Robert Canright for PISD Trustee
Better leaders for a
better future !!
My platform when I ran in 2010



My platform has four major planks:

Better leaders for a better future
Improve elementary school mathematics
Eliminate the Connected Math program
Improve elementary school reading and writing

Read more about about my visionary plan for our children's long term success, the Texas Ascendant Campaign.

Better Leaders for a Better Future

The Plano ISD needs better leadership today to restore
quality to our education and sound financial decision
making to our budgets.

Our children are facing a difficult future because our
nation's leaders for the last 17 years have been fumbling
away our prosperity.  We must prepare our children to set
new standards for leadership so they can dig themselves
out of the deep hole Washington has dug for them.

History, economics, and finance are the skills our children
will need to find their way through the challenges of a
difficult future.

As an engineer and scientist, I know science and
technology.  But I have also studied history and philosophy
and I understand the need for a well rounded education
that includes culture and the arts.

We must prepare our children to be tomorrow's leaders.  I
have developed a vision of a great future for our children
and our state to succeed and prosper in a challenging
future:
The Texas Ascendant Campaign.  

Education needs a goal like ancient sailors needed the
Pole Star.  With the right goal and education, our children
and all the children of Texas can have a bright and secure
future.

"Better leaders for a better future!"

Improve Elementary School Mathematics

Mathematics education in elementary school needs
improvement.  It has been weak for years and has not
improved.  Third grade, for example, is when the TEKS (the
Texas curriculum) says students should learn multiplication
and division.  The Plano schools make a very weak effort in
third grade, then the children are behind in fourth grade.

Parents need to send their children to Kumon, or Chinese
school, or personally tutor their children in math during
elementary school.

Plano does have economically disadvantaged people and
they might not have the resources to fill the gaps in the
Plano elementary school math program.  This means the
economically disadvantaged children will fall behind in
elementary school and have trouble catching up.  Even if
they pass the TAKS test, that does not mean they are
proficient in math.

The SAT test for college entrance is basically just math
and verbal skills. Out of all the courses your child takes
during a school day, math is extraordinarily important.  
Math might be 15% of the school day, but it is 50% of the
traditional SAT.

"We must do better in elementary school math!"

Eliminate the Connected Math Program

The Connected Math program has been a pain and a
burden for parents and students of Plano for far too long.  
All our neighbors -- Allen, Frisco, and Richardson --
outperform Plano and none of them use Connected Math.  
It is time to eliminate this failed program.

"Connected math must go!"

Improve Elementary School Reading & Writing

The world is increasingly complex and changing faster all
the time.  Knowledge based jobs are displacing
manufacturing jobs.  Good reading skills are vital for
success in a knowledge based economy.

I was shocked when I saw reading assignments in
elementary school directing my child to guess the meaning
of a word.  Children need to use a dictionary!  And the
curriculum needs to intentionally impress a good
vocabulary upon our children.

In high school I was again shocked to hear a teacher tell
my child to guess the meaning of words.  A child cannot
develop a good vocabulary by guessing the meaning of
words.

Grammar is important for writing.  Today's curriculum
provides skimpy coverage of grammar.  Grammar
instruction has improved a little over the years, but it needs
further improvement.  Furthermore, there is not enough
correcton for grammar when papers are graded.  Teaching
writing is very labor intensive.  As Plano class sizes and
teacher work loads continue to increase, the time shrinks
that teachers have available to correct writing for grammar
and style.

Our English Language Arts teachers are dedicated and
they do an outstanding job within the restraints of the
district's curriculum.  But it is not until our children take a
college writing course that their writing gets a rigorous
review for grammar and style.

"Elementary school reading & writing must improve!"

I welcome your questions and suggestions: email.
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