As Maryland’s largest school district rethinks
its long practice of giving final exams, new data show that steep exam
failure rates persist in math, with three out of four high school
students flunking the June test in Algebra 1.
Montgomery County
school officials say the results reflect a long-standing problem with
math exam performance but show an improvement in Algebra 1 from last
year, when outcomes were so poor that the district added 15 percentage
points to all semester exam grades in that course.Extra points were not added this year, said Erick Lang, Montgomery’s associate superintendent for curriculum and instructional programs. He said teachers had professional development and a second year’s experience with a more rigorous Algebra 1 curriculum based on the Common Core State Standards. He added that individual schools also took on improvement efforts.
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Not to worry the BOE will nix the Final Exams.
ReplyDeleteI now declare the county a third world nation in Algebra. How in the world is this happening here? Something more than very wrong. How will any of these children even attempt trig, calculus or any of the much more advanced math subjects as they try to advance through HS and beyond?. Algebra is usually only the first step on the road to the more advanced math. These are sinful results. Has the state ever taken over an area in this countydo to [poor results? I know they often do that in the inner cities of some states. This is getting there. Math is extremely important.
ReplyDeleteHow? Using Common Core to STEM the tide. . .
DeleteState takeovers in states like N.J,, PA.. I believe have led to forced privatization of sectors of the failing areas.. that is what I mean by state/federal takeover(matching funds I believe help pay for this). You really need a governor like the one in N.J. to clean up this mess. He dishes it out very well to unions, especially the teachers It seems he works well with the national leader of the NEA, forgot her name. but he gets in the face of some of the bozo teachers who make a career of complaining and protesting. Despite that, states like Jersey in affluent areas similar to M.C. would never have a 75 per cent fail rate on a test like this Algebra test.. Again, something is really wrong with this. I fully agree with the teacher/tutor who posted on this thread about having to be taught at home to overcome this school system., if special needs children need their parents to hire a team of lawyers, then I guess in this environment other students will have to hire full time tutors to survive.
DeleteI am currently tutoring two students in high school math, one entering Montgomery College and one entering MCPS 10th grade. I am appalled by what I see. These students are smart, capable young adults, who cannot add simple fractions, let alone factor basic quadratics. They have been “turned off” to math and are intimidated by it. Both aforementioned students have “earned” C’s” and “B’s” in Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II (for the student entering MC) and yet, the student entering MC cannot pass his remedial math entrance exams to place out of remedial (high school) math courses at MC. On the flip side of all of this, our son, who aced his Honors Algebra I final exam in the 7th grade (100%), was told by MCPS at that time that he was stupid and would need to be removed from an academic curriculum. We fought MCPS and won (long and documented story). Our son is entering the 11th grade with a 3.5 WGPA, (mostly honors courses) and will be taking Calculus this year. He is college bound, but not if MCPS had anything to say about this. By the way, most of the math he knows has been taught at home. Our school system is broken. When are we going to do something to help our children, not to mention how TWO BILLION DOLLARS in taxes are spent?
ReplyDeleteThis is the public school system that the Apple Ballot wants. As long as the citizens of this county continue to support the teachers' endorsement of the Apple Ballot candidates, this will continue.
DeleteThe big question is why do our MCPS teachers want this type of school system? Why do teachers, year after year, endorse candidates that have no interest in public school education? We have documented how our Board of Education spends their time, eating out, vacations/conferences and personal perks on the taxpayers' tab. The Board of Education does not put the education of MCPS students as their first priority and that mentality trickles right down to the classroom.
Along the same lines, we found out that the STEM initiative is a hoax. Beyond the excitement and fanfare of the buzzwords it is not supported seriously by neither the academic establishment nor the workplace.
DeleteAnother indicator of MCPS' concern & understanding of the problem(s): Summer math packet assignments are "optional," at some of the MCPS high schools, this year.
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