HS Partner/Group Math Tests - What is the Purpose?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Group work for math classes is a major reform that is pushed for equity, alongside detracking.

This. Group work helps the weaker students earn better grades. Good for pretending that MCPS is closing the Achievement Gap. MCPS is all about optics.

Agree with the PPs that it’s not good for anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's math teacher was admonished for giving out too many low grades, and made some of the tests group work to bring the scores up.

+1
From DC's experience it sounds like these assignments occur after a very low average on the previous test.

In my kid's class, the teacher supposedly picked randomly from the group of 4 papers. Strong math students (2) had imposed discipline on the weak (2), but they couldn't be sure they showed all the work. This is pretty ridiculous. Points higher than typical quiz.

If it's random, it punishes the strong student in a group with a weak student who couldn't even be bothered to copy properly. I hate it when teachers pull that stuff. Some students care about their GPAs and are aiming higher than education majors

Cool dig at the people you begged to have your students back with because you couldnt handle them on your own. Pathetic. (Also, if you knew anything about grouping, you're supposed to pair weaker students with stronger students. You'd think someone as smug as you might do some research before disparaging others, but intelligence is severely lacking in this county.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. Group work for math? Why??

Math is taught differently now than it was 10 years ago. It’s a global trend to be more collaborative and less rote skill and drill.

First student must master the skills and THEN they can collaborate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's math teacher was admonished for giving out too many low grades, and made some of the tests group work to bring the scores up.

+1
From DC's experience it sounds like these assignments occur after a very low average on the previous test.

In my kid's class, the teacher supposedly picked randomly from the group of 4 papers. Strong math students (2) had imposed discipline on the weak (2), but they couldn't be sure they showed all the work. This is pretty ridiculous. Points higher than typical quiz.

I do not mind the idea of teaching collaborative problem solving, or of having the strong sharpen their skills by explaining to the weak. What does not make sense to me is using this as a quiz, all tasks, grade. Seems like a day could be devoted to this, but make it practice prep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. Group work for math? Why??

Math is taught differently now than it was 10 years ago. It’s a global trend to be more collaborative and less rote skill and drill.

First student must master the skills and THEN they can collaborate.

If the students are at a test point, then they should be achieving mastery. Use your brain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's math teacher was admonished for giving out too many low grades, and made some of the tests group work to bring the scores up.

+1
From DC's experience it sounds like these assignments occur after a very low average on the previous test.

In my kid's class, the teacher supposedly picked randomly from the group of 4 papers. Strong math students (2) had imposed discipline on the weak (2), but they couldn't be sure they showed all the work. This is pretty ridiculous. Points higher than typical quiz.

I do not mind the idea of teaching collaborative problem solving, or of having the strong sharpen their skills by explaining to the weak. What does not make sense to me is using this as a quiz, all tasks, grade. Seems like a day could be devoted to this, but make it practice prep.

More than likely this was a group lesson and the OP doesn't know what is going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's math teacher was admonished for giving out too many low grades, and made some of the tests group work to bring the scores up.

+1
From DC's experience it sounds like these assignments occur after a very low average on the previous test.

In my kid's class, the teacher supposedly picked randomly from the group of 4 papers. Strong math students (2) had imposed discipline on the weak (2), but they couldn't be sure they showed all the work. This is pretty ridiculous. Points higher than typical quiz.

I do not mind the idea of teaching collaborative problem solving, or of having the strong sharpen their skills by explaining to the weak. What does not make sense to me is using this as a quiz, all tasks, grade. Seems like a day could be devoted to this, but make it practice prep.

More than likely this was a group lesson and the OP doesn't know what is going on.

OP here, interesting discussion. If I do not know what is going on, neither does my kid. Report was that it was a 20 point AT quiz

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's math teacher was admonished for giving out too many low grades, and made some of the tests group work to bring the scores up.

+1
From DC's experience it sounds like these assignments occur after a very low average on the previous test.

In my kid's class, the teacher supposedly picked randomly from the group of 4 papers. Strong math students (2) had imposed discipline on the weak (2), but they couldn't be sure they showed all the work. This is pretty ridiculous. Points higher than typical quiz.

I do not mind the idea of teaching collaborative problem solving, or of having the strong sharpen their skills by explaining to the weak. What does not make sense to me is using this as a quiz, all tasks, grade. Seems like a day could be devoted to this, but make it practice prep.

More than likely this was a group lesson and the OP doesn't know what is going on.

OP here, interesting discussion. If I do not know what is going on, neither does my kid. Report was that it was a 20 point AT quiz

What’s the size (points) of the test? I give a 10 point group quiz (90% category) for review in an AP Science. The actual test completed individually is 50 points.

[Anonymous]

My daughter had one of these Monday in her calc class—it was 10 or 20 points and then a larger individual unit test Tuesday. I do think it stinks—she was paired with a friend Monday who didn’t know the material at all so she said she did it all herself and did the best she could but definitely didn’t do great. It’s so unfair because some people get paired with the math super stars and get a 100% for doing nothing. She definitely didn’t learn anything from the process and it’s demoralizing to do poorly on a test just because you didn’t get a great partner. I think the teacher considers her one of the stronger students because she has a B+ and most kids are doing much worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter had one of these Monday in her calc class—it was 10 or 20 points and then a larger individual unit test Tuesday. I do think it stinks—she was paired with a friend Monday who didn’t know the material at all so she said she did it all herself and did the best she could but definitely didn’t do great. It’s so unfair because some people get paired with the math super stars and get a 100% for doing nothing. She definitely didn’t learn anything from the process and it’s demoralizing to do poorly on a test just because you didn’t get a great partner. I think the teacher considers her one of the stronger students because she has a B+ and most kids are doing much worse.

That is somewhat maddening. It’s one thing to do these kinds of projects in ES, but way different to force kids to do them in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter had one of these Monday in her calc class—it was 10 or 20 points and then a larger individual unit test Tuesday. I do think it stinks—she was paired with a friend Monday who didn’t know the material at all so she said she did it all herself and did the best she could but definitely didn’t do great. It’s so unfair because some people get paired with the math super stars and get a 100% for doing nothing. She definitely didn’t learn anything from the process and it’s demoralizing to do poorly on a test just because you didn’t get a great partner. I think the teacher considers her one of the stronger students because she has a B+ and most kids are doing much worse.

Prepping her with a real life skill - surviving bad co-workers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter had one of these Monday in her calc class—it was 10 or 20 points and then a larger individual unit test Tuesday. I do think it stinks—she was paired with a friend Monday who didn’t know the material at all so she said she did it all herself and did the best she could but definitely didn’t do great. It’s so unfair because some people get paired with the math super stars and get a 100% for doing nothing. She definitely didn’t learn anything from the process and it’s demoralizing to do poorly on a test just because you didn’t get a great partner. I think the teacher considers her one of the stronger students because she has a B+ and most kids are doing much worse.

Prepping her with a real life skill - surviving bad co-workers.

That's such BS. If I have crappy co-workers, I can change jobs. I have done so in the past and right now, it's super easy to do so.

High school students are stuck in their classes.

[Anonymous]

DD had a portion of a mid-term exam in a college chem class that was group based, so it's not just an MCPS thing.

The point seemed to be to help students improve their grades by collaborating on the solutions to some very hard questions that had already been done individually before the group portion.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone wonder whether the goal is just to give the teacher half as many tests to grade? In the class where my kid has this, the teacher is way behind on grading and has been slow all year on it.

[Anonymous]

I hate hate hate these! Yes, they are often quizzes (not sure about tests). My three kids have seen many variations of this, some of them simply punish the better kid. For instance, my kids have complained that the teacher randomly chooses one student's paper to grade-- if that student didn't write the steps down correctly, all are punished. They are often done with major time pressure, so kids can't cross-check others' work effectively. I'm certain my kids have been penalized by these more than helped.