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Tuesday, May 07, 2013

A School System Works To Solve A Math Problem: Test Failures

See if you can solve this math problem:

Sixty-seven percent of your students take and pass algebra with a "C" or better, but recent data shows thousands of students are failing their semester finals.

In Montgomery County, the Washington Post reported data from the school system showed that 57 percent of the students taking the Algebra 2 exam failed it. For students taking geometry the numbers were more alarming: 62 percent failed. Even precalculus students struggled; 48 percent of the students in that course failed.

Dylan Presman is the president of the Parent Teacher Student Association at Rockville High school where his son is a sophomore, "The data is -- there's no other word for it -- the data is just shocking."

Presman says he first became alarmed when a group of principals reported to the Board of Education in March that exam failure rates had been an ongoing issue. "When the principals started talking about 60 to 70 percent of students failing, that really was a red flag." In one course, Bridge to Algebra 2, a class for students who need support, the failure rate on the exam was 86 percent.

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Datum is singular, data is/are plural.

Anonymous said...

And "Tada" is what the one student who passed his algebra 2 exam said.

Anonymous said...

No surprise here. Check the demographic profile of Montgomery Co.

Anonymous said...

Kind of sounds like someone is cooking the grades to make the school(s) look better. That is until test time rolls around.

Anonymous said...

2:42 nailed it....and too many of them will get an affirmative action college admission!

Anonymous said...

Wait just a minute folks, didn't our great governor, o'taxie, tell us and the rest of the world how great our school system was?????

Didn't Pollitt and all the BOE teachers get on TV and tell us their tale of woe in order to get more of our HARD EARNED TAX DOLLARS to give the children a better education???

Folks, when they start talking about giving the children a better education, we the citizens are getting screwed.

The kids today attending school are coming out dumber than when they went into school. So what's happening? Kids can't make change, they can't speak proper english, they have no idea of this nation's past history....so what the hell are they actually learning? I submit, not much!

They only thing I come up with is the money gained by raising our taxes is only lining the pockets of the BOE and the teachers. It certainly isn't in teaching the children. And yes, I've been in the schools recently that's no excuse.

lmclain said...

Algebra?! Geometry? LOL! They are so stupid. SO stupid. Forget the higher math disciplines -- just watch the facial contortions and stammering if you merely asked "what is 50% of 90?"....future convicts, single mothers (I said that one on purpose), welfare recipients, dollar store clerks (hard to go wrong when EVERTHING is a dollar, but the 6% tax blows a fuse), and politicians (since they also famously can't add or subtract)...Our country, lead by dummies and thieves, is nuturing the next generation of dummies and thieves. We won't survive it...

Anonymous said...

you people have no clue in the demographics! Montgomery Co. is one of the wealthiest in the country. if it was P.G. County then you'd have a case...the fact is that even in an affluent county public schools are failing. the education system in this country is a mess. my wife works at hopkins and a pakastani girl took her entrance test to med school here and it was a breeze...in a hell hole like pakistan they learn 3-4 years ahead of our students. politicians make the critical decision here and they have no clue on what's best...then sprinkle in unions and teachers who just want to get to summer vacation and you get what you see now. maryland being ranked #1 in public education is like being the smartest person at an idiot convention. still ranked around 20th in the world...right behind Paraguay. Public Schools = Fail