Your Letters: Monday

Look again at 'Investigations'

Though the $37,000 the State College Area school board spent on TERC’s “Investigations” elementary math curriculum pales in comparison with the millions at stake in the credit default swap, the math issue speaks volumes about how board candidates will handle any tough decision.

There are three reasons it is worth reinvestigating the merits of “Investigations.”

First, the 2009 PSSA math scores show the district’s standing within the state is down for fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth and 11th grades; in reading, the district remains near the top of the state rankings. Even though we can’t measure educational success solely on the basis of one test, the scores suggest that something may be wrong.

Then, a recent study shows many districts that introduced this text in 2007, including Seattle, Naperville, Ill., and Syracuse, N.Y., abandoned it by 2009. If “Investigations” has been this controversial across the country, shouldn’t we learn from their collective experience? Finally, the textbook’s most fundamental flaw is the authors’ attitude toward computation. Everyone agrees that mindless repetition of math facts is not the best way to teach arithmetic. But to treat standard techniques of carrying and borrowing as one of many approaches that are all equally effective is an overreaction (for more information, visit the Web site of Parents for Quality Math Education: pqme.org).

The pendulum has swung too far in the wrong direction. It’s simple: TERC doesn’t work. I urge you to vote for any candidate who will reconsider “Investigations.”

Taylor Greer State College

The writer is a member of Parents for Quality Math Education.

Swap was ill-advised

From information in recent CDT articles about the interest rate swap entered into by the State College school board, it appears that this case is quite simple. The school board moved forward without proper authorization and transparency to secure a loan for approximately $58 million for renovations to the high school. The plan was to borrow the money from American International Group at a variable rate and hedge it at 4 percent with an interest rate swap with Royal Bank of Canada.

The taxpayers found out about the cost and public outcry stopped the borrowing.

The problem now is the overzealous school board had already put on the hedge or swap with RBC. A hedge without the other side (the loan) is not a hedge — it is a position. The swap position is long interest rates or short bonds.

When the school board saw the size of the initial loss, they decided to let her ride. As a professional trader for 25 years in the trading pits of New York, when you make a mistake and have an unintended position, you get out immediately.

Brian Hand Boalsburg