Ralph Ratto teaches fifth grade in New York. The state math tests are ending today. His students spent nine (9) hours being tested about math and reading. This is child abuse. Why should students spend more than an hour on a math test or a reading test?
The tests, he says, are ridiculously hard for fifth graders. He thinks that most members of Congress could not pass the tests.
He can’t post any of the actual questions but he offers a question comparable to those on the test:
Here is a general idea of what one of these questions looks like.
A factory produces 4,861 items in 30 days. They then package them in crates hold 8 each. These crates are delivered to 26 distributers daily. How many are delivered each week to each distributer?
Ten year old children must be able to answer this question correctly, otherwise their teacher may be labeled ineffective.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
There is no way to know how many items are delivered to each of the 26 distributors unless it is clear that they all get the same number of items.
But in the real world, in large corporations that do business in many states and cities, there will be distributors that do great and others that operate at a loss. For instance, one distributor might sell 90-percent of the 4,861 items and the remaining 25 sell the other 10-percent.
Thank you for this real-world answer.
So sad. Test writers who cannot write test questions. They’re fired!
So embarrassing to live in a country of such ignorance.
The country isn’t ignorant. Some of the people are and they didn’t vote or voted for Agent Orange, the malignant narcissist in the White House.
I already know that our Congress is filled with mathematical illiterates. They are spending money that is not coming in, and therefore our national debt is approaching $20 Trillion dollars.
They can’t figure out how to balance a budget. Stop the Presses.
That’s because the congressional Republicans use Heritage Foundation lesson plans.
“Why should students spend more than an hour on a math test or a reading test?”
Why should students spend more than a minute on a math test or a reading test? If that much.
Exactly!
And it’s obvious that the President couldn’t pass the History test.
Well, he might if he got Calvin Coolidge to help him.
Thanks Diane! One small clarification. MY students spent 9 hours on Math and Language Arts assessments.
Ratto, that is also awful.
We had kids just give up today. I have never seen that before.
They should have given up yesterday, and the day before and the day before that.
This kind of thing has been going on except getting worse since “A Nation at Risk” came out. Ignoramuses in positions of power.
Forget Congress.
Give the test to Andrew Cuomo, Mary Ellen Eliah and members of the NY State Regents.
Require that they take not only the fifth grade tests but the tests for every grade through 12.
My guess is that not a single one of those people would agree to do this.
Accountability is for other people, not them.
It’s about $$$$$$. Sickening.
None of those who make policy could pass the tests they IMPOSE on our students. And WHO writes test items like this? Answer: AIRHEADS.
Jason Zimba, who wrote the Common Core math standard, that’s who.
There needs to be a “wall of shame” somewhere with the names of people like Zimba engraved in it so no one will ever forget.
Of course,Zimba wants everyone to believe that all the problems with the Common Core math were merely ones of curriculum and “rollout” and had nothing to do with the actual standards that he wrote.
The fellow is a typical “don’t blame me” reformer who takes all the money and then washes his hands of the entire thing
“wall of shame” is too kind. They need to be booked in a luxury cabin on the Titanic
David, why luxury cabin? Whey not steerage?
You are correct.
My point was they need to go away to never be heard from again.
Agreed!
“Titanic Reform”
Reform is like Titanic
With iceberg in their sight
It’s “Full speed and don’t panic!”
“The ship is water tight”
With Coleman at the bow
And Zimba at the stern
They never will allow
A feeling of concern
The ship will disappear
Beneath the icy waters
With not a thought or fear
For mothers, sons and daughters
I’d recommend placing them in zoos, with plaques in front explaining the taxonomy, habitat and pathologically aggressive behavior of this outwardly-normal but fundamentally degenerate sub-species of homo sapiens.
Once the public is protected from their predation, it could come to the zoos and watch so-called reformers cannibalize each other.
“Reformer Zoo”
The David Coleman cage
At School Reformer Zoo
Is really all the rage
A thing for me and you
To feed and to observe
“Reformer” in his “home”
But kids must have some nerve
To visit on their own
Cuz David shrieks and howls
About the Common Core
And even sometimes growls
With teachers at the door
He really gives a &%!t
Despite his former claim
And has been known to spit
When parents call his name
Much of the language for the grade six and seven test answers seemed to be lifted directly from the “revisions” to the Common Core directly; these “revisions” have not yet been codified by the Board of Regents. How is it a test written however many months ago is testing yet to be adopted standard “clarifications” word for word? This, coupled with delberatly obfuscatory and nebulous language, led to some of the worst post test self doubt I have seen in a long time. As my math partner teacher said bitterly “It was foul play”.
IMHO, teachers should seize this opportunity to clarify with students how many days are in one (business) week.
The answer is that we work and earn in 5 days/week BUT we must eat and pay rent in 7 days/week. One person works to feed, at minimum, 1 child. Therefore, how much debt exists in one family with 1 parent working, 1 parent staying home as the home-maker with 3 young children (a total living cost of 5 people to eat and to live over 7 days/week, against an income of one person to working 5 days/week).
If Conservative political parties, and their supporters, are against abortion, limit healthcare coverage, eliminate rent control, suppress minimum wages, outsource workforce to (illegal) immigrants and to foreigners (on special visas), THEN can the current president and his administration calculate the damage to be affected on the American populace? Back2basic
I agree. I’ve seen the sample questions for the 8th grade test in Ohio and I know they couldn’t pass it.
Here’s Trump on education:
“Trump on school choice: “Very important” so every kid can “fill up their hearts and be educated at the top, top level.”
Because everyone knows private schools are better than public schools.
This is what it’s like every day in the Trump Administration and all of these people are public employees. They literally spend entire work days, on the public dime, bashing public schools. Actively working against parents and students.
Oh the irony: ON THE PUBLIC DIME they sit and bash PUBLIC schools…
“He can’t post any of the actual questions ”
Somebody should really start posting questions from these tests.
The real issue is not really these word problems. The issue is that kids are not given time to think about them. They are given usually a minute or two.
In NY kids can take all day to answer the questions. Limited time isn’t the problem.
Here are some of the actual problems, though:
* Three days of testing for ELA and Three days of testing for Math.
* Three days each for make ups which utilize all our support staff to administer, thereby cancelling all support classes for 6 + 6 days
* Different versions of the test that don’t just rearrange the same questions but actually asked different questions from different standards. Depending on which version a student got, they may have had multiple questions on a standard, or none. The questions weren’t all of equal complexity either. There’s a stand alone field testing session in June, so I don’t know that the variations were due to field testing questions embedded in the tests. And if they were – WHY?
* Questions on the Math test that assessed standards that are scheduled, according to the State’s planning calendar to be taught AFTER the state tests
* Questions on the Math test on standards that are supposed to no longer be included in the standards (in 5th grade Order of Operations, only parentheses are supposed to be used. There was a question that contained parentheses and brackets…)
* Questions that required knowing the “trick” for dividing by fractions of “Keep, Change, Flip,” since the problem as written didn’t allow for students to show basic understanding with diagrams or other representations. The state touted the CCSS would come with “Shifts in Focus” including students gaining a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts, rather than learning tricks… so much for that as a goal
Does anyone proofread and edit the tests to be sure they comply with the State’s own standards and guidelines? If so, who are they? (test company employee, NYSED employee, or other? Or no one?)
I know there are a multitude of reasons the tests are useless, a waste of time, and harmful to many students. To say nothing of the enormous drain on financial resources…
But there are also the details above that show how little oversight there is and how little validity can be granted to the tests because of mistakes, inconsistencies, and lack of testing administration fidelity.
OY.
Actually, I bet $10 ($10 more than my raise was this year at my public university) that if you give 5 minutes (3 minutes more than the kids get) to the people in Congress, not more than a handful would come up with the correct answer.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education and commented:
This is as bad as the Texas question that the original author of the poem couldn’t answer.
A country produces 535 Congress members. It then packages them in states that hold at least 3 each. These states are delivered to 150 lobbyists daily. How many are delivered each week to each lobbyist?
Well I think I have the logic and procedural skill to solve the prompt but I don’t think I can answer it correctly either. If this made-up example really is analogous to the actual item I would be interested in what the learning target was and what the item is intended to measure as well as the published validity of the test. What does the teacher think this was?
When we eventually get the results, I will have different students. I will also be told to analyze the data and figure out how to improve the results.
Last year, most of my students opted out and I was given the same directive. I questioned how the data could be valid if only 7 students took the test.
The reply…. crickets!
I was told by a middle school English Teacher with LAUSD that individual test results are passed on to a student’s future English teacher. Is this accurate info?
I had to read the test to sixth graders this year. I never read the tests before, so I can’t compare to past years, but I thought they were fair questions. I felt like they represented real life situations.