Popular Post
Showing posts with label SAT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SAT. Show all posts

Monday, December 14, 2009

Teacher Magnet School is Bad

h/t to Darren,

Students at the Teacher Training Magnet School don't understand math, or English for that matter?

Crenshaw Senior High 5010 11th Ave., Los Angeles, 90043
» Schoolwide Performance California Standards Test (STAR)
Students scoring proficient or above: English 18.9% Math 2.3%
# Students in advanced math: 15%

No Child Left Behind (AYP)
Fail: Missed 16 of 23 federal targets for 2009
Fail: Missed 25 of 25 federal targets for 2008
Fail: Missed 16 of 22 federal targets for 2007

SAT Reasoning Test Composite Average 1098
Math: 363 Verbal: 367 Writing: 368
Source: state data reported for 238 participants

How is this possible? An average of 363 means that some were higher and some were lower. The standard deviation for the SAT is about 100 points. Think about that. Then consider that these folks are in the teacher training program.

This is Crenshaw Teacher Training Magnet School.



LA's 141 Magnet Schools, Ranked in Ascending Order.
(percentages are percent proficient in Math, English
Dorsey Police Academy Magnet 0.0% 16.3%
Washington Communication Arts Magnet 0.0% 29.8%
Crenshaw Teacher Training Magnet 1.1% 28.6%
Washington Music Academy Magnet 1.2% 45.5%
Washington Math/Science/Technology Magnet 2.1% 36.5%
Fremont Math/Science/Technology Magnet 3.7% 39.8%
Dorsey Math/Science/Technology Magnet 4.4% 38.3%
Jordan Math/Science/Technology Magnet 4.9% 45.1%
Wilson Police Academy Magnet 5.0% 25.0%
Dorsey Law/Public Service Magnet 5.6% 36.6%
Manual Arts College Prep Magnet 7.0% 30.9%
Wilson Administrative Law Magnet 7.5% 44.9%
...
Teacher Training Magnet is one of the worst. Couldn't see that coming.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Learn Vocabulary in Bite-sized pieces.

I'm usually talking about math here, but I've found a website that cracks me up, is free, and helps with vocabulary in a clever way.

Give it a try.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Scores vs Income

From Schools Matter

The new Census Bureau report on income is out, and the New York Times has some interesting analyses. Here are a few of them summarized:
For the first time since the Census has been keeping records, median income is less than it was ten years ago. And even though the top quintile of workers' incomes increased, the decrease in the other four quintiles was significant enough to make the median income in 2008 less than it was in 1998. In short, the rich have gotten richer, and everyone else, poorer.
In terms of the relation between family income and SAT test scores, the Times analyis shows the statistical relation a monstrous direct correlation (.95). This same correlation, by the way, can be found in any set of state test scores for elementary school children, too. Poor kids do worse on high-stakes standardized tests, so let's keep them poor and contained by using these tests to determine who gets a chance for the best teaching, the best colleges, and the best jobs. Simple. The rest will get the corporate welfare apartheid charter schools with minimally-qualified missionaries from Teach for America, along with no libraries, no art, music, athletics, or even cafeterias. And thus, The New Eugenics in Action.
As family income and wealth goes, so go the test scores, so let's blame, once again, the schools and the teachers for the flat or diminishing test scores, rather than the corporate exporters of jobs over the past decade or the greed of CEOs or the enemies of workers' rights or the anti-educational curriculums of the testocrats.
Read the rest of it.