Algebra Exam results from January

[Anonymous]

It does not sound like results improved much:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/students-continue-to-fail-math-final-exams-in-montgomery-high-schools/2015/03/30/54211628-cf0a-11e4-a2a7-9517a3a70506_story.html

[Anonymous]

I think the real question is what does exam failure mean? A bad test? Lack of content comprehension? No incentve to perform well? Test fatigue? If students are passing the in-class tests throughout the year, it does beg the question that the problem could be the exam.

[Anonymous]

i can't help but think it's the summation exams that the county makes that are the problem. My DC kills on formatives, but he never knows what to expect with the summative tests. And then the kids never get to see the graded tests to figure out what went wrong or what a correct answer would look like. This is for all classes.

DC said the first 2 summative unit tests for 2.0 Algebra were really difficult from a test question perspective. Once he got used to the trick questions and answer a problem 3 different ways questions, he's done well. The algebra teacher prepped the kids hard for the semester exam.

[Anonymous]

From the article: Middle schoolers who were taking the high school classes — and who are often higher achievers — had an Algebra 1 exam failure rate of 15 percent.

What percentage of kids take it in MS vs. HS?

[Anonymous]

Agree w 22:27. Can't understand how mcps expects better performance when students do not receive hw or test corrections. Insufficient feedback hampers likelihood of improvement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the real question is what does exam failure mean? A bad test? Lack of content comprehension? No incentve to perform well? Test fatigue? If students are passing the in-class tests throughout the year, it does beg the question that the problem could be the exam.

I agree with this.

[Anonymous]

Can't understand how mcps expects better performance when students do not receive hw or test corrections. Insufficient feedback hampers likelihood of improvement.

I'm disgusted that now the latest great idea from MCPS is well if we keep failing lets just not have the test. This is hiding the problem rather than solving it. MCPS is far more concerned with the public embarrassment of failing the test than whether kids actually understand math. Pathetic.

I agree with the previous poster that if you never give kids back their tests and don't correct mistakes the student will not be able to improve. It also robs the student of any ability to guide their own improvement. It hides poor test question construction as no one but the MCPS staffers ever get a chance to really look at it.

MCPS goes far beyond any school system that I have ever seen in hiding tests. Its 100% against sound educational practices and driven by sheer laziness to not have to recreate tests or ever be answerable to students/parents who later realize when they actually get to review the test that the test creator screwed up. Classic MCPS - reduce our workload and reduce any chance that people have evidence that we are morons. Well, good job yet again MCPS.

[Anonymous]

My kids see their tests. They just can't take them home. I don't know what the numbers are but the majority of kids take algebra in middle school. A few in 6th, more in 7th and many in 8th.

[Anonymous]

I can't tell you many times we've found huge errors in math worksheet questions created by the central office for the new 2.0 system. Even the teachers are embarrassed at the low quality - though many don't catch the problem until multiple parents point it out. Its as if they were created by English majors who don't understand math. I can't imagine that the central office is doing any better on preparing a test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I'm disgusted that now the latest great idea from MCPS is well if we keep failing lets just not have the test. This is hiding the problem rather than solving it. MCPS is far more concerned with the public embarrassment of failing the test than whether kids actually understand math. Pathetic.

That depends on what the problem is. If the problem is the test, than getting rid of the test is actually solving the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't tell you many times we've found huge errors in math worksheet questions created by the central office for the new 2.0 system. Even the teachers are embarrassed at the low quality - though many don't catch the problem until multiple parents point it out. Its as if they were created by English majors who don't understand math. I can't imagine that the central office is doing any better on preparing a test.

We encountered this time and time again with the compacted math HW last year as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't tell you many times we've found huge errors in math worksheet questions created by the central office for the new 2.0 system. Even the teachers are embarrassed at the low quality - though many don't catch the problem until multiple parents point it out. Its as if they were created by English majors who don't understand math. I can't imagine that the central office is doing any better on preparing a test.

We encountered this time and time again with the compacted math HW last year as well.

Compacted math doesn't have centralized homework. I have certainly found some errors, but I have not seen more than before 2.0.

[Anonymous]

MCPS has been researching this problem for two years now. I can't believe that they still have no clue. So much for another one of Starr's multi point plan. I hope the new superintendent has the sense to fire the existing staff and bring in capable people.

[Anonymous]

My child, who is not a math genius, did very well on the exam. I wonder if this is also partly a school instruction issue. The math program at my child's middle school is administered very rigorously with a lot of homework and very high expectations. I realize the curriculum is the same across the county, but expectations for class rigor definitely vary by school and teacher.

By the way, most kids are taking Algebra I in either 7th or 8th grade. The students taking it in 9th grade tend to be performing below grade level or have learning issues which may explain why their grades on the exam are often lower.

[Anonymous]

If a student has no idea what to expect on the exam then they can not study. If they don't have any prior tests because they only got to see them for a few minutes in class then they don't even really know which skills they are most likely to miss on a test. If MCPS wants student performance on the cumulative exam to improve they need to stop tying the students arms behind their backs and blindfolding them.

MCPS also need to assess how they are scoring answers especially in light of the shitty 2.0 curriculum. 2.0 is much more language based - education majors with no math knowledge run amok. If the scorers are looking for students to regurgitate specific language in a manner to explain the math then its no wonder students are failing.

Our child is very good at math and in compacted math. His teacher was out for a period of time. The subs gave exit cards and graded them with the expectation that the students would just regurgitate back what the teacher had said when she tried to explain it in class. There were two cards where the sub marked answers wrong when DS had provided a better explanation in his own words and with diagrams. When his regular teacher came back she agreed and said that his answers were ES not I. The sub didn't even begin to understand the math and was speaking from the 2.0 notes. She expected the students to just blow back the same crap. His regular teacher said she had this problem with the sub and many of the students that do more than memorize what she said and repeat.