Thousands of students in Montgomery County failed final exams in high school math courses last semester, according to data that raise questions about how well students have learned the material and whether there is a disconnect between the test and the course work.
Recently released figures show failure rates of 62 percent for high school students taking the county’s geometry final and 57 percent for those taking the Algebra 2 exam. Among students taking the same courses on the honors level, 30 percent to 36 percent failed the end-of-semester tests in January, according to data from the school system.
[...]
Starr said that he did not know how long the problem has been going on [and] that he has requested historical data showing exam failure rates for the past five years.
Read the entire story at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/thousands-flunk-math-finals-in-montgomery/2013/05/04/88f807d4-b37e-11e2-9a98-4be1688d7d84_story.html
The Parents' Coalition is eager to learn the exam failure rates for the past five years. Where was the Board of Education during the past five years? Is the exam failure rate a total surprise to the BOE, or is it just another statistic that was swept under the rug under former Superintendent Weast's reign? What is the exam failure rate for other subjects?
Interesting this was "discovered" by a high school PTA president. Where is the MCCPTA on this? Don't Community Superintendents look at this data each semester? Everyone's treating it like a big surprise. Jay Mathews did an article on this issue back in November 2010 http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2010/11/top_district_lets_average_kids.html
ReplyDelete