DailySusan Humor Blog

MONDAY: Show 'n' Tell for Parents

MATH MESS: WHEN GPA AND TEST SCORES DON'T MATCH

Q. Why do so many middle-school and high-school students have “A” and “B” averages, but test like “D” or “F” students on standardized tests? The discrepancy is particularly apparent in math. Why is this happening? Can we fix it?

Yes, this can be fixed. What’s needed is a reality check to school administrators about late grade school and middle-school math instruction. It is substandard, and it shows. To try to cover this up, rampant grade inflation is deceiving parents and the public into thinking that all is well in math class. But it’s not.

School administrators mean well: they know algebra is a “gatekeeper” course for college-preparatory math and science. They want all students, especially disadvantaged ones, to have algebra under their belts. But the strongest predictor of failure to learn algebra is not race or income level – it’s a lack of adequate academic preparation. The curricula and instructional methods in use from grades 1-8 are poor, on a wide scale. That’s what needs to be fixed.

In an attempt to get more “nontraditional” students taking upper-level math in high school to make them eligible for math and science majors in college, many school districts haven’t done the obvious thing – beef up the quality of their preparatory math classes in the lower grades. Instead, they have watered down the content of pre-algebra courses, removing important but difficult material.

A common problem is that a district wants more students to pass math classes so that it “earns” more credit on the statewide accountability index. So the district will try to guarantee high pass rates by making the classes artificially easy. But classes without content set up students for later failure in algebra. Then many kids have to repeat algebra in ninth grade, and may never really “get” it.

Solution: place kids in algebra class based on how they do on standardized tests . . . not school-created tests, or GPAs.

Homework: Keep up with math instruction trends, especially California’s, on the website of the Hoover Institution, www.hoover.org