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Rebecca Patterson

Va. Community Colleges Dive Headfirst Into Remedial-Math Redesign - Students - The Chro... - 0 views

  • Mr. DuBois wanted the system to become smarter in how it invested in people, talent, and technology, as well as do a better job of taking advantage of its size and resources.
    • Rebecca Patterson
       
      Glenn DuBois, the chancellor
  • One study by the college system found that only 16.4 percent of students sent to developmental-math classes ever managed to pass a college-level math course.
  • Recent high-school graduates are among the most vulnerable. They become frustrated when they learn they can't immediately enroll in credit-bearing classes, and they sometimes leave college even before taking a single course.
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  • Institutions are equally affected. A recent report by the Community College Research Center put the annual cost of remediation at $1.9-billion to $2.3-billion at community colleges and $500-million more at four-year colleges.
  • There is growing recognition that the traditional semester-long course sequence used by many community colleges doesn't work, says Michael Lawrence Collins, associate vice president for postsecondary state policy at Jobs for the Future, a Boston-based nonprofit that studies education and work-force issues. It's inefficient to have students take up to a year and a half in remediation when many need just pieces of what they're being taught.
  • The Virginia system is betting on that promise. Its colleges will soon replace their semester-long developmental-math courses with nine units, which can be taken as one-credit classes or Web-based lessons with variable credit hours that allow students to complete more than one unit in a self-paced computer lab and classroom. The number of units that students are required to complete will depend on their placement-test scores and intended program of study. Students focused on the liberal arts will have to show competence in only five units, for example, mastering basic algebra concepts such as linear equations. Students who plan to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, math, or business administration must complete all nine units.
  • Although he has help from a tutor in the class, it's a lot to juggle, he says. Mr. Wyrick does like how the Web-based class allows him to peek at students' quizzes in real time and track their progress a lot faster than by sorting through homework and test papers himself. "It allows me to intervene even before they ask for help," he says.
  • There is one certainty. The Virginia Community College system is not the only one anticipating the outcome. Equally curious are researchers and other colleges searching for successful ideas. "There is a risk," Mr. Collins says, "but there is also power in being that bold."
  • The Virginia Community College system is poised to find out. Starting in 2012, it will adopt a new systemwide developmental-math curriculum that will allow students to focus only on those math concepts they haven't already mastered rather than taking a series of semester-long math courses.
  • Half of all incoming students in the system need developmental education—and three-fourths of those students fail to graduate or transfer within four years.
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    Great article on a Community College network taking a chance to revamp its remedial math program. Read on!
Rebecca Patterson

Teaching Math to Learning Disabled Students: Math Learning Strategies Designed to Help ... - 0 views

  • experience a weak understanding or lack a comprehension of conceptshave very poor number sense skillsexperience difficulty with pictorial representationshave poorly controlled handwritingexperience confusion with arrangements of numerals and signs on textbook/workbook pages
    • Rebecca Patterson
       
      Good signs!
  • Using structured, concrete, and hands-on materials is important in tying these links between concepts. This strategy not only applies to elementary grades, it is also vital during concept development stages of higher-level math.
  • When these problems are accompanied by a need for strong conceptual grasp of mathematical and spatial relations, it is imperative that students are not focusing only on remediating computation.
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  • Math learning disabilities are often caused by visual-spatial-motor disorganization.
  • Math learning strategies described above are adaptable for all students with learning disabilities in mathematics. These math activities are also effective with special needs students who are also functioning at the appropriate grade level.
  • Using structured, concrete, and hands-on materials is important in tying these links between concepts. This strategy not only applies to elementary grades, it is also vital during concept development stages of higher-level math.
  • When these problems are accompanied by a need for strong conceptual grasp of mathematical and spatial relations, it is imperative that students are not focusing only on remediating computation.
  • Math learning disabilities are often caused by visual-spatial-motor disorganization.
  • experience a weak understanding or lack a comprehension of conceptshave very poor number sense skillsexperience difficulty with pictorial representationshave poorly controlled handwritingexperience confusion with arrangements of numerals and signs on textbook/workbook pages
  • Math teaching strategies include avoiding the use of pictures or graphics for conveying concepts, constructing verbal versions of math ideas, and using concrete materials in math activities.
  • math activities designed to assist teachers in reaching students with visual learning disabilities through use of a direct and explicit instruction using a challenging math teaching strategy, along with use of manipulatives.
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    Good article on special needs students
Rebecca Patterson

Views: 5 Myths of Remedial Ed - Inside Higher Ed - 0 views

  • And remedial education -- the ‘catch-up’ work now required for the nearly 40 percent of students who come to college lacking basic skills needed to succeed -- is a prime candidate for elimination on almost everybody’s list.
  • everyone admits that remedial education is not working, with just 25 percent of community college students who receive it going on to complete a college credential
  • colleges have not clearly articulated the skills that students must possess to be college-ready, students are blindsided when they are placed into remedial courses, and high schools don’t have a clear benchmark for preparing students for success.
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  • With so many adults returning to higher education, remedial education must be transformed to meet their needs. Institutions should provide a wide range of options for students based on their competency, recognizing that many don’t have time for semesterlong courses.
  • A study by the Board of Regents in Ohio -- one of the few states that actually have cost data for remedial education -- found that although 38 percent of incoming freshmen were taking remedial coursework. This translated to only 5 percent of actual full-time students, and around 3.6 percent of undergraduate instructional costs.
  • The lack of clear college-ready standards, poor assessment practices, the lack of customized learning options and the cost in time and money to students make it clear that postsecondary institutions are not committed to ensuring the success of millions of students who seek a college credential.
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    Remedial College Education Myths...good read!
Rebecca Patterson

Making Sense of Math and Science: It's Elementary - Rick Hess Straight Up - Education Week - 0 views

  • What I have learned about the students I have taught throughout my career is that the trend begins with students as young as 8 or 9 who have already been turned off to mathematics and science. They have been taught from societal experiences, home events, and by our teachers, that the subjects of mathematics and science are about solving a large numbers of problems as quickly as possible or reading large passages from a textbook.
  • young students' natural inclination to want to learn more about mathematics and science in order to make sense of the world.
  • Our instruction must change to allow our students a fundamental understanding of important mathematics and science concepts and we must do this in ways that continue to keep our students excited about these naturally interesting subjects.
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  • the advent of new technologies means that all adults now need to be able to reason mathematically in order to work and live in today's society.
  • if we do not get our elementary students motivated to study these subjects, then we are facing an uphill battle as we continue our goal that ALL students feel confident and become successful in mathematics and science.
Rebecca Patterson

California students show moderate gains in English and math - latimes.com - 0 views

  • 50% scored proficient or better in math, compared with 48% last year. The scores are the highest since the standards-based testing began in 2003.
  • Students who were considered at grade level — or proficient — in English-language arts increased from 41% to 44%. In math, from 39% to 43%.
  • Over the last four years, the total of Reseda students who score at grade level or better in English rose from 39% to 47%; the percentage actually dipped slightly this year. In math over that period, the figure rose from 18% to 22%.
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  • About two-thirds of the school's students are low income and 18% are learning English.
  • Test score gains are highest in elementary schools and drop off precipitously in middle and high school.
  • Across L.A. Unified, fewer than 20% of high school students scored proficient or better in general mathematics, algebra 1 and 2 and geometry. In fourth grade, by contrast, 67% of students tested as proficient or better in math.
    • Rebecca Patterson
       
      Oh, my!!!! Here is the connection to the elementary article about losing connection with students!
  • In math, the numbers are 76% for Asians, 61% for whites, 41% for Latinos and 34% for African Americans.
    • Rebecca Patterson
       
      Proficient or better scores.
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    New California Stats.
Rebecca Patterson

In turnabout, teachers give students Apples, hope iPads boost test scores - Wednesday, ... - 0 views

  • The $49 Fuse application allows users to learn at their own pace, Blumenfeld said. If students miss a class, they can tap into about 400 video tutorials led by textbook author Edward Burger, a math professor at Williams College in Massachusetts. “Videos allow for anywhere, anytime instruction,” Blumenfeld said. “For students who might have missed class or didn’t understand the lesson, you can push a button and have it explained again and again. You have a teacher available anytime, anywhere.”
  • Test scores in Riverside, Calif., jumped 30 percentage points, from 60 percent to 90 percent proficiency in math, he said. A smaller iPad program in some of Chicago’s elementary schools also resulted in improvement, Ebert said.
  • Indeed, Algebra 1 is one of the most-failed courses in the School District, Ebert said. All Nevada 10th graders are tested on the freshman-level math subject before they can graduate. Only half of the students in Clark County passed the math section of the High School Proficiency Exam on their first try last year. A quarter of students won’t pass the math section by their senior year and, as a result, will fail to graduate. This year, the district has identified about 9,000 seniors who haven’t passed the proficiency exam. They are at risk of dropping out, Ebert said.
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  • At the time, the technology we used (in math class) was a graphing calculator,” he said. “Today, these kids have the privilege to learn math in a new, innovative way
  • Only the Fuse algebra application and a few key tools are loaded onto the devices. At school, students are blocked from inappropriate sites via firewalls. The App Store, where iPad users can purchase games and other applications, is locked on the device, but school officials are looking at opening the online store in the future. Freshman Catherine Rodriguez, 14, flashed a big smile as she received her new iPad. Math isn’t her strongest subject; she hopes the new technology will help her, she said. Passing math is a big concern for Rodriguez’s mother, who took three years to pass pre-algebra, she said.
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    Interesting place to funnel school district money. There should be some good research coming out on this application in the next few years.
Rebecca Patterson

Community Colleges Consider Math Options - US News and World Report - 0 views

  • Statway mixes basic math concepts with statistics, enabling students to pass a college-level statistics class in the second semester. Quantway, which started its first pilot classes this month, teaches students how to "use mathematics and numerical reasoning to make sense of the world around them." After one semester, which includes algebraic skills, it's hoped that students will be able to pass a college math class.
  • If they need to review basic skills or learn an algebra concept, he provides "just in time instruction" on basic skills and algebraic concepts, teaching students information they can use immediately to solve problems.
  • Math is an "overpowering wall" that keeps students from higher education," wrote a Statway student. "Now there is hope ... not only to pursue higher education but to learn something that would really apply to our everyday life."
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    Nice article on the changes in Community Colleges and their remedial math programs. The Carnegie Institute and the Dana Foundation have teamed up here.
Rebecca Patterson

Education Week: Math Educators See the Right Angles for Digital Tools - 0 views

  • And just because there’s a lot to choose from doesn’t mean all the programs possess the same ability to teach math on a long-lasting, conceptual level.
  • Although kids are quick to pick [technology] up, they’re not that quick at learning to relate it to a mathematical concept.
  • what you want is for students to realize, ‘I don’t need to memorize a thousand different rules. I’m beginning to observe commonalities.
    • Rebecca Patterson
       
      patterns and metapatterns
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  • Some adaptive-learning software, which tailors lessons and exercises to individual student progress, also uses visual representation to demonstrate relationships.
  • online drawing programs that allow students and instructors to draw and manipulate shapes and graphs—like the Geometer’s Sketchpad, made by Emeryville, Calif.-based Key Curriculum Press, or the independently run GeoGebra, which has established dozens of institutes across the globe—immediately give users a sense of the relationships that govern geometry, algebra, and even calculus.
  • While software from Bellevue, Wash.-based DreamBox Learning also uses visual approaches, it differs from MIND’s software because it lets students in grades K-3 choose their own visual representations. After completing a problem one way, students will often be prompted to solve the same problem by choosing a different visualization to reinforce the concept.
  • its ability to import data from thrice-yearly Washington state standardized testing.
  • content services like Learn360, from Woodbury, N.Y.-based AIM Education Inc., offer the ability to combine resources into playlists of media set specifically for the needs of individual students, to help give some of that multidimensional understanding of content.
Rebecca Patterson

Math Disability Tied To Bad Number Sense - Science News - 0 views

  • Mazzocco and her colleagues previously found that the ability to estimate approximate quantities without counting generally improves during childhood and is related to math achievement
  • Mazzocco’s group studied 71 ninth-graders whose math abilities had been tested annually since kindergarten. Students completed two quantity estimation tasks. In one series of trials, participants saw an array of blue and yellow dots flash for a fraction of a second on a computer screen and indicated whether more blue or yellow dots had appeared. In other trials, students saw nine to 15 yellow dots flash on a screen and estimated how many dots were shown.
  • Mazzocco’s group studied 71 ninth-graders whose math abilities had been tested annually since kindergarten. Students completed two quantity estimation tasks. In one series of trials, participants saw an array of blue and yellow dots flash for a fraction of a second on a computer screen and indicated whether more blue or yellow dots had appeared. In other trials, students saw nine to 15 yellow dots flash on a screen and estimated how many dots were shown.
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  • Mazzocco’s group studied 71 ninth-graders whose math abilities had been tested annually since kindergarten. Students completed two quantity estimation tasks. In one series of trials, participants saw an array of blue and yellow dots flash for a fraction of a second on a computer screen and indicated whether more blue or yellow dots had appeared. In other trials, students saw nine to 15 yellow dots flash on a screen and estimated how many dots were shown.
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    I wasn't able to highlight this one in diigo for some reason. Please take a quick read as it is pretty short.
Rebecca Patterson

Novato students learn algebra on the job - Marin Independent Journal - 0 views

  • Williams' students are participants in the Novato Algebra Academy — a three-week program created by the North Bay Leadership Council and the Novato Unified School District that debuted Aug. 1. Based on a similar program in Santa Rosa, the Algebra Academy helps English language learners from Novato's middle schools master formulas and solve tough equations — and then shows them how businesses, government and athletes use that analytical process on the job.
  • "I met with the owners of each business two months ago to talk about what math they use and to create lesson plans based on that," Griffin said. "Most of it is basic algebra: you create equations, and you solve for different variables."
  • "Algebra is part of the required curriculum everybody must take if they want to be admitted to the CSU or UC systems," Murray said. "But a lot of students don't realize that they needed algebra until they start applying to colleges. Many of these students are not only English language learners, but the first in their family to even get an idea about going to college. So we want to provide them what assistance is out there."
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  • That's particularly true of Williams, who began working as a treatment plant intern while still a teenager. Now 22, Williams has created several YouTube videos on wastewater math. He ended his presentation last week by showing his students one of the questions from the plant operator examination — a complex equation whose answer required at least a page of careful analysis — and assuring them that they had the skills to complete it."All the algebra you've learned? You know all these formulas," Williams said. "And this problem is just one formula stacked on top of another."
    • Rebecca Patterson
       
      Know formulas or know concepts?
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    On the job math training
Rebecca Patterson

Why Science Majors Change Their Minds (It's Just So Darn Hard) - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • Research confirmed in the 1990s that students learn more by grappling with open-ended problems, like creating a computer game or designing an alternative energy system, than listening to lectures. While the National Science Foundation went on to finance pilot courses that employed interactive projects, when the money dried up, so did most of the courses.
  • he also says it’s inevitable that students will be lost. Some new students do not have a good feel for how deeply technical engineering is. Other bright students may have breezed through high school without developing disciplined habits. By contrast, students in China and India focus relentlessly on math and science from an early age.
  • The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has long given freshmen only “pass” or “no record” grades in the first half of the year while they get used to the workload.
Rebecca Patterson

Connecticut May Let College Students Skip Remedial Classes - US News and World Report - 0 views

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    Co-requisite classes instead of pre-requisite. Connecticut's idea to change the large amounts of students not completing their programs due to a 70% remediation rate in the Community Colleges.
Rebecca Patterson

California reports eighth-grade dropout rate for first time - latimes.com - 0 views

  • "We still don't have an accurate way to determine who's dropping out," he said, citing studies that estimate L.A. Unified's four-year high school dropout rate at more than 50%. (The state-calculated dropout rate for L.A. Unified is 26.1%.)
    • Rebecca Patterson
       
      More California stats. Not pretty.
  • Statewide, about 3.5% of eighth-graders — 17,257 in all — left school and didn't return for ninth grade
  • Overall, 74.4% of California high school students graduated in four years, according to state data; 18.2% dropped out. The remainder were still in school (6.6%), were in non-diploma programs for disabled students (0.5%) or left high school by taking the General Educational Development (GED) Test (0.4%).
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  • The graduation rate is 68% for Latinos, 59% for African American students and 56% for students who are learning English. This compares with 83.4% for whites and 89.4% for Asians.
  • Among eighth-graders statewide, about 4,200 dropped out during the academic year; more than 13,000 finished eighth grade but didn't show up for ninth, the traditional beginning of high school.
  • L.A. Unified's estimated graduation rate for the four-year period is 55%. However, the state's new system places the district's rate at 64.2%.
Rebecca Patterson

Texas community colleges reinvent developmental math | Inside Higher Ed - 0 views

  • In Texas, students referred to developmental classes are 50 percent less likely than their peers to earn a credential or transfer to a four-year college. Math is often their biggest hurdle, and students are steered into algebra-based remediation regardless of their majors.
  • Texas appears to be the first state to adopt such a drastic rethinking of remedial math in all its community colleges.
  • Garcia said the first-year cost of the project will be around $2 million, a figure that doesn't include instructor salaries. The Texas Community College Association will contribute $300,000, with donors and individual colleges making up the balance.
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  • Working with the Dana Center, the community college association was able to get all 50 two-year college presidents to sign on.
  • The Texas project is inspired by the Carnegie Foundation’s work, developed with the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin, in which students needing math remediation weren’t all put on a path toward calculus.
  • Kay McClenney is a University of Texas at Austin project director who helped develop a recent report showing the scope of the remediation problem at the state’s community colleges.
Rebecca Patterson

The American Spectator : Bad Math - 0 views

  • Thirty-six percent of high school seniors in 11 states scored Below Basic in math on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, the nation's exam of student achievement
  • One out of every four eighth-graders in the entire country is mathematically illiterate.
  • the percentage of U.S. doctorates in engineering awarded to foreign students has increased from 47 percent to 57 percent between 1989 and 2009
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  • two out of every five American high school seniors scored Below Basic on the science portion of NAEP
  • Two out of 63 university school of education elementary math programs surveyed by the National Council of Teacher Quality met or exceeded standards for training math teachers
  • Kindergarten teachers, for example, ignore the need to show kids that numbers represents quantities.
  • teachers seem to think that "reading… is an aptitude" while "math is an attitude."
  • Only one out of 63 elementary math programs surveyed by the U.S. Department of Education has been rated as having "potentially positive" effects on student achievement
  • One out of every three American fourth-graders read Below Basic proficiency on the 2009 NAEP.
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    Great resources to quote for the horrible state of math in the US, but take them with a grain of salt as they are not referenced or in whole.
Rebecca Patterson

Carnegie works on new approaches for teaching math in community colleges | Cision Wire - 0 views

  • “Developmental mathematics has become a burial ground for the aspirations of myriad students trying to improve their lives through education,” said Carnegie senior partner Uri Treisman. A MacArthur fellow, Treisman is also a professor of mathematics at The University of Texas at Austin.
    • Rebecca Patterson
       
      Treisman founded the Dana Math Education Research Center at UT Austin.
  • By completely reimagining the way math is taught, Statway and Quantway align with Kresge’s goal of supporting innovation that improves higher education productivity. The programs also provide pathways to and through college for students who might otherwise be left behind.
  • In 2010, The Kresge Foundation added its support – a two-year, $2 million grant – to that of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Lumina Foundation.
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  • Charles Cook, vice chancellor for instruction at Houston Community College. “I think the Statway project really has it right, where we’re looking at mathematical reasoning and problem solving and how math can serve you as a tool to further understanding, further investigation and further knowledge.”
  • Carnegie’s $14 million Quantway/Statway initiative is developing two mathematics programs: one-year courses that build quantitative literacy (Quantway) and statistical proficiency (Statway). They’re infusing both with teaching strategies that build students’ confidence as math learners.
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    $14 Million is a lot of money to develop 3 programs.
Rebecca Patterson

Is Grade 8 too early for algebra? - The Daily Breeze - 0 views

  • More and more eighth-graders in California are taking algebra I or higher, regardless of whether they are ready for it.
  • In just seven years beginning in 2002-03, the statewide percentage of such students has nearly doubled, from 34percent to 62 percent.
  • a third of students who performed poorly in regular seventh-grade math were nonetheless placed into algebra I in eighth grade, "with almost no chance for success."
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  • "Are all kids ready for that level of abstraction and complexity by eighth grade?" district spokeswoman Carolyn Seaton said. "Many (experts) say no."
  • the district three years ago launched an initiative to boost performance in the elementary grades, with an eye toward the ultimate goal: that all eighth-graders not only take algebra I, but also succeed. She said the effort is beginning to pay off: Last year, it produced a class of students so advanced they were able to take algebra in seventh grade.
  • Math problem There were 90 employees in a company last year. This year the number of employees increased by 10 percent. How many employees are in the company this year? A) 9 B) 81 C) 91 D) 99 E) 100 The answer is D. A report by the Brookings Institution found that only 49 percent of eighth-graders taking algebra knew the correct answer.
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    California school systems.
Rebecca Patterson

There's one key difference between kids who excel at math and those who don't - Quartz - 0 views

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    "... you may be helping to perpetuate a pernicious myth that is harming underprivileged children-the myth of inborn genetic math ability." For high school math, inborn talent is just much less important than hard work, preparation, and self-confidence. Convincing students that they could make themselves smarter by hard work led them to work harder and get higher grades. In response to the lackluster high school math performance, some influential voices in American education policy have suggested simply teaching less math-for example, Andrew Hacker has called for algebra to no longer be a requirement. The subtext, of course, is that large numbers of American kids are simply not born with the ability to solve for x. Too many Americans go through life terrified of equations and mathematical symbols. We think what many of them are afraid of is "proving" themselves to be genetically inferior by failing to instantly comprehend the equations (when, of course, in reality, even a math professor would have to read closely). So they recoil from anything that looks like math, protesting: "I'm not a math person." Math education, we believe, is just the most glaring area of a slow and worrying shift. We see our country moving away from a culture of hard work toward a culture of belief in genetic determinism. In the debate between "nature vs. nurture," a critical third element-personal perseverance and effort-seems to have been sidelined. We want to bring it back, and we think that math is the best place to start.
Rebecca Patterson

News: The Remedial Ph.D. - Inside Higher Ed - 0 views

  • Those questions are behind a new movement to create doctoral programs in remedial and developmental education.
  • Sam Houston State plans to admit 15 students to its first Ed.D. class, while Texas State plans to admit four full-time students to its first Ph.D. class and eight to its Ed.D. class.
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    Interesting Article
Rebecca Patterson

Lawmaker proposes making school districts pay for college remediation | The Salt Lake T... - 0 views

  • An estimated 18.7 percent of high school students who enrolled in Utah colleges and universities needed remediation in 2007, said Holly Braithwaite, spokeswoman for the Utah System of Higher Education.
    • Rebecca Patterson
       
      Only 18% as of 4 years ago. That's actually pretty low compared to other stats I've seen.
  • that would allow colleges to bill school districts and charter schools for the cost of remediating their students when they get to college. Dougall said it’s about making sure a high school diploma means something.
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