No Child Left Behind Testing

skeeter1

Around the US, 6th graders (and alot of other grades) are preparing for this Spring's standardized testing.

When "we" grew up, the standardized tests were straigh forward math problems. I remember addition questions . . . .like 235+156=? Or fractions like 2/3 + 7/21 = ? At the very end, there were a few word problems. That was appropriate for the 6th grade.

Today, this new testing is absolutely NUTS. It's all deductive reasoning with alot of different math subject areas thrown into one question. I bet you alot of you would not be able to figure this S*** out. Each question is long and drawn out word problems.

Here is one example (they are all THIS hard). #5 on Florida' sample math FCAT for the 6th grade.

"Tim's workbench is in the shape of a trapezoid. A drawing of his workbench with some dimensions is shown below.

?

___________________

| /
| /
| 32 inches /

| /

|____________/

40 inches

If the area of Tim's trapezoidal workbench has a total of 1,440 square inches, what is the total length, in inches, of the longest side of his workbench?"

If you want to see more of this lunacy, go here: http://fcat.fldoe.org/fcat2/pdf/sample/1112/math/FL530625_Gr6_Math_TB_WT_r3g.pdf I bet almost all of us on this board could not pass this "standard" test.

The standardized math test is now only 16 questions long, but they are all long, drawn out word problems. Where the student has multiple subject areas thrown to them at one time, and deductive reasoning that most college aged kids couldn't do. The teachers are "evaluated" on how well their students perform on these unsustainable tests. The children are super stressed out over the tests becuase if they don't pass them, they might not go to the next grade. Do you see what is wrong with our education system?

These new standardized tests are great tests if your kid is a gifted student. But, for the average bear it is unsustainable. Remember back to the 6th grade, and what you knew & didn't know in math. Would you have been able to pass this test? And, if you didn't would it have demoralized you to believing that you couldn't do math? I think it would have done that to me. In college, I went all the way through calculus and beyond - making alot of A's. I tutored students and know, for a fact, that the college students of the 80s didn't have this level of thinking that we expect from every 6th grader across the country.

Skeeter

Kudra

6th graders don't know how to do algebra and find the area of squares and triangles?

I have heard that they teach math completely differently now (like, no multiplication tables or anything) and simple problems like that above are now impossible for kids.

It's not impossible for kids that age to know how to do math like that. Many countries do it. We just don't.

Kudra

ok, you wouldn't even have to do algebra to do that question. It is just figuring out the are aof a square and then figuring out the area of half a square. I would be surprised if a 6th grader couldn't do it.

Berengaria

Flabbergasted

skeeter1

Kudra,

I think it's too hard for 6th grader.

It's finding out the area of a rectangle, base time height.

32 * 40 = 1280

Then, subtracting the rectangle's area from the total area of the trapezoid to find out the area of a triangle.

1440-1280=160

Then, you have to know the formula for the area of a triangle = 1/2 * base * height. This gives you the base of the triangle.

160=1/2*b*32

160=16b

10=b (of triangle)

Then, add that base to the base of the rectangle (i.e. 40). T

10+40= 50

50 is the legnth of the longest side of the trapezoid.

This is ALOT of steps; and alot of kids are going to naturally fail it. THey will be labelled as ADHD and put on meds.

My 6th grader thinks the FCAT is cruel and mental child abuse for learning. You learned pieces and parts of this problem in daily school, but not the whole thing together in this many steps. They are trying to make the kids fail. It's like the Hunger Games - where only 1 kid lives.

Skeeter

finally awake

it's 50 inches, but it took me a minute to figure it out. I know I wasn't taught such geometrical reasoning until sophmore year of high school

skeeter1

Deductive reasoning is over the heads of elementary school children. Work with them. They are straight forward, objective reasoners. Yes, there are going to be a few gifted kids that can do this at an early age . . . but this is not standardized test material.

This ojbective/deductive reasoning is part of why the JW kids accept the Truth as given to them when they are 12 years old. But, as their mind matures into being able to turn ideas (and objects) around in their minds, then they reject the Truth as their brain grows into adulthood. Barbara Anderson was once telling me something about this growth of the human brain; and how it affected a child's/young adults reasoning ability to stand up to abusers.

Skeeter

Kudra

I still think a 6th grader should be able to do that problem. Especially if a teacher had given them a few similar examples over the course of the year -which she should readily be able to do, as the teachers are "teaching to the tests".

I'd actually like to see a standardized test and also see the curriculum for a 6th grade class...

I have taught freshmen and sophmores at the university level and standards are definitely falling -many kids cannot do basic math or even write using correct grammar and spelling even with the help of "autocorrect".

Skeeter, I am not at all criticising your child specifically -she probably *would* be able to readily do such a problem if teaching and expectations demanded it.

skeeter1

No, my child can NOT do this test. I work with her all the time. It's too advanced for her at this age. I think in a few years, she'll be able to see it. But, not right now. Different brains mature at different times. It's not that she's stupid, but it's not going to work. If I ask her to do a part of this problem, she can do it. But, she can't see it all together and figure out all the needed steps.

In fact, her teachers pretty much HATE this test. There's too many traps for the kids to fail it. It would be different if it tested one item at a time. But, it doesn't. It's everything in just 16 problems.

My daughter is sitting here, and she thinks you need to teach elementary school children to understand them.

I think that the reason the freshman and sophmores are failing is becuase they learned to say, "I hate math."

finally awake

We homeschooled our older kids for several years - through 6th and 8th grades respectively. Neither of us has any training on how to teach. I ended up teaching basic algebra long before it was formally discussed simply because it was the most efficient way to solve the problems. However, my kids really didn't grasp the idea all that well. Now, when they went to public school, they both scored several years ahead of their grade levels on every asssessment test they took.

No Child Left Behind Testing

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