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That doesn't change the fact that they are _very_ easy. European student here - apparently our schools teach way more math.

by Inufu 15y ago

benihana 15y ago
No, they're easy. I went to school in Florida and took these kinds of tests all the time. The state has a real hardon for standardized tests.
learc83 15y ago
> apparently our schools teach way more math. That's a required test for 10 graders, so most of our students would pass it as well. Math retention is another thing all together. Almost everyone could pass that test when they were in 10th grade, give it to a 100 random 50 year olds anywhere in the world, and see what happens.
- cafard 15y ago
  I'm nearer 60 than 50 (!), and after a quick scan the test did not strike me as anything especially hard...
  - learc83 15y ago
    There will be plenty of people who retain it, but most people who go 30 years without using information will not retain it.
droithomme 15y ago
I went to school in the US and the test represents what I personally had been taught and was competent in by the end of 7th grade (age 13), not 10th grade (age 16). That was some years ago. It wasn't in Florida but I have no reason to believe their schools are substantially different. It might be that the test doesn't match actual 10th grade curriculum and is a minimum competency test. Then again, based on math skills of typical high school and college graduates, I am not completely surprised that school board members with a masters in education can't do basic math. It's not just math that is a problem, there are also many high school graduates now who are functionally illiterate (meaning they may have basic reading skills but can't understand anything they read that is more than very simple). This is not to say the schools are incompetent since obviously many very skilled and talented people make it through the same system. Also, it has been established that Masters of Education students have the lowest GRE and SAT scores of any major. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-37245744/heres-the-nations-easiest-college-major/ http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-37245744/heres-the-na... "Research over the years has indicated that education majors, who enter college with the lowest average SAT scores, leave with the highest grades. Some of academic evidence documenting easy A's for future teachers goes back more than 50 years. The referenced study on education major grade inflation: http://www.aei.org/article/education/k-12/grade-inflation-for-education-majors-and-low-standards-for-teachers/ http://www.aei.org/article/education/k-12/grade-inflation-fo... Furthermore, the most intelligent and competent education students are the most likely to rapidly leave the field (see Progress Through the Teacher Pipeline; Henke, Chen, & Geis, 2000; http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2000/2000152.pdf http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2000/2000152.pdf) There's tons of papers and research about this issue, sometimes discussed as the "teacher quality" problem, though that may be a misnomer. More than I can reasonable cite but once you know about the issue, and some of the above citations as starting points can lead you down a pretty deep rabbit hole once you start researching.

That doesn't change the fact that they are _very_ easy. European student here - apparently our schools teach way more math.

by Inufu 15y ago

That doesn't change the fact that they are _very_ easy. European student here - apparently our schools teach way more math.

benihana 15y ago

No, they're easy. I went to school in Florida and took these kinds of tests all the time. The state has a real hardon for standardized tests.

learc83 15y ago

> apparently our schools teach way more math. That's a required test for 10 graders, so most of our students would pass it as well. Math retention is another thing all together. Almost everyone could pass that test when they were in 10th grade, give it to a 100 random 50 year olds anywhere in the world, and see what happens.

cafard 15y ago
I'm nearer 60 than 50 (!), and after a quick scan the test did not strike me as anything especially hard...
- learc83 15y ago
  There will be plenty of people who retain it, but most people who go 30 years without using information will not retain it.

droithomme 15y ago

I went to school in the US and the test represents what I personally had been taught and was competent in by the end of 7th grade (age 13), not 10th grade (age 16). That was some years ago. It wasn't in Florida but I have no reason to believe their schools are substantially different. It might be that the test doesn't match actual 10th grade curriculum and is a minimum competency test. Then again, based on math skills of typical high school and college graduates, I am not completely surprised that school board members with a masters in education can't do basic math. It's not just math that is a problem, there are also many high school graduates now who are functionally illiterate (meaning they may have basic reading skills but can't understand anything they read that is more than very simple). This is not to say the schools are incompetent since obviously many very skilled and talented people make it through the same system. Also, it has been established that Masters of Education students have the lowest GRE and SAT scores of any major. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-37245744/heres-the-nations-easiest-college-major/ http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-37245744/heres-the-na... "Research over the years has indicated that education majors, who enter college with the lowest average SAT scores, leave with the highest grades. Some of academic evidence documenting easy A's for future teachers goes back more than 50 years. The referenced study on education major grade inflation: http://www.aei.org/article/education/k-12/grade-inflation-for-education-majors-and-low-standards-for-teachers/ http://www.aei.org/article/education/k-12/grade-inflation-fo... Furthermore, the most intelligent and competent education students are the most likely to rapidly leave the field (see Progress Through the Teacher Pipeline; Henke, Chen, & Geis, 2000; http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2000/2000152.pdf http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2000/2000152.pdf) There's tons of papers and research about this issue, sometimes discussed as the "teacher quality" problem, though that may be a misnomer. More than I can reasonable cite but once you know about the issue, and some of the above citations as starting points can lead you down a pretty deep rabbit hole once you start researching.