Common Core

I have been away from school for quite a while and not at all familiar with the common core regents so when I was asked to help a friend’s son prepare I hesitated but agreed to tutor with the understanding that my skills were rusty and I might not be able to do all the questions.

Noah arrived for tutoring with a series of questions, some of which made no sense.  We managed to find the regents the examples came from.  Some were copied wrong and some were just indecipherable.  I know I am pretty good at math and should have no problem with a high school topic but some were just impossible.

The worst part of these regents exam was the imbalance of questions.  Most regents would have 5 questions on one topic and one to none on others and there seemed to be no consistently from year to year.  Even a hard working student would have trouble preparing for this exam.

I teach in the local community college and every year I see students coming to class with weaker skills than the year before.  Seeing this test helps explain.  There is no emphasis on skills and almost no teaching of the things they need to know to succeed in college mathematics.

Common core is destroying future math students.  It has destroyed Math education.

The Public Needs To Know

I didn't mean to do it, but I was responsible for busting a young man's bubble. I told him the raw score to pass the Integrated Algebra regents was 30 (out of a possible 87) and that a grade of 81 equated to getting only 65% of the exam correct. His grandmother, an educated woman looked at me in disbelief. Thankfully this young man will be attending a private boarding school in Connecticut where he will be able to get a real education, an education very different than the one our education mayor has foisted upon us.

After my encounter with this family, I stopped at the community college where I teach (I had to reverse a grade) and met up with the chairperson. We had a long discussion about grades and how the high schools today are not preparing students to succeed in college. Mr. Education Mayor has improved his graduation rates and at the same time destroyed the success rates of the college.For one business to thrive another must meet the bulldozer. This is what is happening to the community colleges. Their devastation is a by product of the mayor's programs.

It is really hard to fight city hall and win. The high schools must develop curriculum that will teach the algebra basics to students who have passed the regents. They need to emphasize the skills Integrated Algebra just skims over and the regents does not test. We can't get the state to change the graduation requirements so we must be like MacGyver and work with what we have to achieve the results needed to help these kids succeed. The education mayor only cares about testing and results. Knowledge is not something that concerns him. There are courses now that supposedly do this, but I wonder how rigorous the curriculum is and how closely it parallels what is taught in the colleges. I wonder if these classes are just dumping grounds for the kids who cannot pass regents math. I worry that no one cares about these kids beyond getting them to graduate so the statistics will be good.

Good Morning Sunshine....

I got an automated response to the letter I sent Albany about the Math B regents. I just called but no one picks up. I guess these guys don't work afternoons on a Friday. Here is the response. Use the phone number. PLEASE CALL!!! It might not do any good, but we have to let them know how we feel.

Good Morning Ms. POd:

Thank you for contacting the Office of State Assessment. Please contact our office by calling 518-474-5902 and ask to speak with a representative about your concerns with the Math B examination. I hope this information is helpful to you. Thank you for your feedback. This is a crucial part of the test development process.

Eileen Becker

Office of State Assessment, Communications

Give The Kids A Fighting Chance

The results for the math B exam are in. (Big discussion about the exam over at JD2718. They are not good. Only about 50% of the kids passed. The exam was not only hard, but did not even fairly represent what was taught. There was a logarithmic regression on the exam. The kids never did these. And, to top it off the calculator only does natural logarithmic regressions which use a different base and natural logarithms are not even taught until pre-calculus. The course has so much material in it, I can't understand why a topic like this has to be asked.

There was also a question on the mean and standard deviation. This is a question that can be answered by pushing a few buttons on a calculator. Doing this requires no understanding of the topic being taught. In spite of this, the powers that be decided pushing buttons was worth 4 points.

Missing from the non multiple choice questions of this exam were trigonometric equations, trigonometric graphs and probability. These are topics taught and emphasized in the third part of the course, the part most recently in the minds of our students.

It was interesting watching the kids reaction when they left this exam. Many were confident that they did well. After all, the only other math regents they ever took was Math A, where if you breathe on your own, you pass, they expected this exam to be the same. The cut off for passing on this exam was much higher than on the math B exam and while their raw scores were much higher than the score they received in math B, the conversion was much worse. (49 was passing--out of 86 points) The poor little girl with the Ms POd on her shoulder only got a 39.

Some administrators think that the teacher should be able to predict accurately how a student will do on these exams. Very few of my predictions would have come true. Kids I gave charity passing grades to last year came through with grades in the 70's and 80's. (I had to plead with Mr. AP to let me pass one of these kids.) Others who did very well, bombed this exam badly.

Merry was one of my students last year. I got to know her when she was a tenth grader, struggling through Math A. She came to tutoring every day and did well on the regents exam. Math B has been a struggle, but until this term, she always succeeded. She has spent countless hours studying and going for tutoring. She spent all day Saturday in school getting extra help.

When I told her she scored a 50 on the exam, I started to cry. Then she started to cry and we cried together. She knows her stuff but panics easily and then the knowledge she has flies out of her head. Just a few more straight forward questions would have given Merry her passing grade.

My students will be taking the geometry regents in June. I worry about how they will do. Not for me, I am a hardening my heart against criticism from Mr. AP. I worry for them. These kids have low self esteem, especially when it comes to math. I would hate to see it go any lower.

In Suit's Own Words

September 12, 2008

Re: Updated grading policy [from Mr. AP]

For students who have a passing average in your class, the grading policy issued in August stands. For students in Integrated Algebra and Geometry classes who do not have a passing average, the following modifications to our grading policy should be followed and I quote the principal:

“Students who pass the Regents and who have met the state standard in class, and who have met attendance, class work and homework standards should not fail based on the arbitrary and unauthorized department standards. Rather they should pass and move on to a transitional class beyond Math A or Integrated I which prepares them for math B (or Integrated 2)”. [It doesn't matter if the student never passed a test and has a 40 average. As long as a 34% can be gotten on the regents, pass them along. We don't want any child left behind.]

“An alternative would be movement into the next sequence B or integrated 2 class which includes the A or integrated 1 topics not yet mastered, and compensatory support as new topics are taught. (Those students who pass the regents with a higher grade should be placed directly into the next course in the sequence).” [Too bad this is only followed as long as there is room in a class. Right now, kids are being placed anywhere there is an empty seat.]

We must effectively “deal with the high failure rates with proactive intervention and not by programming students into repeater classes which feature the same unsuccessful instructional strategies over and over again.” If we pass students who pass the Regents exam even though they have failing averages (the arbitrary and unauthorized department standards we have been using), we will greatly reduce the high failing rate in the Algebra class and in the Geometry course in June 2009, provided the Regents exam has a generous curve. [No kidding, passing more kids will reduce the failing rate. I bet this was taught in Administrator School.]

Some students who failed MA44 and ME22 in June 2008 were moved into Geometry. They were promoted because they passed the Regents exams. “They will not have extra time to pass Integrated 2 and 3, both of which are required for the Advanced Regents Diploma. Their success in these courses is critical.” Teacher of MG21R and MG21D must monitor your juniors carefully. You are to slow down and make sure the overwhelming majority of your students understand what is going on before moving on to the next topic. Bear in mind that only 30% of the contents will be on the Regents exam. [That's right, pass them if they know less than 30% of the material and help them get an advanced diploma. This is a good way to insure the value of the advanced regents diploma.]

“We must accept this inability of some students to make the right choices for academic success as a given and par of the challenge under which we work. Their inability to learn or parents effectively (ineffectiveness) requires that our classrooms become laboratories for new initiatives and strategies. The large number of students who are behind in meeting diploma requirements in math may be a result of teachers in the department failing to implement the differentiated instructional techniques which have become a part of every other academic department at Lewis, as well as in other similar schools. On the most basic level, we have even opposed varying classroom seating arrangements, a simple initiative which has shown itself to be effective in promoting active engagement and learning.” [Make the right choice and you too can grow up to be a world renowned surgeon.]

We have our work cut off for us. As we discussed during the Department meeting on 8/29/08, we will engage in pair-and-share, incorporate more technology into the lessons (Smart board or Geometer Sketchpad), differentiate instruction both in terms of ability and learning styles and find the most effective way to get every student involved in each and every lesson. Please see me for clarifications. [And now, on top of all our other jobs, we are expected to become magicians. I think I'll see if I can pick up a magic wand with my $150 teacher choice check.]

I don't believe after reading this note that Principal Suit is really going to retire, no matter what he says and no matter how large a party he is being given.

Worth While

Cooper is a young man I met during my C-6 tutoring assignment. He needed to pass the regents in math B to pass the course. He came in with a well used regents book and lots of questions which showed how hard he was working.

The last day of school Cooper was the only one who showed up for tutoring. I was able to really help him that day and showed him some tricks on the graphing calculator that would help him on the regents. Since he didn't own one of these calculators, I gave him mine, to practice and to study with. Although I only learned his name five minutes earlier, I had no doubt that he would study and return the calculator to me.

I was correct on both counts. Cooper was waiting for me after the regents to hand me the calculator. He was in the street because someone told him I had gone for lunch and he did not want to miss me. And, Cooper passed the exam. He didn't just squeak by, he got a 76. He was thrilled when I called to give him the news.

I know I do more than my fair share of bitching and complaining about those C-6 assignments, but a kid like Cooper makes doing it all worth while.

Math Regents

(from a Math A exam)


The math A regents is a joke. The cut off to pass gets lower and lower every term. Of course, there are some hard problems. The key is that you can get a 90 or better on the exam and not even attempt these problems. These problems are added to make the exam look valid. Even the hardest problem--graphing a parabola and a circle is not difficult using a graphing calculator.


Math A does not teach math. It is such a hodgepodge course that kids can get through it without knowing how to factor ore even solve an equation. They can pass by working backwards from the multiple choice questions. I am ashamed to admit that I taught a group of kids who had only passed one math course in four years how to pass the regents.

I tutored a bright, albeit somewhat lazy boy for the math B regents. His mom was thrilled that he got a 76 when he took math A and figured he could do the same on the B exam. The boy expected to be able to pass just from the multiple choice. It took me quite a while to convince him that was not true and that he really had to know the material in order to pass this exam.

The math B exam this year was difficult, and required understanding of mathematics. But, the cut off to pass was low. (Not as low as math A, but still low.) The problem with the exam is that some of the questions were so difficult, that some of the kids gave up during the exam. I heard that more than a few were crying. The kids have no way of knowing, while they are doing this exam, what the passing grade will be. The only thing they know is that the exam is hard and that there are too many problems that they cannot do.

Years ago, the regents exam was the culmination of a years work. Teachers knew the topics that would be on the exam and knew how to prepare the kids for the exam. Grades were usually not a surprise and teachers felt pride when they saw their students succeeding. Now, the exam covers a year and a half of material and there is no way of knowing what will be tested and what won't. Of course bright kids do well on the exam, no matter what. It is the average kid that struggles.

Kids should be able to think. They should be able to do more than just spit back material they have been taught, but regents should test what has been taught. The math regents are a farce. Passing, failing, means nothing. I used to like the regents exams. I felt they kept up standards. Now, they only serve as data for some meaningless reports that say our kids are doing better (or not.)