4x - (2y X .65) = Failure
This story in today's LA Times describes the debacle that has resulted from the demand that all high school students pass Algebra to graduate.
It's a long story that sort of swings back and forth between seemingly ridiculous ideas (you can fail the same class up to six times, but it appears that you just get shuffled back in after each failure without any thought of addressing your problems) to uninterested, unmotivated students (Only seven of 39 students brought their textbooks. Several had no paper or pencils. One sat for the entire period with his backpack on his shoulders, tapping his desk with a finger.)
But what the story really points out is that, although raising the educational bar is a great idea on paper and in campaigns, unless you're prepared to do the real work of preparing students for the increased demands, you are simply creating a larger group of perceived failures. Given that about half of all Los Angeles ninth graders failed Algebra last year, it seems to prove that point.
The story is a small version of No Child Left Behind. Set standards that increase academic demands (ostensibly a good thing), and then fail to provide the resources (monetary and otherwise) necessary to equip the students to meet them. The result: little or no improvement in actual academic performance, but higher casualties of "failure syndrome".
Naturally, go to the root of the problem and find a politician:
"We have a problem with a high dropout rate. You don't address it by making it easier to get through and have the meaning of the diploma diluted," said state Sen. Chuck Poochigian (R-Fresno), who wrote the algebra graduation law. "It should be a call to action … not to lower standards but to find ways to inspire. Our future depends on it."
Which is all well and good. I'm all for better education and inspiration. But, Chuck, here's the reality (sorry for so long an excerpt but you need it all to get the full impact):
Whether requiring all students to pass algebra is a good idea or not, two things are clear: Schools have not been equipped to teach it, and students have not been equipped to learn it.Secondary schools have had to rapidly expand algebra classes despite a shortage of credentialed math teachers.
The Center for the Future of Teaching & Learning in Santa Cruz found that more than 40% of eighth-grade algebra teachers in California lack a math credential or are teaching outside their field of expertise; more than 20% of high school math teachers are similarly unprepared.
Recruitment programs and summer math institutes for teachers have been scaled back or eliminated because of budget cuts."It's a real collision of circumstance, and students are now having … to bear the brunt of public policy gone awry," said Margaret Gaston, executive director of the Santa Cruz research center.
High school math instructors, meanwhile, face crowded classes of 40 or more students — some of whom do not know their multiplication tables or how to add fractions or convert percentages into decimals.
Read the whole story, if you can take it. It really points up the folly of the current fad of public education overhaul. Legislators pass laws and make proud announcements and the teacher's union squawks and fights and, ultimately, the students lose.
It's a long story that sort of swings back and forth between seemingly ridiculous ideas (you can fail the same class up to six times, but it appears that you just get shuffled back in after each failure without any thought of addressing your problems) to uninterested, unmotivated students (Only seven of 39 students brought their textbooks. Several had no paper or pencils. One sat for the entire period with his backpack on his shoulders, tapping his desk with a finger.)
But what the story really points out is that, although raising the educational bar is a great idea on paper and in campaigns, unless you're prepared to do the real work of preparing students for the increased demands, you are simply creating a larger group of perceived failures. Given that about half of all Los Angeles ninth graders failed Algebra last year, it seems to prove that point.
The story is a small version of No Child Left Behind. Set standards that increase academic demands (ostensibly a good thing), and then fail to provide the resources (monetary and otherwise) necessary to equip the students to meet them. The result: little or no improvement in actual academic performance, but higher casualties of "failure syndrome".
Naturally, go to the root of the problem and find a politician:
"We have a problem with a high dropout rate. You don't address it by making it easier to get through and have the meaning of the diploma diluted," said state Sen. Chuck Poochigian (R-Fresno), who wrote the algebra graduation law. "It should be a call to action … not to lower standards but to find ways to inspire. Our future depends on it."
Which is all well and good. I'm all for better education and inspiration. But, Chuck, here's the reality (sorry for so long an excerpt but you need it all to get the full impact):
Whether requiring all students to pass algebra is a good idea or not, two things are clear: Schools have not been equipped to teach it, and students have not been equipped to learn it.Secondary schools have had to rapidly expand algebra classes despite a shortage of credentialed math teachers.
The Center for the Future of Teaching & Learning in Santa Cruz found that more than 40% of eighth-grade algebra teachers in California lack a math credential or are teaching outside their field of expertise; more than 20% of high school math teachers are similarly unprepared.
Recruitment programs and summer math institutes for teachers have been scaled back or eliminated because of budget cuts."It's a real collision of circumstance, and students are now having … to bear the brunt of public policy gone awry," said Margaret Gaston, executive director of the Santa Cruz research center.
High school math instructors, meanwhile, face crowded classes of 40 or more students — some of whom do not know their multiplication tables or how to add fractions or convert percentages into decimals.
Read the whole story, if you can take it. It really points up the folly of the current fad of public education overhaul. Legislators pass laws and make proud announcements and the teacher's union squawks and fights and, ultimately, the students lose.
posted by John at 2:14 PM
2 Comments:
What resources do you need to get a student to bring his textbook to class, pay attention, and actually do the homework? Why shouldn't schools fail students who fail to perform? Or is keeping the maximum number of teachers employed more important having high school graduates who can actually function above the 4th grade level?
You need parents for that, but any idiot can have a child. If you've got a solution on that end, I'd love to hear it (and I don't want to here about "family values" - you can't legislate them).
But you miss the point - I'm uninterested in employing unqualified teachers - a few or many. I want the teachers who are employed to be leaders, motivators, math experts, visionaries who inspire our kids. How do you get that? How about a market based solution? Pay them.
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