Wednesday, May 16, 2007

A little depressing

As many of you know, we are moving to Anchorage in August. I was a little depressed to learn that Anchorage's 4th grade math standards are a little weak compared with South Carolina's.

From the Anchorage A Parent's Guide : Fourth - Sixth Grade

4th Grade math

• memorize multiplication/division
facts to a product of 100.
From the South Carolina 3rd grade math curriculum standards


1. Recall multiplication and division facts
through 9.
Oh well, I guess the supplementing of my kids education will continue.

p.s. what is the purpose of the last week of school? It's not like the students learn anything.

Teacher fired because of kids' failures

Star-Telegram.com: Teacher fired because of kids' failures

A teacher was fired because parents, her principal and the school board didn't like her classes pass rate. She argues that the school was trying to get her to lower her standards. It was pointed out to her that her passing rate was lower than the rest of the math departments.

Two things could be happening here. Either she isn't teaching up to the rest of the departments standards, or the rest of the department has low standards.

Kevil wrote school board members this final statement: "I refuse to compromise my integrity because of an uninformed parent, a weak administration and a district that turns a blind eye."

Keller Superintendent James Veiteinheimer told me his solution: "Teach them well. That's the way, I think, you get students to pass. You don't add points or add grades. You don't fake anybody out."
I think it should be pretty easy to figure out if she was too tough, or the school just wanted to lower standardsto cave to the unhappy parents. Just perform an analysis of the students grades to their standardized test scores, for her and the whole math department. If the performance matches the grades, then she wins... if not then the school does.

My money is on her.