The Fix That Started years Ago

Before there was a de Blasio and a Farina there were politicians like Bush and Obama and billionaires like Gates making school graduation rates a priority.  No one stopped to think about why all of a sudden schools had such tremendous growth in the number of graduates.

My former AP wanted everyone to set passing goals for their classes.  Since I usually ended up with the most at risk students my stats were usually lower than many others.  It did not bother the Principal since he understood the challenges I faced and respected the number I got through and how I was able to work with them but it bothered the hell out of my AP, a guy who only saw life in black and white.  I refused to give him a number.  When he pushed, I said my goal is 100% passing.  He told me that was unrealistic and wanted a number around 80%.  I finally told him I could not be comfortable with a goal of 20% failing.  Of course he mumbled something and I left with no goal set.

Other teachers were not as gutsy and he did get them to set goals.  If they did not meet these goals he badgered them and berated them in public (not by name but everyone knew who the senior teacher was  who taught geometry period 8).  Teachers were forced to stretch grades and give credit for names on papers.  No one would believe some of the regents answers that were given points.

Phony diplomas are not a new thing and they need to stop.  Maybe the Post's story will finally help to bring an end to this horrific problem.

Mediocrity



The boy is smart,super smart, but he doesn't realize it.   His school has been catering to the bottom kids and he has been able to well by breathing in the classroom.  Studying and homework has never been something he needed to do to shine in most classes as his teachers considered 80's good grades

Note that I said most of his classes.  While he catches on quickly in math, and grasps even the most difficult concepts, he needs to spend some extra time studying to get the 90's he is capable of.  He doesn't see the need for this and fluffs through.  He says math is not his subject.  This is far from the truth.  It is obvious to anyone watching him that he enjoys doing the math, he just doesn't enjoy it (or any school subject) enough to take time away from Facebook to practice.

There has been a lot in the media about the shortage of engineers and math and science people.  Low standards and poor instruction are the cause.  We've got to stop trying to make everyone the same.  There are countless students like this one who have been lost due to the mediocrity of education today.

Just Pass Me So I Can Get On With My Life

Mitchell has been failing the class all semester.  He did a some homework, paid little attention and was quite nasty at times.  He doesn't want to be in school and plans on leaving to join the armed forces.  But, he wants to leave with a passing grade so when he returns to college he will never need a math class again. 

Out of the goodness of my heart, I told him if he manages to get a C+ on the final, I will pass him.  He doesn't think this is possible (neither do I, but I didn't tell him) and sent an e-mail asking what else he can do to pass.  I am ignoring this request. Hopefully he will get the message.

He probably graduated high school because teachers granted him extra favors.  What a generation we have created!  By the time anyone wakes up and sees what has been done, it will be to late to save the thousands, just  like Mitchell.

Refreshing



On Thursday, I heard:

"We know the kids in your classes are a mixed bag.  Remember, math is sequential and they won't do well in the next course if they don't know the course they are taking now.  We don't judge you on passing statistics so don't pass them unless they deserve to pass."

RTTB

I covered a friend's remedial math class in the local community college this week.  This class consists of September's freshman who did not pass the math entrance exam.  The school offers them a five-week FREE opportunity to take this non credit course, a course which would cost the equivalent of a 5 credit course, so they can start working on their degree immediately.  Some of them realize what a gift they have been given and are diligently working to master the material they did not learn in high school.  (Thank-you Bloomberg for the education you have provided.)   Unfortunately, there are others that are just going along their merry way, following the path they were on in high school, assuming that things will still be given to them and they will be passed along no matter what. One boy arrived an hour late for a three-hour class and then had the audacity to sneak out early.  Several turned a 15 minute break into a 35 minute break and were annoyed that I began teaching while they were out.  Most expected me to hand them graph paper.  When I explained the homework assignment on the back of the curriculum they had received, many said they never got it.  One girl spilled her juice and then disappeared for 40 minutes.  I thought she had gone for paper towels (which would have taken less than five minutes to find) but returned with empty hands.



My buddy Chaz just posted about a young man, a recent high school graduate who never learned a thing about responsibility and was fired from a job he needed to support his son. The RTTT and NCLB has created a nation not even fit to pour coffee.  Something must be done quick or America will find itself enslaved to the rest of the world. 

WALCOTT--SHOW YOUR STUFF AND DO SOMETHING TO CHANGE THIS TREND IN EDUCATION.  YOU ARE A NYC HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE.  YOUR CHILDREN WENT TO NYC PUBLIC SCHOOLS.  STOP BLINDLY FOLLOWING BLOOMBERG.  HELP SAVE THIS CITY'S FUTURE..

Previous Knowledge

My college pre-calculus class had just finished the trigonometry unit and I dreaded marking the exam papers.  The students, mostly hard workers, just didn't get it.  The course spent some time reviewing the material from high school but then jumped right into the more advanced stuff.  These kids didn't have the background they needed to succeed.  No one, not even the most effective teacher in the world, can, in two hours, get students to master what they should have learned in three months.

But hey, Bloomberg is still touting his record.  Who cares if they can't read or do math?  He's graduating them all.

No Child...

If you missed her last show, don't make the same mistake again.  She is fantastic and, she speaks the truth about education today.

NO CHILD... Obie Award-winning actress and solo performer Nilaja Sun will return to Barrow Street Theatre in her Off Broadway play No Child... which began performances at BST in 2006 and ran for 311 performances, playing to sold-out audiences for over a year. No Child... is an exploration of the New York City public school system, in which Sun transforms with rapid-fire precision into the teachers, students, parents administrators, janitors and security guards who inhabit our schools and shape the future of America, making this play one of the most acclaimed theatrical events in recent years.

Taking The Easy Way Out



As I looked at my algebra class last week, I thought, are any of these kids capable of passing geometry?  Do any of them want to even try the class? What are their future goals?  Will they need more math to achieve them? As I looked at them, I said to myself, "Do I have the right to play G-d with them?  Do I have the right to say they can't go ahead and try?  Will programming them for an easier class in the fall term be detrimental to all their career goals"

As we begin the fifth marking period of the year, we are constantly reminded that our grades will be used to determine the placement of students for September.  Giving one person that much power over another's  fate doesn't seem fair or right.  Some of these people have little experience but even the ones with years behind them (me included) have been proven wrong.

A young teacher in my department commented that she hoped the only kids who would be allowed to take geometry/trigonometry next year would be the ones who were given approval by their current teacher.  Another was overheard telling a parent that her daughter should drop geometry/trigonometry because the girl had no shot of passing.  Isn't it possible the these kids could pass with different teachers or on the second time around?  This whole emphasis on statistics and no child being left behind is killing the future education of many.

It is true that many of the students don't belong in higher math classes and don't even want to be there, but this isn't true for all.  I've seen students no one ( mostly one person) says will ever pass (we alsways had to find a back door to the more advanced class) go on to ace AP calculus and successfully major in math or engineering in college.  I've had kids  I never thought could do it, and time and time again I am proven wrong.

My friend over at Math Tales From The Spring is going through some of these same issues now, trying to advise kids on the proper classes to take next term.  She and I disagree on this point, but maybe she is right.  Maybe we should just put them in the classes we know they can pass.  This will be easier on everyone in the long run.

Jimmy was in my geometry class last year. He is a great kid, a hard worker, extremely polite and respectful, a leader on one of the JROTC teams and a favorite of everyone who knows him. Unfortunately, academics is not one of his strong points, no matter how much he tries.

Jimmy is one of the kids Mr. AP was on my case about passing last year because he failed the regents. I convinced Jimmy to retake the regents in January and have even helped him a few times. Today he stopped me in the hall and said, "Happy new year, Ms. I am sorry I haven't come for tutoring. My English thesis paper is almost due and it is so hard. I have to write five pages. I've been meeting with my English teacher every day so she can help me with it." Of course I told Jimmy not to worry and that I would help him whenever he is ready.

Jimmy's English teacher doesn't understand why the kids in her class are not producing the required papers. She says the topic is easy and five pages is not that much. And, she is correct. A bright, or even average high school student could probably produce this paper with a minimum amount of effort but, kids like Jimmy, are overwhelmed. Mr. AP was upset when I passed Jimmy. He doesn't think Jimmy will bother with the regents since he already passed the class. He doesn't understand how overwhelmed Jimmy is.

This one size fits all education doesn't fit. Jimmy might end up in a two year college. How he does there is any one's guess. But, if a five page paper is too much for him here, how will he ever survive there?

Sunday Whine

We were told at a recent faculty conference to assess our students knowledge and to not move ahead until we are reasonably certain the material has been learned.

My four term algebra class has been working on equation solving since the middle of September. I gave a test Friday and little has been mastered. I don't know what to do anymore with these kids. Some try and can't put it together on an exam. Some don't even bother trying. I've called parents, written to guidance counselors, spoken to kids individually, nothing I do works. Mervin handed in a paper with three questions done. When I reminded him of the note he signed, he just said, "I can do it in class. I can't do it on a test." I believe him. He is passing every other subject this semester. And, although his eighth grade assessment shows him as a three, he has never passed math. Ginger, does the consecutive integer problems, gets to 19, 20 and struggles to get to 21 (imagine, trying to learn algebra when you have trouble counting.)

I first thought that these kids were the lowest level kids I ever taught but then I realized I was mistaken. Years ago, I taught Title 1 math, arithmetic classes. The kids had individual plans. There were less than 20 students in the room and a para was present. They didn't all succeed but they got help on the level they needed. The Board of Regents thinks they have raised standards by doing away with these low level classes. They need to think again. Nothing has really changed except now we are deliberately setting these kids up for failure by forcing them to take classes they don't have the basic skills and an aptitude for.

I just finished marking the exams--maybe I am making too much out of this. So, I will use my data to try to see where to go next.

16 passed, 10 failed

3 in the 90's

5 in the 80's

2 in the 70's

7 in the 60's

3 in the 50's

1 in the 40's

1-in the 30's

3 in the 20's

1 grade of 10

class average: 62

I guess I am now the 62% woman but I won't be happy until I am the 100% woman. I set my goals high!

I Feel The Time Is Coming

I'm starting to feel like I'm not any good at what I do, or, I am at least not nearly as good as I used to be.

I feel like people are thinking of me as a good teacher because of my reputation, not because of my deeds.

I'm tired.

I'm sick of NCLB and watching kids sit through classes that are way beyond their understanding and ability to comprehend and learn.

I'm starting to get sloppy and say things on this blog that should not be said.

I'm sick of everyone who think they know it all but know nothing.

Maybe the Jamaican sunshine and the ice cold Red Stripes will help. I really need that swim up bar. Winter break is too far away.

Maybe it is time for me to say goodbye. I don't want to be one of those old, senile teachers who should have quit 10 years ago. Am I still making a difference or will things be better if I turn the reins to a young newbie?

Let's Play Pretend

Let's pretend that we want to help the students of NYC by offering them summer school to repeat courses they failed.

Let's put 40 kids (or more) in the class and make sure many have behavior problems. Let's also excuse excessive absence. Don't worry even though the majority of them got under 40 on the regents they took in June. Cut summer school to 4 days instead of 5. (This cuts down on Friday cuts and improves attendance.)

Now, ask the teacher why his regents results were so poor. Ask the teacher what can be done to improve them. I know he will have some answers.

Now, will you listen and do something about it?

Remedial Student

When my kids were little I brought them to work with me when their school or day care was closed.

My little second grader was spending an afternoon with me as I was giving an exam to a remedial class. To keep him busy, I told him to do the exam along with the class.

My little boy took the exam very seriously. He sat on the side and worked hard. As he noticed one of my students trying to cheat off of him, he threw his arm over the paper and worked harder.

To this day, we still laugh at the high school kid copying answers from the second grader. Only now, in the era of NCLB, the high school kid who had to copy off the second grader would be graduating high school and heading on to college.

Something is Missing

What the F*** is wrong with the people in my night class?

Wednesday night was a major exam. Monday, I handed out a sheet with almost identical problems. I stopped the class 45 minutes early to give them time to work on the problems and get extra help. All, except for two left.

One girl showed up tonight after missing the last three classes and leaving early on the one she attended. She spent the first 45 minutes trying to teach herself the material and then requested extra credit or a chance to take the exam tomorrow. She couldn't understand why I said no.

Another girl left her calculator home.

One boy tried to go to the lab an hour before the exam but found it crowded with no one available to help him.

Another guy told me he is too tired to study.

Only two came in with the review sheet completed.

The list goes on and on.

These people have no business in school. Not everyone is meant for college. Now, I'm not saying they aren't bright enough because they very well might be intelligent. They lack a work commitments and study skills.

Open enrollment (started int he 70's) was one of the worst things that ever happened to education. Now, NCLB is compounding the problem. A nation of incompetents is being created.

Wake Up And Smell The Coffee

There are teachers I work with who still adhere to the same regents standards that were around 20 years ago. Although it would be great if this was possible, its not. Twenty years ago, there was no NCLB. The students today are not the same regents students we taught then and it is important to remember that.

In the past there was tracking. Everyone was not pushed into academic classes. There were general, vocational and commercial diplomas available and students had a choice (sometimes the choice was made for them) as to which path to follow.

Even ten years ago, there was a choice. Not everyone needed a regents diploma. Students could graduate with Regents Competency exams and courses like pre-algebra and consumer math.

Now, in the interest of NCLB, everyone must be prepared to for college. The kids that could not follow an academic program 30 years ago are the kids in our algebra and geometry classes today. Some are extremely bright, but many are short a few cans in the six-pack part of their brain when it comes to mathematics. But, in spite of this, they are learning. I know, I see progress every day.

Will my students pass the regents? I don't know but I am hoping that if I pick and choose the right parts of the curriculum, they will be able to succeed. I'm not teaching to the test , I am teaching what I hope they can and will learn. Will I even have an idea what is on the test before it is given?

Back to the beginning. Teachers have to get over the notion that passing a regents means the course has been learned. We can all thank Richard Mills and his illustrious Board of Regents for making the regents a totally worthless exam. If we are teaching a repeater class or an even lower one, we have to teach these kids what they can do and pass or fail them on this work, not on the same work we taught 30 or 20 or 10 years ago. We are not lowering our standards. The state already did that when they insisted everyone take these dummied down regents. The country already did this by making the kids take the exams because of that stupid, hurtful NCLB law.

Math Error--NCLB Screws Up Again

Our surreal nation: School district math snafu forces layoffs of math teachers
Geoff Williams
Oct 17th 2008 at 5:40PM

CNN is reporting today on its web site that due to a miscalculation in the school district budget for Dallas, Texas, officials were forced to lay off 375 teachers and 40 counselors and assistant principals yesterday. Another 460 teachers were transferred to other schools within the district.

At least one girl was crying, in the article, as she said good-bye to her music teacher. "Why do you have to leave?" she was quoted as wailing.

The irony would be funny if it weren't so sad and serious: that a math error is hurting Dallas' school children. A math error? A math error has led to the dismissal of math teachers, and numerous other instructors, and it's going to make at least the Dallas area's educational system even weaker, and as I noted in a post just yesterday, when we have a weak educational system, our entire country suffers.

While the nationwide school program No Child Left Behind program is often maligned for its bureaucracy, it's incidents like this that make me see why it was created. When children are left behind, some of them grow up and get jobs. Like in the government, not to mention Wall Street, and even the occasional corporation like Enron. Suddenly, I'm starting to see that a lot of people, kids and grownups, would be better off if at least some adults in prominent financial positions were forced to retake some of their high school and college math courses.

Geoff Williams is a freelance journalist and the author of C.C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race: The True Story of the 1928 Coast-to-Coast Run Across America (Rodale).

The Education Mayor At His Best

Here is an example of some of the things you will find in the school I teach in:

Students being handed multiplication tables because they are incapable of multiplying two single digit numbers yet they will be expected to pass Algebra this year and Geometry next year.

Students who never took Spanish 1 and Spanish 2 are being placed in Spanish 3. Their transcripts are being altered to make them appear to have passed a proficiency test in grade.

Students are being placed in the second term of Math B so they can attempt a regents in June although they either never took the first part or failed it with a fifty or less.

A senior who insists on taking an extra year of math is put in an honor pre-calculus class intended for juniors because it is the only class with an available seat.

September 19 and kids are still being moved from Algebra to Geometry and back. No one seems to care these kids missed over two weeks of instruction.

Principals who only care about passing everyone along so they can collect their big performance bonuses.

Bloomberg and Klein--keep up the good work!

ECLB

The new ECLB (Every Child Left Behind) is much more successful than the NCLB law ever was. I see this every day in my Math B class.

Last week we began the part of the curriculum that deals with factoring. After a quick review of Math A factoring, we began the more difficult ones, factoring with variable exponents and factoring trigonometric expressions. I expected the kids to have trouble with some of these. I knew that many would be weak when it came to any kind of factoring. What I never expected was kids to react as if they had never seen or heard of factoring before. After all, my school is a good school. We teach, we have standards. Then, it hit me, we taught them all the Math A they needed to pass the regents. We teach so that ECLB.

My AP did not think we should teach factoring with lead coefficients greater than one. It was much too hard for the kids and since it wasn't on the regents, why bother? He also encouraged us to teach them to work backwards from the choices so they could find the answer with their calculators without understanding the process. Us old timers rebelled and taught the kids to factor. The young ones, not knowing any better, followed the directions of their fearless leader. One of my Math B kids told me he failed math 3/4, the term where factoring is taught. But, since he passed the regents, he was given credit for the course and moved ahead.

So now, where are we? We are teaching kids who do not have the foundations needed to move ahead. When George Jefferson moved on up to the East Side, he was prepared. He worked hard and had all the facilities he needed to meet the challenges he would face in his new life. Our Math B kids are kids that have been moved up only they are not as fortunate as George. They did not receive the same preparation to move ahead and while he thrived in his new environment, many of ours are failing. We're moving them on up, but only because Suit needs that bonus money he gets when more kids are taking Math B, that the kids are being moved along. Success while in motion has nothing to do with anything. ECLB is thriving.

I know I've said that I am in a good school, with good, bright kids. But, the bright kids are in the same classes as the kids that are not as bright, not as ready to move ahead and these kids are holding the others back. My AP would say differentiate the lesson, but with 34 in a class, that is not possible. Suit would say, go to talk to other teachers and see what they are doing. With five classes and a C-6 assignment, we barely have time to use the bathroom, let alone talk to other teachers. Right now I am losing the weak kids and failing the bright ones. Test grades last week ranged from 100 all the way down to 8. Something has got to change if education is going to work. Something has got to change if we are going to prepare our kids to face the future.

My Dad

My dad is a bright, successful man. However, my dad was never a good student. In fact, my dad hated school. He attended a vocational school for a while and then left to attend a neighborhood school. Academics was never his specialty. He had the ability but not the interest. In spite of this, he graduated high school, worked, got drafted, served in the army, came home, got married, attended and dropped out of college. Even older, education held no interest for him.

After the army, my dad got a job working for the Veteran's Association. He was not an accountant, but he ran the accounting department. He had many people working directly for him and was very successful. When he needed extra money to buy a car he took a part time job in Macy's. He sold children's shoes there for over 30 years and when he retired, he was earning $20 an hour plus commissions. For an uneducated guy, he did great. He supported a wife and two children and had built up a comfortable retirement fund.

So what brings this story up? NCLB!!!!! This law, along with all the testing would have been the ruination of my dad. He would not have put up with it and probably would never have graduated high school. By allowing him to go to a school where he could develop his own interests, he was able to succeed. Might he have done better had he been forced to learn some of these academic subjects? Maybe. Would he have been happy? Probably not. My guess is that he would have either dropped out or learned enough academics to do minimally well at all the jobs he has held.

My dad was a child of the 30's. Are the children of today all that different? Would we really be hurting them that much if instead of testing and teaching over their heads we taught them what they needed to succeed in life? Would it really hurt to say that it is okay if you can't solve an equation and that it is okay to go in for a career that does not require a college education?

Get Real--It Might Actually Acomplish Something

If you are not passing more than 65% of your students in a class, then you are not designing your expectations to meet their abilities. You are setting your students up for failure, which in turn limits your success as a professional.

I've done quite a bit of thinking since I read this quote in Thursday's Daily News, made by the Principal of Central Park East High School. Although I have never been, nor ever will be a fan of administrators, this comment really hit home and I made me see the situation from the principal's point of view.

Quite a few of my Math B students are not performing on level. I have tried tailoring the curriculum to their abilities, but for some, it is just not possible. The work is just too hard for them. If their math and reading levels equals that of a fifth grader (or even lower), the work they should be learning should be that of a fifth or sixth grader. They should not be expected to learn algebra and geometry. They should not be expected to read Shakespeare. And they certainly should have no expectations of being able to pass chemistry. In spite of all this, we are expected to teach these subjects to all our students. It doesn't really matter what they learn or if they learn as long as they are passing. Schools show "improvement". Report card grades go up. Principals and APs get to keep their jobs and get performance bonuses. My own AP is being forced to lower his standards this term (more about this another time). He is a new father and needs his job. Principal Suit, who I really dislike, also wants to hold onto his job. If these guys don't show results, they are worried that they will be out the door. What they are doing is not ethical. Perhaps they should rebel and do the right thing. I suppose they just want to hold on to their jobs.

Before anyone jumps on me for writing this, I want to say that these kids are not capable of learning this stuff now. They might be able to master these subjects some time in the future. They are just not ready to do so now. If a fifth grader had the ability to learn these subjects, these subjects would have been part of the fifth grade curriculum, not the high school curriculum. The principals today are given the impossible job of getting all children to succeed even though these children don't have the tools and skills needed to succeed. Maybe if the principals were just allowed to do their jobs without this pressure, they could run effective schools and get the kids to succeed. Raising a fifth grade level up to an eighth grade one is a monumental achievement. This is what should be encouraged in the schools.

It is time to start having realistic expectations for schools and maybe then principals can stop saying such dumb things and stop putting them in print.