23 Baltimore City Schools Have Zero Students Proficient in Math

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll agree that in some cases their illiteracy might be affecting their math scores, but there’s more to math than just doing very simple calculations.

And come on, if a kid doesn’t know what the word “space” means in third grade then there’s a big problem. What the heck are the teachers doing all day in class that the majority of a third grade class doesn’t know that “space” means area?

And I certainly didn’t have any computers reading questions to me in school tests. It’s wild that you think the problem here is that the computer voice reading the math questions is not quite natural enough for you. Next you’ll be complaining about its accent or lack thereof.

I mean, yes, that's exactly what I am saying - kids do not understand these questions. Yes, it is a big problem.

Many of the third graders do not have the language skills to understand that "which equation represents the amount of space that Mr Soto will paint" = what is the area of the rectangle. That's just one example- I'm not picking on this particular sample problem necessarily, just explaining that the sentence structure and vocabulary is deliberately not straightforward. It's an attempt to be sure that students aren't just mindlesslessy calculating area by rote but are able to actually apply the concept of "area" in a real life problem. I get that attempt and approach but am telling you, it is too hard for many third graders, at least those who start off the school year not even able to read.

The computer voice - what can I tell you? I watch kids take these tests. They are allowed to replay the read aloud feature as often as they want. In schools where many kids are reading below grade level, they really can't read many of these words by themselves. "equation" "represents" (even "which" some of them can't sound out.).

I can imagine you saying "Wow -- if kids can't read the word "which" we have a big problem." Yes. Yes, there is a big problem.

IF kids have a tough time with a math problem, they are supposed to go back and read the question to think about what the question is really asking. If they can read all but one hard word, then it is no big deal, but if they can read hardly any of the words? They have to go back and start the whole thing again. Skimming on your own takes a couple seconds, but restarting the entire question (the test only lets you play back the whole question, not just one word) takes extra time. Kids get tired. A few kids who are poor readers will plod through and take that extra time but most just aren't that dedicated because the test really has no consequences for them.

I'm just saying that in MD, and in the US in general, I think that our math curriculum, and tests, are unnecessarily verbally based, and I don't think it is leading us to have better math outcomes.

I am trying to find examples of what I am talking about, and I can't find it for third grade at the moment, but here is an interesting comparison of first grade math tests in NY and Finland that kind of gets at what I am talking about:


https://taughtbyfinland.com/first-grade-math-tests-in-american-and-finnish-classrooms/

[Anonymous]

Forget the test scores, how do we turn even 50% of these kids into normal, productive members of society that hold down a job, stay out of legal trouble, have friendships, normal relationships, are there for their kids etc? How did this happen? I'm not religious, but is it the absense of a stable church community?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Forget the test scores, how do we turn even 50% of these kids into normal, productive members of society that hold down a job, stay out of legal trouble, have friendships, normal relationships, are there for their kids etc? How did this happen? I'm not religious, but is it the absense of a stable church community?

Parenting…

[Anonymous]

Dem politicos and school officials are da best!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last one, now that I have learned to post pictures. These are all from the MD state released items/practice test 3rd grade Math test:



I think it is tricky, for a third grader. Yes, of course, I think it would be wonderful for all third graders to be able to answer a question like this that shows they are truly able to understand the application of math. Instead of just asking a simple question: "What is the area of this rectangle?"

But - the fact that many students aren't able to answer questions like this doesn't mean they are learning nothing in math. Just that these questions are pretty tricky for them to understand.

I think it's important to point out that a lot of these word problems were made because of allegations from marxists that math is somehow racist against black people - that they can't understand abstract concepts (which is in itself an extremely racist viewpoint but one pushed by many black civil rights advocates). But of course they will understand things like "tyrone has five mixtapes and lost two" or "uncle jim is painting a garage." It is, however, ironic that the black kids in baltimore schools cannot even answer the contextualized questions that the education marxists have forced into the curriculum

This question is somewhat elitist. How many people have garages or paint the floors? I can see why kids can't relate to these problems. They don't make sense.

[Anonymous]

Baltimore city schools are a great example of what happens when you let democrats hold the reins for extended period of time. The same results will eventually be mirrored nation wide. More money for less results

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Forget the test scores, how do we turn even 50% of these kids into normal, productive members of society that hold down a job, stay out of legal trouble, have friendships, normal relationships, are there for their kids etc? How did this happen? I'm not religious, but is it the absense of a stable church community?

Parenting…

How would you get that to happen, and what should be the consequences of it not happening?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Forget the test scores, how do we turn even 50% of these kids into normal, productive members of society that hold down a job, stay out of legal trouble, have friendships, normal relationships, are there for their kids etc? How did this happen? I'm not religious, but is it the absense of a stable church community?

Reinstate the draft

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Baltimore city schools are a great example of what happens when you let democrats hold the reins for extended period of time. The same results will eventually be mirrored nation wide. More money for less results

Remind me which states are ranked as the worst for education by pretty much every metric.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Baltimore city schools are a great example of what happens when you let democrats hold the reins for extended period of time. The same results will eventually be mirrored nation wide. More money for less results

Remind me which states are ranked as the worst for education by pretty much every metric.

If you take into account the money spent, red states are actually going to be far ahead of blue states. Blue states spend double per student and don’t get anywhere near that in returns. Places like DC and Baltimore are absolute bottom of the list for educational outcomes despite being absolute top of the list in terms of spending. That’s pretty incredible, and not in a good way.

[Anonymous]

We are a higher SES two parent home and we each help our children with homework. We don't live in Baltimore. The students in my kid's school have similar SES and the parents appear to be involved. I checked the school scores and they are so low! I haven't seen the individual scores for my children yet, but the standardized math tests they took last year showed them on level or above for the different areas. It also showed a much larger percentage of the students scored on level than the MCAP shows. If the MCAP results are significantly different than the other standardized tests there may be something to the idea that the questions should be written differently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Baltimore city schools are a great example of what happens when you let democrats hold the reins for extended period of time. The same results will eventually be mirrored nation wide. More money for less results

Remind me which states are ranked as the worst for education by pretty much every metric.

If you take into account the money spent, red states are actually going to be far ahead of blue states. Blue states spend double per student and don’t get anywhere near that in returns. Places like DC and Baltimore are absolute bottom of the list for educational outcomes despite being absolute top of the list in terms of spending. That’s pretty incredible, and not in a good way.

Because Dems have turned them into Democratic jobs programs for the MIDDLE class - and unions defend the mediocrity. Unions support the Dems - and that’s all that matters in Maryland.

[Anonymous]

The thing to realize is that schools have ALWAYS been this way, and it's only just since No Child Left Behind that people knew it. That's why the policy came to pass. Just think of your grandparents generation though too--how many of them had a 4th-8th grade education only? Not to mention how kids with special needs were "educated." The idea of universal public high school for everyone is a relatively new one, we've only recently started measuring how effective it is and it's never been easy. Very few countries educate everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The thing to realize is that schools have ALWAYS been this way, and it's only just since No Child Left Behind that people knew it. That's why the policy came to pass. Just think of your grandparents generation though too--how many of them had a 4th-8th grade education only? Not to mention how kids with special needs were "educated." The idea of universal public high school for everyone is a relatively new one, we've only recently started measuring how effective it is and it's never been easy. Very few countries educate everyone.

I've said it before but the German model exists for a reason

For roughly 1/3 of the population a typical high school education makes 0 sense. Instead of trying to get these kids through Algebra and Chemistry high school should be a jobs program so these kids can have a productive future

College for all makes 0 sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Baltimore city schools are a great example of what happens when you let democrats hold the reins for extended period of time. The same results will eventually be mirrored nation wide. More money for less results

Remind me which states are ranked as the worst for education by pretty much every metric.

Now do it by county.