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Just 26% of US 8th graders proficient in math, in biggest-ever setback

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Re: Just 26% of US 8th graders proficient in math, in biggest-ever setback

#11

Post by maximus-decimus »

duxup wrote: post #5

Some teachers I knew during COVID reported that in some cases nearly half the kids stopped attending online class and just never returned. Parents wouldn't respond to calls / efforts to get them back into class. Some school districts were faced with wondering what to do? Fail huge % of the students? They chose not to fail them. My son reports that his math classes for the last two years "are the same thing over and o…

I'm seen the elementary math curriculum in Ontario. It is the same year over year, but with bigger numbers, so your son's not wrong, but that doesn't really say if it's because the kids are behind.

Re: Just 26% of US 8th graders proficient in math, in biggest-ever setback

#12

Post by Mountain_Skies »

duxup wrote: post #5

Some teachers I knew during COVID reported that in some cases nearly half the kids stopped attending online class and just never returned. Parents wouldn't respond to calls / efforts to get them back into class. Some school districts were faced with wondering what to do? Fail huge % of the students? They chose not to fail them. My son reports that his math classes for the last two years "are the same thing over and o…

During the first year of schools being shutdown, I was dating a middle school guidance counselor and her experience matched what you posted. She had a very difficult time contacting parents and if she was able to get in touch with them, most said there was nothing they could do about their child choosing not to participate in remote school. She was entirely powerless to do anything except offer remote tutoring services, which apparently no one accepted. I stopped asking her about work because it obviously distressed her to even talk about it.

Re: Just 26% of US 8th graders proficient in math, in biggest-ever setback

#17

Post by mrguyorama »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #12
duxup wrote: post #5

Some teachers I knew during COVID reported that in some cases nearly half the kids stopped attending online class and just never returned. Parents wouldn't respond to calls / efforts to get them back into class. Some school districts were faced with wondering what to do? Fail huge % of the students? They chose not to fail them. My son reports that his math classes for the last two years "are the same thing over and o…

During the first year of schools being shutdown, I was dating a middle school guidance counselor and her experience matched what you posted. She had a very difficult time contacting parents and if she was able to get in touch with them, most said there was nothing they could do about their child choosing not to participate in remote school. She was entirely powerless to do anything except offer remote tutoring servic…

At the end of the day, if parents don't value education, there's nothing an educator can do to fix that. Even truancy laws can't force a kid to pay attention and do their homework.

Re: Just 26% of US 8th graders proficient in math, in biggest-ever setback

#18

Post by prottog »

mrguyorama wrote: post #17
Mountain_Skies wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

During the first year of schools being shutdown, I was dating a middle school guidance counselor and her experience matched what you posted. She had a very difficult time contacting parents and if she was able to get in touch with them, most said there was nothing they could do about their child choosing not to participate in remote school. She was entirely powerless to do anything except offer remote tutoring servic…

At the end of the day, if parents don't value education, there's nothing an educator can do to fix that. Even truancy laws can't force a kid to pay attention and do their homework.

Perhaps we can stop at least spending the public's money on parents who don't value educating their children.

Re: Just 26% of US 8th graders proficient in math, in biggest-ever setback

#20

Post by [deleted] »

kazinator wrote: post #10
DontchaKnowit wrote: post #7

I taught summer school math to 8th graders for a brief spell. I was teaching them addition and subtraction. I shit you not. It's really sad. And it did not matter how they performed, if they showed up for class, we passed them and sent them along. Also if they didn't show up, we passed them and sent them along anyway. We should be absolutely ashamed of the public school system in our country. It'd corruption and perv…

I clearly remember that eight grade math was algebra: basic stuff with polynomials like multiplying (2x + 1)(3x + 4), or dividing single terms like 4x^2y/2xy = 2x. And that was likely behind where I would have been had I not immigrated to Canada from Europe, where I had been into basic one-variable linear equation solving by the end of fourth grade, plus other topics like sets. For instance we used a kind of set part…

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