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A teacher should be able to understand the grade distribution on tests and throughout the year to identify if their assessments are too easy or too difficult, a

A teacher should be able to understand the grade distribution on tests and throughout the year to identify if their assessments are too easy or too difficult, and if they may be racially biased. The argument that the tests unfairly bias certain groups is only known because the people administering the test understand math.

watwut 5y ago
You don't need to know anything about geometry for that. And even teachers who know math won't use statistical methods too if their test for 22 students ended up badly this year.
- whitexn--g28h 5y ago
  It’s just interesting that we are using statistical methods to argue that teachers don’t need to understand basic math. Ontario doesn’t have dedicated math teachers until high school, many of these teachers will need to teach math in grades 3-8.
  - zozbot234 5y ago
    > Ontario doesn’t have dedicated math teachers until high school Then that should be fixed, at least wrt. junior high. There's no reason to expect an English or French teacher to be proficient in Math, or vise versa.
  - watwut 5y ago
    I am not using statistic methods? But I also think that there should be specialized teachers for math long before high school. Teaching math (or whatever) is not just about knowing it, it is also about know how to teach it at this or that age. And I don't think general purpose teacher can be good in knowing how to teach all subjects. I am perfectly fine with teachers who cant pass this test teaching subjects that are not math or physics (or chemistry I guess). I am absolutely not fine with math teacher who passed this test and that is extend of it. Specifically, math teacher should know a lot more.
tshaddox 5y ago
Okay, but surely that could be tested as part of basic teaching competency, not math per se. You might as well say people need to know math to be able to look at the clock and figure out how to be at work on time, or to figure out if they’re driving above or below the speed limit.
skeeter2020 5y ago
>> and if they may be racially biased How would moderate math skills possibly help with that? You think every public school teacher should be run statistical sampling on a continual basis AND dynamically addressing them?

watwut 5y ago

You don't need to know anything about geometry for that. And even teachers who know math won't use statistical methods too if their test for 22 students ended up badly this year.

whitexn--g28h 5y ago
It’s just interesting that we are using statistical methods to argue that teachers don’t need to understand basic math. Ontario doesn’t have dedicated math teachers until high school, many of these teachers will need to teach math in grades 3-8.
- zozbot234 5y ago
  > Ontario doesn’t have dedicated math teachers until high school Then that should be fixed, at least wrt. junior high. There's no reason to expect an English or French teacher to be proficient in Math, or vise versa.
- watwut 5y ago
  I am not using statistic methods? But I also think that there should be specialized teachers for math long before high school. Teaching math (or whatever) is not just about knowing it, it is also about know how to teach it at this or that age. And I don't think general purpose teacher can be good in knowing how to teach all subjects. I am perfectly fine with teachers who cant pass this test teaching subjects that are not math or physics (or chemistry I guess). I am absolutely not fine with math teacher who passed this test and that is extend of it. Specifically, math teacher should know a lot more.

tshaddox 5y ago

Okay, but surely that could be tested as part of basic teaching competency, not math per se. You might as well say people need to know math to be able to look at the clock and figure out how to be at work on time, or to figure out if they’re driving above or below the speed limit.

skeeter2020 5y ago

>> and if they may be racially biased How would moderate math skills possibly help with that? You think every public school teacher should be run statistical sampling on a continual basis AND dynamically addressing them?