Reply to "Teacher of the Year" quits over Common Core tests

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I took a sample PARCC test online for 4th grade math to see what all of the discussion was about.

I was surprised at the number of steps involved to get to the right answer for some of the questions.

An example is:
you have 4 teachers teaching a chess class.  There are 18 chess boards.  They order 3 more cases of 15.  If each teacher has the same number of chess boards and the remainder are donated to the library, how many chess boards does each teacher get?

As adults, we can quickly see the answer is 15 [b]but it will take a 4th grader a long time to get there.[/b]I[/quote]

No, why?

18 + 3*15 = 63

63/4 = 15 R 3

The computation isn't complicated, and [b]if the math curriculum is good, then the fourth-graders will have plenty of experience solving word problems like this[/b].[/quote]

It's even simpler than that.

4 teachers. 3 new sets of 15 chess boards.  To give the same number to the 4th teacher, take 15 from the 18 you already have.  There's only 3 left, not enough for each of the 4 teachers to have 1 more.  You're done.  No multiplication and no division, just 18-15 and 3<4.

If you start by computing, it takes a long time and is fairly complicated.  If you start by thinking, it's trivial.

(Hat tip to DC's 1st grade teacher, who has been teaching DC, and thus me indirectly, how to start by thinking.)[/quote]

I like both approaches, PPs.  I dislike the question, though, because it has multiple solutions.  The teachers could each get from one to 15 chess boards (or even zero), with the remainder going to the library.

I hope it's a multiple choice question and that the incorrect answers are all greater than 15.

[/quote]

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