The kids that failed the geometry regents in June came in to retake it this week. Of course most came in cold, without any preparation what so ever. As you can imagine, the results were not pleasant to see.
As I write, Mr. AP is going through the papers, e-mailing the guidance counselors, berating them for incorrect programming and sending me a copy of the e-mail, implying how wrong I was to pass them last year as they will probably keep failing the geometry regents and be ineligible for an advanced diploma.
Mr. AP is right about some of these kids. But, the consequences of failing them could even be worse as failure might keep them from getting any diploma. Besides, some of these kids just don't have it in them to get that advanced diploma. Aside from looking good for the school, the advanced diploma does not even do all that much for these kids. Most will only go on to a community college where the type of diploma they receive means nothing and once they get the college degree, no one looks at a high school diploma ever again.
K is one of the kids I passed last year even though he was weak and failed the regents. K came for tutoring and passed this time. Because of my decision K might be able to get the advanced diploma. K feels the only reason he is not in pre-calculus right now is because Mr. AP made him retake algebra, although he had passed the regents. He believes it is Mr.AP's fault that he is behind in his math studies and is resentful. I don't know whether K is right, or Mr. AP is right as that decision was made before I knew him. All I know is that if I listened to Mr. AP, K would now be taking business math instead of advanced algebra and trigonometry (which he is passing.)
It's Friday night and Mr. AP is sitting at home looking at transcripts and grades and thinking about how awful I am and how bad the counselors who do the programming are. He needs to get a life. Then again, I am not much better. I am sitting at my computer, reading his horrible e-mails and bitching about him again.
1 comment:
If you're saying these kids took no geometry this term and then sat for the Regents, that's difficult. We had those who didn't pass the Regents in June take a Geometry prep class; most of them passed this time. Integrated Algebra is still an insane Regents for weak students. I'm still searching for the magic bullet. The exam seemed very disparate for most students.
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