Teacher messes up - kids have to go to summer school
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jstone9 ...@aol.com (JSTONE9352)
An 8th grade math teacher from Pattengill middle school in Lansing, Mich. has been placed on administrative leave for not teaching students the right math courses in order to prepare them for high school math. The problem was not discovered until a week after the school year ended.
Parents and students are very angry about the situation (no surprise there).
The school district will be having a meeting with students and parents affected by the situation. It won't be pretty. This will cause all kinds of problems for people that had summer vacation plans.
One student has already left the state for 6 weeks to be with her father during the summer. She won't like the phone call she is going to get.
What a mess.
"Donna Metler" nospam_dmmet...@bellsouth.net
And where was the administration? At my school, we turn in lesson plans weekly. If we're not teaching the subject based on the curriculum, it should be caught pretty quickly-not 9 months later.
--
Donna DeVore Metler Orff/ Band/Choral music, Lester Focused Literacy School Mother to Angel Brian Anthony, 01/01/02 (22 weeks, severe PE/HELLP syndrome) ...
"Marijke" clemm...@hotmail.com
We have a slightly similar situation at our high school. there has been a revolving door of math and english teachers, resulting in many kids failing.
Some of the teachers weren't qualified to teach the course but still did due to the teacher shortage.
The solution was to provide some of the kids with summer school but this can not only interrupt family vacations but what of the kids who must work in order to save money for college?
the mind boggles, Marijke, in Montreal ...
"fuzzymum1" n...@janeLEGlangdon.co.uk
We had a similar situation in my sons school a few years ago( before he started there). The head (principal) had been there about 30 years and all the teachers had been there a long time and seemingly lost interest. When the school was inspected the head and senior teacher were off 'sick' and the truth came out. The children who were there and are still going through the school have some big gaps in their basic skills in all subjects, there has been a complete change in staff at the school so now we have a fantastic staff team and people are moving into the village to get their children in!
I can understand how those parents are feeling as I have friends whose children were 'taught' by the old staff and it's not a nice situation.
Jane ...
hschin ...@aol.com (H Schinske)
Wow. How could the parents miss that kind of thing? What WAS s/he teaching them? Eighth grade is usually first-year algebra, isn't it?
--Helen
toto scarec...@wicked.witch
At the inner city HS were I taught, we had one year where the entire first quarter of a regular geometry course was taught by subs because the central administration would not hire another math teacher. They said the numbers did not justify it despite the fact that the 5 cl***es of geometry were scheduled and had a minimum of 20 students in each section.
While the principal waited, the kids were basically not taught because most people in the system qualified to teach math are not substitutes.
Eventually, the load was divided up and 5 of our regular teachers each took a section as an overtime position, but the kids lost because there was no real way to make up an entire quarter of geometry in the remaining 3 quarters.
Still... I had one young woman from that cl*** whose mother took action at the very beginning. She insisted that her daughter be transferred into another section taught during the same period even though it meant that she would be in an honors cl*** (and she had still missed about 3 weeks of the cl*** by the time she was transferred). This young woman ended up making a B in honors geometry with a huge amount of makeup work and help from her peers and one on one tutoring. In the end, she benefited because she got a better cl*** and she ended up staying in honors cl***es for the rest of high school math taking Algebra II and Trig and going on to a good college.
Dorothy There is no sound, no cry in all the world that can be heard unless someone listens ..
source unknown
Rosalie B. gmbeas...@mindspring.com
Around here, 8th grade is only first year algebra for about 1/4th of the kids.
I think this is a bogus problem. It is the school's problem. If it happened to us, I wouldn't make my kids go to summer school. I'd home school them for what they needed. I'm sure there is more than one course in hs math that they can take. Some kids are in remedial math right up to hs graduation.
Kids this age are probably not going to be working. (They are about 12-14 years old.) grandma Rosalie
"J. Stone" sto...@pilot.msu.edu
He was teaching them math but not the right kind they needed to get ready for high school. It's a very embar***ing situation. Right now the school board is dodging questions as to why nobody was on top of the situation earlier. Its a breaddown in administrative oversight. Around 150 students are affected by this situation.
The meeting tonight between the parents and the school board will be emotional and ugly I think.
"J. Stone" sto...@pilot.msu.edu
In the Lansing situation as best I understand it all kids are supposed to have beginning algebra in the 8th grade. Apparently the kids in this cl*** barely got the basics of algebra for who knows what reason. Home schooling during the summer is fine for those who know how to do it and have the time and inclination to want to do it.
It isn't practical for all people.
Some kids are remedial right up to graduation but to put kids into 9th grade math with basically no knowledge of algebra is asking for trouble. I'm not defending the screw up that happened and feel sorry for kids that have to go to summer school but something has to be done.
hschin ...@aol.com (H Schinske)
Aren't they all? It's pretty seldom that parents show up to tell the school board what a wonderful job the district is doing ...
--Helen
Barbara Bomberger barbarabomber...@hotmail.com
This is an unusual situation, algebra one is usually a 9th grade cl***, and only advanced students take it in the eight grade. The advantage of taking a couple high school courses in the 8th for those who can handle them, is one, that it gives an extra basis for high school and later honors courses (which in my experience are pretty much a waste) and two it gives kids a lot of breathing room in their senior year. One can have four years of everything and take fifth years if they like.
Agreed. but rather than make it mandatory, maybe having a test at the end of the summer. I for one would choose that option, having been there and done that.
9th grade math is algebra one..
Yes and while putting a teacher on leave may be a start, she doesn't operate in a vacuum. first of all where were these parents. Although much of math has changed, algebra is algebra pretty much. Were they not monitoring their children's progress throughout the year? In addition where was the administration?
Barb
Barbara Bomberger barbarabomber...@hotmail.com
Exactly...what kind of supervision, homework help/checking were the parents doing that none of them realized what was going on.
Barb
toto scarec...@wicked.witch
On Wed, 19 Jun 2002 13:07:21 -0400, Rosalie B.
Not anymore, Rosalie.
Most states now require at least Algebra I for HS graduation.
Illinois requires 3 years of HS math, including Algebra I and Geometry and one other cl***.
Dorothy There is no sound, no cry in all the world that can be heard unless someone listens ..
source unknown
toto scarec...@wicked.witch
http://www.lsj.com/news/local/020618_garcia_1a-5a.html Interestingly, I found a description of the school from an 8th grade teacher there that suggests that these kids were most certainly not in algebra in 8th grade (unless the teacher in question was teaching only the highest kids in the school).
http://punya.educ.msu.edu/PunyaWeb/courses/summer01/understanding/mel... http://www.digitalcity.com/flint/public_schools/?page=detail&schoolid... Pattengill ranks 499/770 schools 42.7% of its students attain a 7th grade reading level of satisfactory 47/1% of its students attain a 7th grade math level of satisfactory on the Michigan Education ***essment Program On the grade 8 tests only 18.1% get a satisfactory level in Science and 61.9% get a satisfactory level in Writing.
Finally, new standards may have been p***ed in 1999 that contributed to this failure or to a perception of failure. It's difficult to determine from online sources.
http://cns.jrn.msu.edu/articles/ss99/040999/math.html Dorothy There is no sound, no cry in all the world that can be heard unless someone listens ..
source unknown
jstone9 ...@aol.com (JSTONE9352)
too dumb not to realize what was going on. The administration was out to lunch and not on top of the situation.
There is plenty of blame to go around.
jstone9 ...@aol.com (JSTONE9352)
Pretty much the same all through life.
A negative situation or crisis will bring people out to complain but if they think everything is OK why say anything?
jstone9 ...@aol.com (JSTONE9352)
It was bad and/or didn't exist.
jstone9 ...@aol.com (JSTONE9352)
awalter/melissawalter.htm singpublicschooldistrictpattengillmiddleschool Except you left out the fact that the teacher does not say that they teach math or exactly what subject they do teach. No doubt that the students are supposed to be learning algebra but the school has a lot of problems. (I have been inside the school and its not a nice middle cl*** white flight suburb school that is for sure). The building is 80+ years old and showing it in many ways. Most of the kids come from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
toto scarec...@wicked.witch
Very few schools even *offer* algebra in 8th grade. Most of those that do are suburban middle cl*** public schools. That is the point.
Algebra is a HS 9th grade course for regular students.
I taught math in both a suburb and in an inner city HS in Illinois.
My own kids did take algebra - my son took it in 7th grade, my daughter took it in 8th grade, but they were honors math students and there were probably 60 students out of 600 or so in that middle school who were taking honors algebra early.
In the inner city school, no kids had algebra in 8th grade at all.
The honors kids came in to honors algebra having had a course in prealgebra in 8th grade and while the middle schools might like to change that, there are very few math teachers. Many of those teaching math in those middle schools are not certified in math at all, but in other subjects.
Dorothy There is no sound, no cry in all the world that can be heard unless someone listens ..
source unknown
Banty Banty_mem...@newsguy.com
How are the parents to know exactly what material is supposed to be covered?
Keep in mind that school systems do vary in this respect. If a parent remembers learning algebra in 9th grade, he won't perceive a problem in that it isn't being taught to his 8th grade child.
Banty
rste ...@deeptht.armory.com (Richard Steven Walz)
>>An 8th grade math teacher from Pattengill middle school in Lansing, Mich. has >>been placed on administrative leave for not teaching students the right math >>courses in order to prepare them for high school math. The problem was not >>discovered until a week after the school year ended.
>Wow. How could the parents miss that kind of thing? What WAS s/he teaching >them? Eighth grade is usually first-year algebra, isn't it?
>--Helen
--------------------
According to the article it was pre-algebra. Weird.
Steve
"just me" not.h...@invalid.com
Um, pardon the dumb question but what is the wrong kind of math that was being taught? Math is pretty sequential in being taught. Was he just teaching the regular math for the lower track kids?
-Aula
"just me" not.h...@invalid.com
Your comments intrigue me. In 1969 and 1970 I took Algebra 1 split between 7 and 8 grades in a rural Vermont union junior high school where the majority of my graduating cl*** was not expected to go beyond high school.
[Cl*** of 321 had 37% go beyond high school. The voc program was really well supported and used.] In those days I was in the second math track, with the accelerated track moving into Geometry Plain & Solid in 9th grade while I got Plane. The average students took 7th grade math and 8th grade math. That's what it was called, iirc.
"Marie" mommydo...@hotmail.com
Where I went to school, honors kids took Pre-Algebra in 7th, Algebra 1 in 8th and then on from there. College prep kids took pre-algebra in 8th and algebra 1 in 9th and so on. The lower cl***es might well have never gotten around to taking any algebra. Tech prep students often didn't take algebra.
I forgot the category under tech prep but they took basic math each year.
Marie
rste ...@deeptht.armory.com (Richard Steven Walz)
The pre-algebra sort of thing that is taught in 8th grade is somewhat non-descript in its coverage. It is sort of a delaying tactic to finish up the poorer students' understanding of the 4 ops, percentages, fractions and the other many topics that are prerequisites to algebra, roots and exponents, basic geometry, basic triangles, graphing, approach to organizing story problems, and understanding variables.
The teacher probably erred and thought he was to teach a non-pre-algebra later high school math, the achievement track slightly lower, which covers many of the same topics, but not in as great a depth or breadth, which emphasizes percentages and fiscal calculation for retail usage. This sort of thing occurs typically when someone gets confused and orders the wrong books for a cl***. And the students can't tell much difference, even though they are not properly prepared for algebra.
Steve
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