Reply to 23 Baltimore City Schools Have Zero Students Proficient in Math

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]MD overall isn't great.  Isn't Moco at 31%, PG 10%??  Math proficiency [/quote]

^ this is my post.  But adding, isn't this an indictment?  That something major needs to change?  The state board of education should hire a consultant to study MD publics versus much better performing ones in other states or something with similar demographics and socioeconomics, and try to figure out what the problem is.  Is it something happening with administration, or differences in parenting, lead exposure, school closures, violence, what is it.   [/quote]

As a MD teacher in elementary school I can give you my perspective. This would be for grades 3-5. These grads have yearly Maryland state required tests in reading, writing and math.

The state tests are required by the state, because they are required by the federal government in order to get federal funding.

There is a TON of verbiage in these tests and I don't udnerstand why.

It seems like the goal is inly to ask very complicated questions so you can identify the top performers.

Here's a practice test example for third grade.

It has a bar graph with the number of cars of each color that passed by a certain location. The bar graph scale is marked by 2s.  There were 15 silver cars, so the graph ends between 14 and 16. Black is between 8 and 10, white is between 2 and 4.

The question asks:

[quote]How many more silver cars passed by the school than black cars and white cars combined?

Select one answer.

A.	3

B.	4

C.	6

D.	7[/quote]

It's a multi-step problem. First you have to be able to read the graph at all and understand how to read a bar graph. That's a good basic third grade skill. No problem at all and most third graders should be able to do that.

But reading a bar that lands between two numbers is a little bit tricky. And to have to do it three times, accurately, is a lot for many third graders.  Still, they should be able to do it.

But now, you need to understand the word problem as well. You need to find the silver number (15) and understand that "how many more" means you are looking for a difference. And that you need to add up the number of white AND 
black cars, then subtract that from 15.  So 15-12 = 3

The kids get tired taking this test. Some of them don't read well or speak English. Yes, they can have the test read out loud to them, but that gets tiring, and it is hard for them to go back and reread just to find the information they need.

This is just one example. The test is not a straightforward measure of basic math skills.

In addition - let's say many students in third grade fail this test question. Teachers are told to examine the data and provide reteaching opportunities on solving multistep problems. However, it is very likely that students actually are missing foundational skills - they don't know how to read a bar graph properly. However we are told we should not directly address below grade level skills except in small group mini lessons or extra sessions. We need to stick with the grade level curriculum to "expose" the students to higher order thinking skills.

The kids just fall further and further behind.
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