Steve wrote on August 06, 2009 07:49 AM: In case anyone bothered checking, the last problem is not completely correct. Two straight lines on a curved surface do not need to be coplanar. I would imagine there would be other small difficulties on a new test that may lead to some confusion. Has there been a follow-up on this test for the past year?

Anon wrote on April 27, 2008 07:51 PM: Go to the CCSD website and find their telephone book. Read how many departments, administrators, and teachers out of the classroom there are. They say we don't have enough qualified math teachers. I say get rid of 25% of the administrators and nearly all of the teachers who are out of the classroom. Put them back in the classrooms and that would make a huge impact on the shortage. Spend the money saved to give incentives to people with math and math related degrees to become teachers. Reduce the number of days spent testing, too. It is ridiculous how many days of school are spent on non-instructional time. Ask the superintendent and the assistant superintendent mentioned in the article why there are so many days being spent on things other than instruction. What are they going to do about it? Trim CCSD's personnel fat, spend the money on instruction, and increase instructional time by getting rid of all unnecessary distractions - and there are a great deal of them.

Mary Duran wrote on April 11, 2008 11:42 AM: My son is a junior currently enrolled in Algebra II at the Advanced Technologies Academy (F on exam) and my daughter is a freshman enrolled in Geometry (D on exam) at the Las Vegas Performing Arts Academy.
I recieve a letter from Walt Rulffes dated 4/4/2008 to all parents regarding these scores. It did not address what's being done about this other than hiring a panel of "experts" to review the situation & blaming parents. I've written a response & can provide you with copies of Rulffes' letter as well as my response letter which I will be sending to the superintendent and the board of trustees if you are interested in following up on this subject.
Thank you,

Ugly American wrote on March 31, 2008 01:23 AM: Can we please stop pretending that the system wants serfs to learn objective thinking?

How would they exploit them then?

From the paycheck advance treadmill to people losing their home when their ARM payment goes up, it's all made possible by keeping people uneducated.

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/

Richard wrote on March 30, 2008 02:47 AM: I have been a math teacher for almost 40 years. The results do not surprise me. As to teachers who spend up to a quarter of the SY reviewing material from previous classes - what else should you do if the majority of the students in their classes do not know the prerequisite material? This is a cumulative effect. Teachers are under a lot of pressure to not have high failure rates so they pass on many students who really deserve to fail. I am now teaching in China, and my Chinese students would laugh at those tests if the sample questions are indicative of the levels of difficulty.

Richard Painter

Brice wrote on March 29, 2008 07:57 PM: Some of these comments condemning teachers who "don't help" and "get paid for only part of a year's work" reek of the utter cluelessness of the culture endemic at our schools today.

Someone's suggested that teachers should be prepared to "help after school" - Do you really think we don't? In spite of the fact that the help on offer during the school day is thrown back in our faces in favor of socializing, MP3 players and other time wasting and distraction, I don't know a single teacher who wouldn't fall out of his or her chair with delight at students actually WANTING to learn. The thing is, it's only the small amount of students who really don't need the help anyway who would take advantage. The rest of them are out of that door before the bell has even stopped ringing.

Students have to WANT to be helped before we can help them. Unfortunately there's very little interest, no consequences for failure or misbehavior and (apparently) very little care-factor at home.

Homeschooling family wrote on March 28, 2008 08:06 PM: Yet ANOTHER useless test! Why am I not surprised? Just another way to humiliate our kids and the already overworked teachers. We seriously need to lose that cookie cutter mentality and listen to what our kids really need!

Bad math in the real world wrote on March 28, 2008 12:22 PM: John writes--"Here's some more math for all of you. This is a multiple choice test with 4 possible answers. All things being equal, this test could be printed in Polish and 25% should still pass it just by guessing - one out of four - leaving a 75% fail rate."

Nice Math John except if students guess on a all of the 4 choice questions they should only get 25% right. 25% right is always an F meaning all students would Fail not 75%.

Bruce Burns wrote on March 28, 2008 09:45 AM: A friend from Vegas sent me this article. I was the dept. chair at Villa Park HS in Orange County prior to retiring. My view: I'm sorry for such results. Don't overlook an error in testing or grading. Students learn when they can fully concentrate on the teacher's presentation. Have you ever noticed how students do so well when working with a tutor? It's amazing what a 1 on 1 situation creates. There's only 1 person to be asked a question so the concentration is in full swing. So how do we solve this? The teachers have to be actors or comedians and provide a commercial break every 15 minutes. I joke about it but there is a lot of truth to it. Develop a student tutoring system where the A students can help the struggling students. Charge them a low fee for the service that tops working at McDonalds. I did this for years and it works. Teachers need to present lesson like "lost" or "Dancing with the Stars". They always do a review highlighting the key elements of previous lessons. This helps the students who were absent for field trips. Don't blame it on the band trips as most students in band are the ones passing. Create time out rooms where teachers can send the students who disrupt the lessons immediately. Let the students know you mean business. I could go on but my favorite show is about to start.

CCSD Algebra I Teacher wrote on March 28, 2008 08:08 AM: 46 Days Lost or Interrupted

I teach Algebra IH to 8th graders and here is what I have come up with the last couple of years.

184 school days
We are supposed to cover 86+ sections in our textbooks, basically 12 chapters according to CCSD Benchmarks/ Curriculum.
I give 10-11 chapter tests (20-22 school days) Each Chapter Test takes me 2 days, one day to review and one day to test.
We have Interim Assessments or Algebra I Quarter Assessments (8 testing days, that’s with no review days)
2 Semester Tests (6 school days) our semester tests are given the last three days of each semester. The kids have 1/2 days.
CRT's (5 school days)
ITBS tests are now gone for 8th graders, which helps but are replaced for some students with another national test.
TOTAL 39-41 school days used for TESTING !!! Remember there are 184 days 41/184 = 22% of school days are dedicated to testing

(Title I schools like ours also have 3 days of STAR Testing to receive funding, not included in total)

Teaching at a middle school makes it even harder to cover the curriculum.
Other lost or interrupted School Days-- 5+ Days a year
Field Trips (i.e Body Exhibit, Shakespeare in the Park, etc)
Band/ Orchestra Practice (winter concert, etc.)
Take Your Child To Work Day
Miscellaneous assemblies, events, and projects (i.e . Payback Speakers Day,
Magnet School Presentations, Orientation Assembly, Fundraiser Kick Off Event, Cultural Feast, Technology showcase, etc.)


41 days for Testing + 5 days for field trips, assemblies, and special events = 46 Days Lost Or Interrupted

That gives me at best 138 instructional days to teach 12 Chapters or 86+ sections. Luckily I have perfect attendance.
Teacher and Student absences just complicate the issue but definitely make it even more difficult to cover the entire curriculum with so much testing.
Good luck teachers!

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