Proposition: Teaching staff (in aggregate) don't affect academic performance.
Proof by contradiction:
1. Assume teachers mattered and postulate two high schools, A and F.
2. Postulate school A is excellent with a California API of 930
3. Postulate school F is terrible with a California API of 530
4. Exchange all the teachers in school A with those in school F for four years.
5. If teachers mattered then the API of school F after 4 years should be 930 and that of school A should be 530.
6. Since 5. is clearly impossible, then the assumption is false and we have shown that teaching staff (in aggregate) don't matter.
Quod Erat Demonstratum (QED)
Not to say that an individual teacher can't make a difference, but honestly, not much.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Lurching towards academic standards
Look at the "American Diploma Project" (ADP) Link: http://www.achieve.org/
We all know one of the (many) problems with grades. The same paper or test gets an A from one teacher and a C from another. Or worse, despite failing the tests, a student gets passed to the next level ( e.g., Algebra 2) based on homework, class participation, effort, when they didn't really learn the material in Algebra 1. They flounder when they are supposed to use what they should have learned but didn't.
The problem is that we don't really know how to measure what is learned as a function of what needs to be learned. We believe that doing homework helps learn the material so we give a portion of the grade on turning in homework but there's so much from so many students that we can't possibly grade it all so they get credit just for turning it in. Same with all kinds of other stuff we count towards the grade.
Everyone is aware of the problem so a number of states got together and are trying to set up a meaningful and uniform way of determining what a student should know and how to measure it. Not there yet but it's a beginning. The following is from "Education Week:"
We all know one of the (many) problems with grades. The same paper or test gets an A from one teacher and a C from another. Or worse, despite failing the tests, a student gets passed to the next level ( e.g., Algebra 2) based on homework, class participation, effort, when they didn't really learn the material in Algebra 1. They flounder when they are supposed to use what they should have learned but didn't.
The problem is that we don't really know how to measure what is learned as a function of what needs to be learned. We believe that doing homework helps learn the material so we give a portion of the grade on turning in homework but there's so much from so many students that we can't possibly grade it all so they get credit just for turning it in. Same with all kinds of other stuff we count towards the grade.
Everyone is aware of the problem so a number of states got together and are trying to set up a meaningful and uniform way of determining what a student should know and how to measure it. Not there yet but it's a beginning. The following is from "Education Week:"
"Students across the country struggled with advanced algebra on a first-of-its-kind test in that subject, according to a report to be released this week by Achieve , the nonprofit Washington organization that helped coordinate the exam.
"A dozen states had students take part in the test, the product of an unusual collaboration among states seeking to establish a common standard for judging teenagers’ ability in challenging math, as well as their preparation for college.
"Achieve is part of the American Diploma Project Network , an effort among two-thirds of the nation’s states to align standards, tests, and graduation requirements. Achieve officials in 2005 began working with states to devise a test in advanced algebra, or Algebra 2. Nearly 90,000 students took part in the first test..."Sunday, August 24, 2008
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