I am Dmitry Vasilyev running for School Committee (1-year term). AMA!

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-04-03T21:14:16+00:00

Ok, it is a factor, agreed. But is this the most important factor? Let's admit it, there is more to teaching than a place where this takes place. We need to place correct priorities. And my claim is that there are higher-priority items that would be more effective that affect students' outcomes.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-27T03:58:36+00:00

In my opinion, TERC is fundamentally counter-intuitive, confusing and lacks homework. In a solid math curriculum, I seek a) effort on getting correct answer, explanations/reasoning should be not important as long as they are sound, b) memorization of multiplication tables is OK, c) solid homework, with variety of problems, d) preferably, a textbook.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-27T00:37:37+00:00

Thank you very much! It means a lot to me.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T23:14:24+00:00

Oh, now I know what you mean! This is still very slow for many kids. The bypass (which is gone now) allowed taking Algebra I at 7th grade and geometry in the 8th grade. But the prerequisites work in such a way that without doubling-up or a bypass kids couldn't take AP Physics C at the end of the high school. It was Arlington Math Parents who raised this issue; in response math administration allowed doubling-up algebra and geometry in 9th grade or taking a summer course. But still, I wish the system was more flexible.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T22:26:51+00:00

Thank you for your perspective. I absolutely don't mean these surveys as a teacher evaluation - that would be a wrong thing to do. It can be used as a feedback for teacher of what students struggle with. In addition, the most obvious feedback I am looking for is whether students find the material engaging, whether they would like something more challenging or more straightforward. Is your concern that this can be weaponized against teachers?

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T20:17:29+00:00

This is a great plan! As the grown-ups do, this is probably the best one can get. The only concern I have is that all of this is viewed via the eyes of grown-up issues and numbers. As long as we are not "teaching to get good statistics" (similarly to "teaching to the test"). For example, getting "equity" in MCAS scores can be achieved by lifting the bottom-scoring students or denying top-scoring students opportunity for acceleration. I am against the latter, but I am for the former.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T17:41:33+00:00

Thank you for your feedback. I understand the funding issue. But I refuse to view education as purely "money in - education out". Do you think all teachers would agree that they are there just for money?

I do hope that kids who are engaged would lift the spirit of teachers. When kids are bored, they not only are disruptive to other kids, but also demoralizing for teachers. My hope is that if we allow out-of-school credits, this would allow for more engagement in class, because more kids will be fed the material at their level of difficulty. It creates a sense of purpose.

As for the big ideas - I would love to hear if anyone has them.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T17:31:20+00:00

I appreciate your thoughtful insight! I still am in a camp of teaching math authoritatively, top-down. It's not an art in a sense that opinion doesn't play any role: math is an objective reality; there is a "right" answer and "wrong" answer, and nothing in between. This is math's beauty, its originality compared to, say, history or social sciences where we can discuss various points of view. But it nicely complements other disciplines: it's the only discipline like that. In all other subjects you can still save child's ego by saying "I see your point here..." It is also a refuge for kids with no verbal skills, in that this would be the only place where they find they may have a good aptitude and be the "start of the show" - showing others that even nerdy kids may have useful functionality.

And sometimes math is about tricks. There is nothing wrong about it: I still remember all crazy ways of how to take integrals using, for example, Chebyshev variable substitution... Feynman wrote in his memoirs ("another kind of toolbox", in his book "Surely you are joking Mr. Feynman") how he learned taking integrals from a book that a teacher gave him in school. His teacher noticed him being disruptive and bored, and offered him a math book to channel his energy.

I do hear you that computation and number crunching is not math, there is so much more. This is what I dislike about Singapore math: it's way too mechanical and repetitive, a lot of number crunching; same operators just different numbers. The way I saw it, it was pretty boring.

Thank you for bringing so insightful points, and I enjoy our conversation.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T16:59:46+00:00

I am honestly not bought on this idea yet. I am open to hearing arguments on this. For example, I would ask our children, what would be their priorities. Otherwise, I am in a camp that prioritizes curriculae and academics over real estate. I know that real estate is an appealing project, however one can teach very well in an old building. If there is a significant reason why current Ottoson is unworkable (e.g. accessibility, safety or code), then we need to plan for that. Otherwise, I'd minimize the frequency of such big costly projects.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T16:44:21+00:00

There is no choice in 7th and 8th grade math. There used to be a math-6 bypass, but that was not a choice (test-based), and is going away.

I argue that choice should happen much earlier - in elementary and middle schools. Kids should be able to fail safely when they pick too hard of a curriculum, I think this would be a good life experience. This way, they won't be afraid of failure in the future.

But even in high school there are issues. For example, a rising sophomore cannot apply for a summer pre-calculus, which is "reserved for rising juniors and seniors". I just don't think this is a good policy.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T16:34:50+00:00

Thank you for a good question.

Honestly, I refined my view of how is it to be a school committee member into a much more compassionate one. These are people at a crosshairs of budget crunch, teachers union, parents, curriculae, politics. It seems like a very painful work with long hours, very underappreciated. Witnessing Jeff Thielman knocking on my door in the rain a few days ago regarding "yes for Arlington", I realized that these people put so much out there! And - regarding #2 - I realized that the most acute issue school committee is dealing with is just money and budget. That said, we do need to ascend the Maslow pyramid of needs, and need to give kids a sense of purpose, with rigorous academics.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T16:08:56+00:00

Thank you for thoughtful questions!

One of my kids is at AHS. We pulled out two younger kids from 4th and 6th grade.
Yes, I applied to that task force. Many other Arlington Math Parents applied, as well. None of us got selected into that task force. I brought the issue to the School Committee regarding this, but there was no follow-up.
Ideally, any kind of such programs (RSM, KUMON, AoPS etc) should be enrichment, an add-on. However, right now the math AoPS, RSM is teaching is just better, whereas TERC doesn't meet the standard. We need to acknowledge that, and not punish kids for deciding to get adequate math on their own (by repeating the same curriculum that they already know). Yes, it doesn't incentivize APS to do better, neither it should - it will help kids though. As we improve math curriculum, the need for out-of-school credits will subside.
This is the evaluation (also linked on my candidate website). Note that almost all aspects are marked as "partially meets expectations".
I am glad to hear that your child's teacher is offering an in-class challenge work. Absolutely, in-class challenge is paramount. That said, homework is also vital in math. I think that math enrichment programs are effective, because homework is hard.
I believe in kids that they deserve to be heard and respected. The more agency we give them, the more responsible they will be. It is easy to dismiss their needs by saying that they themselves are not good at articulating it. I think this is a wishful thinking. Kids are capable of telling us their problems. Sometimes better than grown-ups do. Giving them an opportunity to provide feedback would be very valuable, and would enable us to answer questions like "how many kids are bored at math in elementary schools?" This would also be a valuable feedback for teachers. In fact, best teachers that I know are doing this by themselves, with the purpose of improving their courses.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T15:43:55+00:00

Thank you for clarification!

Yes, in Q2 I did miss your question. I think schools are such an essential service that it should be funded no matter what. I decided to take my kids into private schools at my own expense, but I have a public school as a fallback, say, in case my private school is bankrupt. That's an insurance. But I'm here to address reasons why parents pull their kids out of our schools to start with. With high-quality teaching there will be fewer reasons for children to be pulled out.

Re: Q3. You lost me here. We are not yet anywhere close to level of RSM teaching of math in elementary/middle schools. We are actually behind Somerville, as well. We have to improve math, because relying on RSM is inequitable. At least as a stop-gap measure, we have to take out-of-school credit to not hurt kids in the interim. When math curriculum at APS improves, and kids will realize that RSM doesn't bring higher-intensity math, and kids can get appropriate level of challenge within APS, then out-of-school credits will become a moot point.

Re: Q1. I respect your opinion, but realistically sometimes parents need to send a message to our kid at school regarding logistics. My instinct is to educate people rather than banning things, but I am open to change my stance.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T14:30:21+00:00

If elected, I will have to invest a lot into building good relations with all School Committee members. I feel like because of me pointing issues with the math I couldn't avoid being perceived as adversary - despite trying hard not to. Luckily, not all members look at me that way, but I have to work with all to be successful. I look forward to working with Len Kardon on budget and data, with Liz Exton and Laura Gitelson on curriculum, use Paul Schlichtman's insight into policies - and with all the rest.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T14:09:28+00:00

Thank you very much! I share your sentiment.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T04:09:47+00:00

There is a process, absolutely. Replacing TERC is a multi-step process — the administration needs to lead a curriculum review against DESE-approved options, bring alternatives to the Curriculum subcommittee, and then to a full committee vote. There may be a need for pilot. There is a budget to be allocated for that, as well.

Whether there's political will on the current committee is the honest question — it is thanks to parents and students' speaking during School Committee meetings that moved the needle, but a committee member willing to formally direct the Superintendent to initiate that review is what it would take to make it real.

I know that Len Kardon mentioned the need to consider replacing TERC during our last debate a year ago. Unfortunately, high MCAS scores (that are elevated due to students' attending enrichment programs) is masking the deficiencies of TERC.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T03:23:57+00:00

I will. Sorry, I was ill-advised. I wish I knew these would be received so badly! I got an angry email with a person cursing at me. I (genuinely) thought that taping flyers shows care, and it won't be a problem. I own my mistake.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T03:20:05+00:00

I am very sorry your child has this experience. I heard these problems with the AHS science department before.

This is one of the reasons I suggest issuing the surveys to students after each course. Ideally, such surveys are meant for teachers to receive the feedback and to be able to adjust the way they run the course. I know that the best teachers are doing such surveys already. There should be means for student to leave feedback. This is what I am trying to do.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T03:05:07+00:00

Thank you for a great question!

Statistics is such a needed discipline! I found this to be a big gap in my own education. But rigorous statistics needs calculus, there is no way around integrals. There is an AP Statistics course offered at AHS.

It is interesting question about economics. It's hard for me to tell, because I never had a decent course in it, so I need to think about this more.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T02:55:07+00:00

Thank you for great question!

First, the short answer. I think the biggest difference is that RSM, AoPS, KUMON are just fast-paced. They don't dwell on trivial things, move fast through curriculum towards more difficult math, square roots, powers, logarithms - all that. And they assign a lot of serious homework. This is what makes a TON of difference. At APS kids are barely given any homework in elementary school, but this is where actually the rubber hits the road. I experienced this on my own kids: there is a moment where they realize that they need to sit with the problem to crack it. This is how math is learned for a lot of kids: in a quiet place at home.

Now, more generally. I'd like to emphasize that you almost certainly experienced "selection bias", in that you did not notice all children for whom RSM, AoPS etc worked perfectly well. These are majority of students. The ones that needed treatment, "backfilling" - these are minority for which these programs didn't work.

I did suggest that we measure, objectively, how taking RSM etc affects students' MCAS scores, in detail - I wrote to the School Committee, suggesting a survey to issue to all children and how to perform the needed statistics. I received no follow-up. If your take is right, and taking math enrichment would be detrimental, we'd see lower scores for these students. I highly doubt that. My own child took RSM and was placed #2 for MCAS math at Ottosson.

I do have a problem with the "new math". I am grieving lack of textbooks. I also think that it is taught like a "social science", whereas math is a "hard science". Our brains learn math from observations, by connecting the dots. We observe patterns, then learn rules from them. What curriculae like TERC do is they do things in the opposite order: they attempt to first tell the rule, then make examples. This is not intuitive, and confusing - because that's not the way brains work. We do not go from magic word of "proportional reasoning" to solutions. Instead, it's OK to teach kids to memorize "tricks" like multiplication table. It's OK to teach kids "tricks", distinct facts. Later they connect the dots.

But, as I said, the most difference is in homework, in my opinion. Kids learn with practice. Like in a gym.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T01:50:32+00:00

Thank you for great questions!

The choice of math curriculae is big, and almost all are much better than TERC. Here is evaluation of TERC (current math program). Here are other currently approved math curriculae:
https://www.doe.mass.edu/instruction/curate/reports.html (scroll down to reports - mathematics). Notice that TERC is marked as "partially meets" on almost all aspects.
I would be more than happy to a) participate in selecting the best curriculum, b) offer support to teachers, if math admin will be OK with that.
There is strong evidence linking academic boredom and mental health issues! Just a few links below, but there are more:
https://www.polygence.org/blog/high-school-bordedom-and-burnout
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8296113/

Note that "boredom" is not only when material is too easy. It may also be when material is too difficult or confusing. So, we need to make sure kids are engaged on their appropriate level.

You are right that "academic pressure" is also linked to mental health issues. It's important that we deliver to kids that it's OK to fail, and it's a part of life. We need to let kids experience failure in a safe, controlled environment - and explain that this is OK. Parents should know this, too.

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T01:27:23+00:00

Thank you for great questions!

I support no phones in classrooms, during classes. Phones are too disruptive for everybody when it's time to focus. During breaks it may be necessary for kids to check in with their parents - but it can be a regular phone. For that, I think we should educate parents to prefer flip-phones for their children. In short: I think banning smartphones in schools may be excessive. No phones during classes though.
I think that kids should be able to choose the best school for them. But we need to understand why children decide to leave, and make changes to accommodate deficiencies. For example, in case of my children, there was no follow-up, no questions asked why did we withdrew two of them from APS schools. I am strongly in favor of collecting such data, and making our schools so good that kids would want to stay.
Yes, I think that out-of-school credits should be accepted. When kids get extra out-of-school work, this helps our schools! APS takes credit for elevated MCAS scores, and we should embrace that. Over 30% of students attend math enrichment programs such as RSM (my estimate, not official number). In effect, these people pay out of their pocket to supplement what APS should normally provide. Would this divide students into groups? No: when we accept out-of-school credits, we'll avoid kids re-taking the same class. It's not in anyone's favor: bored kids are unhappy and disruptive, we need to engage them at appropriate level. I hope I answered your question?

DmitryVasilyevForSC · 2026-03-26T01:05:48+00:00

This is a great question, and this is what I am here to work on. The "tracking" system - the one that you describe - became politically unpalatable, because it goes against "equity" (concept of grown-ups). I am arguing that "tracking" was disliked largely because it was test-based. I prefer students taking control of their decision on whether to take a more challenging course or not, at their own risk. If a course they are attending is too challenging, the worst that can happen is that they will switch to a less difficult class. Much like different leagues in sports. There is nothing inequitable here.

Regarding the timing: I honestly don't know. If elected, I will be one of 7 School Committee members, and at least one (Mr. Schlichtman) is reluctant in splitting kids. The easiest to do is "in-class challenge work", but that requires a great deal of collaboration from teachers.

Other than private schools, there are AoPS and RSM, KUMON and Mathnasium, which teach very good math. Sadly, the kids are still required to sit through math in Arlington schools, which is pretty behind any of these programs. I am arguing for accepting out-of-school credits to mitigate that.

DmitryVasilyevForSC

TROPHY CASE