If the Fairfax County public schools were as bad as some make out, then focusing on math and science might not make as much sense. I think it still would make sense to have one board member representing math and science since so many others are lawyers. The ratio would still be less than one math science person per lawyer.
The Fairfax County public schools are delivering results for many people. It is critical to realize it is a continuum of achievement from high to low. At the margin, improving math education matters a lot. There were wrong choices made in some of the terms and phrases of math. Fixing that helps the bottom students more than the top students.
The seeming paradox of reforming math words and phrases is that it helps those who struggle the most with math more than those who do the best. At a deeper level, it is not really a contradiction, but makes sense. That is why it is the reform needed now for Fairfax public schools. It is actually, the just in time reform needed by students at the margin between failure and success. It can help them. They won’t be rocket scientists perhaps, but they can manage in a computerized work place. That is a big achievement for public schools to give the struggling students.
