Do The Math: You Can't Measure Learning or Teaching

            (Editor's note: This column is written by High School English teacher Jerry Heverly. Its tag line is inspired by education blogger Joe Bower who says that when his students do an experiment, learning is the priority. Getting the correct answer is entirely secondary.)

            Before I begin I want to stipulate that I think all attempts to evaluate teaching with test scores is folly. But I also know that nothing stimulates a discussion of schools or teaching like a good, meaty helping of statistics.

            So this will be the journalistic equivalent of a cheap date.

            The smell of California Standards tests (CST’s) is in the air. We’ve known some of the details of our results from last April but this week the state released the big number, the Academic Performance Index (API) for 661 schools across the state.

            How you see the results depends upon where you stand.

            Our API score went up from 698 to 702.  That continues an overall trend over the past few years of upward movement.

            On the other hand, when measured against the average school SLHS is losing ground. We were twenty points behind the average school in 2006 (SLHS 660 vs. Average School 680). Now we are fifty points behind (702 vs. 752). 

            If you are looking for numerical ammunition meant to prove that SLHS is a failed school there are some numbers that will do the job.

            Four percent of our algebra students scored proficient or better. That’s mostly ninth graders but includes older kids who are retaking the subject.  

            A bit more than a third of World History students tested as “meeting standards”. Same for US history.

            About one fifth of Earth Science students met the standards.

            I’m cherry picking here some of the most discouraging numbers.

            If I cared to I could dig through all the data and find positives.

            Those math students who scored so low in algebra? Over 70% passed the High School Exit Exam as sophomores.

            White and Asian student scores, if lumped together, fell, while African-American and Latino scores rose. A small step toward equity perhaps.

            But as I said in the beginning I think all of this is bunk. Scores mostly go up because we try harder to teach to the standards, a fancy way of saying we prep them to do better on the tests. The demographics of the community are the biggest factor in a district’s API.

            All this was discussed at the last School Site Council meeting.  {I lost the election. My participation for this year will be only as an observer with no vote.}

            The highlight of the meeting for me was when Council members asked about the dismal math numbers. One student representative spoke up. It turns out she has been tutoring ninth grade math students, the ones who were 96% not meeting the standards.

            I didn’t have the sense to take notes of her remarks but I think I can fairly represent what she said.

            They could learn algebra if they cared to, said this wise-beyond-her-years upper classwoman. They fool around too much. They don’t pay attention. A few disruptive students make it hard for the conscientious kids to learn.

            This elicited predictable cries for better “classroom management”.  

            Could we move that four percent figure up noticeably if we cowed every student into being quiet? As the young lady said, it’s not just a matter of decorum. You cannot force a young mind to engage.

            Adults dream of a system that would eviscerate that cussed free will that kids use to thwart our plans.

            I argued in a previous column that algebra doesn’t belong in a high school curriculum. It teaches no useful skills and alienates vast numbers of students, many of whom become dropouts.

            After all this writing I end up being a first class hypocrite. I want to use these numbers for my own brief.

            You can’t make a kid learn algebra.

Read other columns from the Entirely Secondary archive.

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