
Tenafly Middle School-grade-8- 90%- 2010
Closter Middle School-grade-7- 95%- 2010
Closter Middle School-grade-8- 88%- 2010

Data adapted GoodSchools.org 2010.

In the State of New Jersey ,there are four school districts that are highest paid and among them is this small town of Teaneck."A quarter of teachers in Hackensack, Teaneck and Carlstadt and a third of those at the regional high school in East Rutherford earned six figures for the 2008-09 school year, according to data provided by the state. The city of Passaic had 115 teachers with salaries above $100,000, the highest number of any district in the state. Hackensack had 98, Teaneck 93, Wayne 81, and in Ridgewood, 71 teachers were above the $100,000 mark",http://www.northjersey.com/news.

Closter school district is among the highest paying for teachers in the State of New Jersey and they are producing results. Teachers in the Teaneck school district are equally compensated as those in Closter. Prior years showed even lower results of our student's performance in math. The obvious question is, "What is the goal and mission of the Teaneck Curriculum Administration and the Board of Education for our students?"
Your comment on this blog is welcome.

Reference Source: www.GoodSchools.org, www.northjersy.com/news