Showing posts with label passing them all along. Show all posts
Showing posts with label passing them all along. Show all posts

Friday, March 20, 2015

Royal Commandment


The AP had a simple demand.  Everyone had to pass.  Even one failure meant the teacher was no good and not doing her job properly.  The teachers did the best they could to do his bidding.  They did not want to be subjected to his verbal abuse and they certainly did not want to risk their jobs.  In order to fulfill this commandment the teachers pretty much gave up teaching and focused on test prep.  They taught their students how to work backwards from multiple choice and to use guess and check instead of thinking through the problem.  This method worked rather well since it is possible to pass a regents by only getting some multiple choice questions correct.

The AP was happy with the group of teachers who followed his order.  He rewarded those teachers with praise and good programs.  He had parties for them.  Those teachers basked in his praise, never once realizing how much they were hurting the students they passed along.

Now those students are in college where they actually have to produce to pass.  They don't possess any basic algebraic skills, can't solve an equation or even add and multiply signed numbers.  They don't know how to study.  They want second, third, and fifth chances.  They are angry because getting by with no work is no longer an option.  They don't understand how life is so different now than it was when they were in high school.

The AP is not concerned with these students.  He did his job.  He got them out of his school and had great statistics too.  Their future was not his concern as he would not be judged by whatever happened to them next.

Monday, January 02, 2012

We Don't Do Them Favors When We Exempt Them From Remediation


Alice is one of those kids who managed to place out of remedial math.  While Alice can handle signed numbers and some equations, she can't do much more.  I suggested she go to the department and request a move to the lower level class where she would get a chance to improve her skills. She refused and kept coming to class, doing her best to succeed.  Unfortunately, her best only got her a 5 on the final.

If Alice had been in my class in high school and I was going for merit pay, she would have brought me a step closer to it.  She passed her regents and this improved my stats.  Unfortunately, this did nothing to help her.
I have been trying to convince Alice to take that remedial class before she retakes the class he just failed.  She can always find a teacher to let her audit the class to save the cost.  I don't know if she will.  She's afraid the no credit class will hold up her progress.  I  think I convinced her that failing term after term would be a lot more detrimental to her pursuit of a college degree because I just got an e-mail from her asking to borrow the text I promised to lend for the class she so desperately needs.

Friday, June 17, 2011

More Credit Recover Thoughts


There was a question on this year's algebra regents that asked what would happen to the median and the mode of a group of test scores if year grade was increased by three points.

A young man who scored a 92 on his credit recovery assignment answered:
"The mean becomes the median and the median becomes the mode."
Yep, let's pass him.  This kid has a real understanding of mathematics.