Math Forum Discussions

Sharon

Posts: 411
From: NYC
Registered: 6/26/05

Re: ambiguity reigns supreme
Posted: Jun 13, 2013 5:45 PM

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The dinosaur is speaking here......

I remember the 'good ole days' of sequential math and math 1,2, and 3. Was
it really such a bad thing to give students the choice of 30/35 and 4/7?
Certainly, in an exam that is as weighted as the one that we just
administered, the student who failed to master the topics that were so heavily
represented was at a marked disadvantage.

I 'took a walk' through some of the old sequential math regents on the JMAP
site. We may have complained about those back in the day, but let me tell
you - those were far better in design than what we are stuck with now.

Some may argue that giving students a choice meant that they could avoid
topics that they failed to master. Well.....a student who put tremendous
effort into graphing (and let's face it - we all put a great deal of emphasis on
that), or other topics that were completely ignored, in effect 'avoided'
certain topic areas, but many of those areas are critical to future
understanding and lay foundational blocks for topics that are yet to come.

As usual, there were ambiguous questions and naturally, some questions will
have to be credited for more than one response. I don't remember seeing
many of those on the old sequential exams. But maybe, in my dotage, I just
can't remember much at all.

A few months ago, parents raised a hullaballo about the ELA and math tests
that were aligned to the common core and were administered to grades 3-8.
In protest, many parents kept their children home from school on the day they
were to be given. Perhaps a similar protest is needed regarding math
regents - and maybe regents in general. I've noticed a general decline in the
quality of the tests over the last ten years or so.

:::::getting off my soapbox::::::

Have a good weekend - only a few more days to go.

Tzippy