Whoa! MoCo Students Didn't Do So Well on Their Math Midterms (North Beach: 2013, best school districts)

[Lubina]

The title is rather misleading referring calling the tests January finals. Back in my day they were just mid-terms, but still it was a surprising read for one of the supposed best school districts in the country:

http://www.gazette.net/article/20130...mplate=gazette

[reiflame]

It's pretty interesting stuff; instead of the bell curve you'd expect, it's basically a straight line going up to "E" (also, wtf? E?). The honors students do slightly better than the others, but it's still incredibly lopsided.

Anyone have a kid who took one of the tests? When things are this uniform across the board it sounds like a mismatch between what's being taught and what's on the test, so I'm just curious what the kids say.

[North Beach Person]

I hope everyone noticed that teachers were first in the blame line.

[reiflame]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

I hope everyone noticed that teachers were first in the blame line.

I didn't really get that from the article (and I certainly didn't imply it in my post). The article seems to be as confused as everyone else as to why this occurred.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by reiflame

It's pretty interesting stuff; instead of the bell curve you'd expect, it's basically a straight line going up to "E" (also, wtf? E?). The honors students do slightly better than the others, but it's still incredibly lopsided.

Anyone have a kid who took one of the tests? When things are this uniform across the board it sounds like a mismatch between what's being taught and what's on the test, so I'm just curious what the kids say.

I'm not sure yet, but this may have affected my daughter, except she graduated in 2012. From what I read in the article it sounds kind of familiar. I'm going to have to look into this. I'm thinking that what was taught in class did not prepare her for the test.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by reiflame

I didn't really get that from the article (and I certainly didn't imply it in my post). The article seems to be as confused as everyone else as to why this occurred.

No you didn't.

I was looking at the article where the Superintendent listed teaching first as the cause for the downturn.

[mwruckman]

What we have here is there is a big difference between doing math exercises and actually learning and finally understanding math. The person who climbs this mountain isn't thrown into a panic if given a new or slightly different math problem. Apparently MoCo Teachers and Schools forgot this fact. Most American kids would be thrown into a panic if the battery in their calculator died during a arithmetic test.

[molukai]

Originally Posted by mwruckman

Most American kids would be thrown into a panic if the battery in their calculator died during a arithmetic test.

I'd love to see the report that backs up this statement.

[JBPisgah]

"The recent data only includes those taking the courses in high school. When you add in the students who took Algebra 1 in middle school, the failure rate goes down to 11 percent, Lang said"

According this, it's mostly the lower level students who suck at the test. Does everyone need algebra? How about a good shop class that teaches these kids something they can do and aligns with real world job opportunities.

[bowian]

Originally Posted by JBPisgah

"The recent data only includes those taking the courses in high school. When you add in the students who took Algebra 1 in middle school, the failure rate goes down to 11 percent, Lang said"

According this, it's mostly the lower level students who suck at the test. Does everyone need algebra? How about a good shop class that teaches these kids something they can do and aligns with real world job opportunities.

No. They need to teach them algebra. What they do with it is up to them. And, what "shop" related jobs are proliferating out there.