7%- That’s Amazing

Only 7% of the 8^th graders taking the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment in math passed it last school year.   That’s terrible.  Well actually it is quite amazing if you take the trouble to look at some of the practice items that are published online.  If you did that, you would not only be amazed that anyone passed the test but  you would also have to ask the question – why on earth do we even TRY to prepare kids to pass this foolishness.

Sample question:

Which expression below is equivalent to +=

A= -8

B= -1/8

C= 1/8

D=8

 

Truly the above is a sample question for an 8^th grader.  The vast majority of 8^th graders got this wrong.  Probably the vast majority of job holding successful adults got it wrong too. Other questions on the test are similar.

Time is finite.   Once elapsed you can never get it back.  Teachers are working and wasting students’ time teaching them to try and do this foolishness.   To what purpose??  Evidently so they will not be among the 93% who do not pass the test.  How many more useful functional things could our students be learning instead of wasting their time on this. 

 

One of the easier items is =49/16

Again, how useful is this?  

Students need to pass these tests to get a high school diploma.  Check around with people you know and see how many can answer the questions.  Then ask yourself, are they relatively successful adults?   Are they employed, self-supporting, have jobs, contributing to society?  And yet they can’t do these math questions. 

There is a lot of hype around the poor math scores of students.   Very few people ask the question, what is being measured and is the juice worth the squeeze.  Do we really care if our kids can do these things or not and isn’t there some better way for them to be using their time.

Sort of reminds me of the Emperor’s New Clothes.  While we are arguing over the color of his cloak, we fail to acknowledge he isn’t wearing a cloak at all!

BTW, the answer to question 1 is D-8.   The answer to question 2 is 1 ¾.  Let me know if you can ever use this information.