Reply to Did TJ release the stats of admission by middle school?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=pettifogger][quote=Anonymous][quote=pettifogger][quote=Anonymous][quote=pettifogger][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]https://www.baconsrebellion.com/wp/tj-math-students-note-lowering-of-standards/

The teachers said that the average score for their final exam for TJ Math 4 — equivalent to trigonometry — was “in the low 70s with a substantial minority scoring below 50%,” calling the results “the lowest scores we’ve ever seen,” even amid a “lowering of standards” at the school for the course.

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"The students in the spring semester course of Math 4, which the email is about, [b]include Class of 2024 students, the last class admitted through the merit-based admissions tests[/b] that the school board eliminated in December 2020, and students from the Class of 2025, admitted through the new race-based admissions process."

Asra pushing BS, as usual.

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Sure focus on the messenger, to distract from the message.  Asra Nomani, author's intro says she is an asian american TJ parent.  Racists like you target anyone asian american.

The TJ Math teacher is stating that standards have been lowered:

"The math teachers noted that the final exam was “substantially easier” than final exams given to previous classes. The teachers said the students had “unprecedented supports provided to you this semester, including extra practice quizzes, bonus quizzes, practice worksheets, and a practice final exam, all things that were not given to previous students.”

The teachers continued:

We expected to see scores rise, not drop, with our lowering of standards."
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The math test got eliminated from admissions. They don't know the middle-school readiness of the kids being admitted, and TJ Math teachers are left to deal with the problem. [/quote]

And it sounds like the TJ Math Teachers are not the best. The posts here and in other places make it sound like the math Teachers assume the kids are strong at math and require the students to teach themselves. That is the impression I have been left with. [b]The kids are not given much in the way of in class explanation, [/b]they are given resources that they can look at one their own, and are left to ask questions if they can’t figure it out.

If that is the case, then it would work well for kids whose parents have been sending their kids to RSM or AoPS and who have been participating in math competitions and are quick to pick up material or are in supplemental classes that explain the material for them. That would be the same group of parents who could afford prep classes for the old Quant test as well as parents like me who have been sending their kid for outside math because in school math is slow. It would not work for kids who come from families who didn’t/don’t know about those resources and can’t afford those resources.

[b]It could be that the math department needs to start teaching math [/b]with an understanding that 25% of their population is coming in totally unprepped (no RSM, AoPS, Math Counts at MS) and that they need to help firm up abilities. [/quote]
So if you think that teachers are not teaching, what do you imagine teachers and students are instead doing during class?[/quote]

DP.  The math teaching at TJ has, more than once, been most charitably described as a flipped classroom - and less charitably described as destroying any love or like of math in students.

It gives me pause.  My DC is an 8th grader and interested in science more than math, but the two go hand-in-hand.  [/quote]
Flipped classroom is an interesting model. It can work well provided kids do a bit of legwork ahead of time. Usually this means doing the reading (which for math would equate to trying some problems on their own at home), then coming to class to discuss various approaches/ideas. I believe this is not uncommon at some high schools. Phillips Exeter has a few videos posted on their YouTube channel showing this in action, i.e students show problems on the board while the teacher sits back and mostly let's them discuss their approaches with occasional guidance thrown in. One thing to note is that PE classes are tiny (less than 10-15 students) so this specific implementation would not scale well. With large classes it would have to be done differently, i.e students discuss in 6-8 person groups at a table and the teacher rotates through groups. For problems that the groups are struggling with, the teacher can then lecture to the entire class on the board. Alternatively, a mix of lecture and flipped classroom model would work well too with larger classes (i.e one period teacher does a traditional lecture with examples, and another period students are working on application problems in groups).

As for your comment about destroying any love for math, I'm failing to see how that could be a widespread thing at TJ. Harshly timed tests? Problems that are more difficult on average than the homeworks?[/quote]
How can teacher practically teach or reteach pre-calculus concepts when the kids admitted don't have the prerequisite algebra background that they should have learnt in middle school? The math test, which is primary mechanism to screen kids' proficiency of middle school math has been gutted in the name of equity.    
[/quote]
Logically, incoming freshmen with gaps in algebra wouldn't be starting with precalculus. They would take a placement test and start with something like geometry and hopefully would also be given periodic assignments that expose algebra and other math gaps and compel them to work hard to fill them.

Due to the wide gap in middle school math programs, not all incoming students may be equally prepared. But that doesn't mean that motivated students cannot work hard to catch up their first year.  [/quote]
There is no placement test, no entrance test, to assess a student's math level. [/quote]

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