Comments on: Many Students Unprepared for High School Math

By: C

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 20:11:19 +0000

I agree that there should be some kind of oversight about a teachers subject-specific knowledge and skills, but I respectfully disagree that it should come from any standardized test, such as the GRE.

For over four years, I’ve been teaching GRE and GMAT test prep for a living. I have also taught the SAT for part of that time. In my experience, these tests are not an objective, accurate gauge of a person’s math abilities. None of these tests is content-based. On the quantitative section, the formats are built to reward people who can guess strategically and work backward from the answer choices–and neither of those are skills that should be at the front of a traditional classroom.

By: The Daily Ed: July 16, 2012

The Daily Ed: July 16, 2012 — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 18:40:47 +0000

[...] Many students unprepared for high school math (Education News) Many students come to high school without the proper foundation for learning higher level math skills. [...]

By: Many Students unprepared in Math | Helping Hands Education

Many Students unprepared in Math | Helping Hands Education — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 02:27:55 +0000

[...] http://www.educationnews.org/k-12-schools/many-students-unprepared-for-high-school-math/ [...]

By: Guy

Guy — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 01:43:31 +0000

Let’s play the blame game OK??

Middle school blames elementary
High school blames middle
Students graduate with honors
Colleges must remediate…….
……………………………………

Keep putting pressure on schools to
move students ahead and this is the result.

By: Barry Garelick

Barry Garelick — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 15:45:20 +0000

Some elementary teachers are good in math, but are forced by the school in which they teach to adhere to the bad math programs being used, such as Everyday Math, or Investigations in Number, Data and Space. Schools that enforce the “fidelity of implementation” of these sub-par programs will sometimes threaten teachers with firing if they do not get on board.

Lack of facility in math is an issue, though, as is the methods of teaching that they have been fed in ed schools. They are told that “collaborative” and student-centered learning is the way to go, with the teacher serving as facilitator. Students are told to work in groups which is difficult even for adults to do, but particularly hard for some students whose social status and skills may not be as high as their neighbors. If schools want to stop bullying, maybe they should start by stopping the practice of constantly having students work in groups. Individual seating allows students to concentrate by reducing distractions.

By: Steve Ryerson

Steve Ryerson — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 02:56:53 +0000

I’m a former teacher and school bus driver. Once when I was transporting a group of kids @ 8 or 9 years old they were “impressing each other” with their recently learned math facts. I started playing a game with them by prompting unorthodox answers. One would shout out, “OK, what’s 2 x 4?” I would respond, “The same as 6 + 2.” That kind of thinking is prep for algebra. All you elem teachers out there: do you do the same thing in your classes?

By: wintertime

wintertime — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 00:31:53 +0000

Two things:

1) The SAT, ACT, and GRE scores of all government teachers should be posted online for all taxpayer to view. Most have abysmal math scores.

2) All government teachers should be required to take and pass the GRE for high school drop outs every four years. My bet is that most would fail the math section.

3) All government teachers should be required to take and pass Calculus I by sitting elblow to elbow in the same classes with the science and engineering students. Do most need Calculus for their teaching? No! But…It would assure that they don’t have math phobia with which to contaminate their students, and they are smart enough to justify their paycheck and aren’t teaching merely because they couldn’t do anything else.

By: wintertime

wintertime — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 00:27:16 +0000

If any of those students have passing grades in math in the lower grades, these specific teachers and principals should be sued personally for falsifying government documents. Obviously they were NOT up to grade level! These teachers and principals lied to the parents, the students, and the taxpayers. Falsification of government documents and misuse of government funds in not only a criminal offense in any other profession it is clear malpractice!

Where are the class action attorneys when we need them?

By: Stephen

Stephen — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 21:22:25 +0000

You could improve children’s chances in mathematics by simply teaching the easier part of Algebra I and the easier part of Geometry in grade 8.

It would mean that students would not have to deal with a whole year of Geometry. It would mean that the math courses would be guided by the students’ mental development and not a relatively arbitrary collection of mathematical ideas.

By: Bob Rose

Bob Rose — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 21:53:20 +0000

The trick of getting kids ready for high school math is to get them really good at elementary arithmetic in elementary school. And the way to ensure this is to develop fluency at basic addition facts (like 6 + 8 = 14) in the second-grade. “Fluency” at this task means the ability to give more than 40 correct answers per minute. Practice, practice, practice.