TO THE EDITOR:
On May 17, 2022 while serving at a Sherburne County Board meeting, I suffered a nearly fatal ascending aortic dissection. With the help of the incredible staff, doctors, nurses, and surgeons at North Memorial Hospital I made it through almost 12 hours of open heart surgery, beating some very long odds. I have loved serving alongside my colleagues, staff and friends for the last six years as one of your County Commisoners. It was an honor to work with all of them to help make Sherburne County an even better community for us all. It is with sadness that I am announcing that I will not seek re-election this fall in the 2022 election. I need to spend this next several months concentrating on my family, physical recovery, and living a healthier life. Thank you for giving me the honor of serving as your Commissioner.
Sincerely,
Tim Dolan
Sherburne County
Commissioner, District 3
TO THE EDITOR:
Even prior to the pandemic, MPR reported MN math scores in 2016 went from 60% to 53.9% in 2019. The 2018 results of the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA), a worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, revealed that US students (15 y/o) ranked 36th among the 79 participating countries. USA Today speculated higher achievement by other countries was related to pedagogy. Betsy Armstrong’s column last week featured the new ethnomathematics standards proposed by the MN Department of Education. She outlined the cultural impact of the indigenous tribes in seven of the 11 anchor standards. In the second draft of the proposed standards, it is not evident how the cultural contributions better prepare Minnesota’s career-, college- and citizenship-ready students. Experts comparing the pedagogy from various countries concluded that teaching “integrated” math (combination of algebra, geometry, probability, statistics, and computer science to solve real-life problems) rather than teaching each as separate content areas, the traditional approach in the USA, produced higher scores for students in other countries. Maybe a closer look at a stricter education paradigm of the mathematical concepts with age-appropriate activities at grade level would be a more productive approach than ethnomathematics. Stakeholders need to review the draft at https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/stds/Math/, reading the 101 pages and providing feedback via a link at that site by June 13th.
Dr. Phyllis VanBuren
Clearwater, MN
