Wilson Education Appointee Faces a Fight

During her year on the State Board of Education, Sonoma grape grower Janet Nicholas has established a reputation for doing her homework, asking tough questions and remaining firm in her beliefs.

But she created some enemies among educators by insisting that those who criticize the state’s controversial methods of teaching math should have a hand in their overhaul.

Now Nicholas has a math problem of her own: An appointee of Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, she must be confirmed by a two-thirds vote of the Democratic-controlled Senate before April 1 if she is to serve a full four-year term. First, however, she must get the support of three of the five members of the Senate Rules Committee, which is expected to take up the issue Monday.

Winning those votes, especially on the Senate floor, is far from certain. Such appointments usually get little attention outside Sacramento. This time, though, disgruntled math teachers from throughout California have inundated the Rules Committee with letters of opposition. The letters attack Nicholas for her preemptive move on behalf of critics who contend that too many students are not learning basic concepts essential to success in advanced math courses.

Many in Sacramento believe that the fight over Nicholas’ confirmation is more than a dispute over how students learn their multiplication tables and fractions. Giving the clash resonance, they say, is a continuing struggle over whether the State Board of Education will wield real power over education policy or merely be a rubber stamp--an issue that is especially important as the state is reshaping its curriculum and adopting academic standards.

Supt. of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin is officially the board’s “executive secretary” and is supposed to carry out its policies. But the superintendent also has independent status as an elected constitutional officer. That murky, overlapping relationship between the superintendent and the board has frequently caused problems and even led to lawsuits. So it is no surprise that a board member such as Nicholas--like Eastin a strong leader with strong views--is controversial.

The outcry over California students’ poor performance in math, as in reading, has been bipartisan. Math education has been controversial ever since the 1992 National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that only 13% of the state’s fourth-graders were proficient in math, ranking California above only five states.

Last fall, the state board received from the state Curriculum Commission a list of 15 candidates for the panel to rewrite the crucial “framework” that will eventually shape textbook purchases, teacher training and classroom instruction. Nicholas reviewed the resumes of those suggested by the advisory commission, rejected 10 of them and added 15 more.

Nicholas said she wanted to open up the framework process to people whose voices had not been previously heard. Among those she added were three university mathematicians, a statistician, a school board member and a software engineer. Her move angered leading math educators, who objected that many of the appointees were biased against their methods and were not classroom teachers.

Increasingly, policymakers concerned about math have raised questions about the philosophy popular in schools that students should work largely in groups to discover math concepts, rather than learn them directly from teachers. Instead of plowing through repetitive homework, that school of thought argues, students should sharpen their problem-solving skills by practicing a few “real world” investigations.

Nicholas got involved in the math issue last year, helping write an advisory to classroom teachers making it clear that learning how to calculate was just as important as knowing why the calculations produced the right answer.

Margaret DeArmond, a Bakersfield math teacher who presides over the California Math Council, said Nicholas’ involvement in the advisory was discouraging. “We felt they did not listen to teachers, and it was hurtful,” she said.

Nicholas’ supporters say she was merely carrying out the will of the Legislature and following through on the message delivered by Eastin’s math task force.

Many of Nicholas’ supporters worry that if she is not confirmed, the state’s efforts to improve reading instruction, create rigorous tests and set high academic standards will be compromised as well.

“If any of the arguments against her are that she is interested in having kids be proficient in the basic skills of reading and math, then she’s probably guilty,” said Marian Bergeson, Wilson’s top education advisor.

It is widely assumed in Sacramento that Eastin is the major source of Nicholas’ troubles--an allegation that Eastin stoutly denies.

In an interview Wednesday, Eastin said she was not at odds with the board. “People just keep wanting us to fight and I don’t want to fight,” she said.

Seeking to quiet the widespread perception that she wanted Nicholas ousted, Eastin on Wednesday sent a letter to the chairman of the Rules Committee, state Senate President Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward).

Eastin’s letter said she was “neutral” on Nicholas and said the committee and the Senate should “consider [Nicholas’] record, hear testimony and vote as they deem appropriate.”

Eastin acknowledged that she had met with Lockyer earlier and suggested that Nicholas ought to be questioned about the math controversy and her relationship to the critics of current methods.

If confirmed, Nicholas said, she will “try to make sure that the substantive issues are brought forward and debated and resolved.”

“To me, that’s a far preferable system . . . to traveling down a road not knowing where that road leads.”