Posted on 05/17/2007 7:13:29 AM PDT by devane617
FORT WORTH -- Three of every five eighth-graders in the Fort Worth school district failed the science portion of last month's Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, down from last year's 53 percent passing rate and well behind the state average of 70 percent, according to preliminary scores released Wednesday.
Tenth-graders did not fare much better: Only 41 percent passed the science exam. And 617 seniors in the district -- 16 percent, up from 10 percent last year -- won't graduate on time because they haven't passed all portions of the exit-level TAKS exam.
However, in a bit of good news for the district, students in almost all grades did well on the reading portion of the exam and made some gains in math. In particular, reading scores for fifth-graders increased from 72 percent passing to 82 percent.
Superintendent Melody Johnson said that school officials expected some scores to be lower as the district retools its philosophy from one focused on drilling and practicing for the TAKS to a push for academic rigor.
Meanwhile, the state's accountability standards are rising, meaning the passing standard is higher this year, Johnson said Wednesday.
"I feel very confident that we are doing all the right things," she said.
Still, district officials were surprised by the eighth- and 10th-grade science scores, which Johnson described as an "anomaly."
In a meeting with the Star-Telegram Editorial Board, Johnson said the scores are troubling and could reflect a mismatch between what is being taught in Fort Worth schools and what is on the state exams.
The results could also indicate that students lack the mastery of processes or theories needed to answer science questions.
Students often develop these skills from rigorous lab work instead of memorization, officials said.
"It's not that teachers across the board stopped teaching," Johnson said of the science scores.
This is the second year that eighth-graders take the science test.
The scores won't count toward this year's accountability rating, which the state will announce later in summer, said Sara Arispe, director of assessment and accountability for the Fort Worth school district.
The eighth-grade science test will start counting toward the ratings next year.
Despite the challenges in science and math, Johnson said, the district made significant gains in reading in almost all grades. Johnson said she credits some of these gains to the district's literacy efforts.
Math scores for grades 7, 8, 9 and 11 went up. Tenth-grade math scores went down slightly, from 51 percent passing to 48 percent.
Johnson said the state's increased standards are also why more seniors -- 16 percent -- won't graduate on time this year.
Fort Worth's numbers mirror a state trend: The number of seniors who won't graduate this year because they failed at least one exit-level TAKS exam has reached an all-time high -- more than 40,000 students, or about 16 percent of those who took the tests as juniors last year.
Students can retake the TAKS in upcoming weeks.
Fort Worth seniors who pass by the end of summer can take part in an August graduation ceremony.
/s
The school district your kids go to is one of the highest rated in the area. I’m glad you moved out there and got them out of FWISD.
My oldest got the highest final exam grade of her class in calculus, a 99. We are so proud of her.
I doubt 40% here on FR could pass.
When we moved to Texas my son was going to be a senior in high school. It was also his first year in a public high school. He passed his TAKS on the first try. He couldn’t believe what the big deal was. No, he wasn’t a straight A student. He’s going to be a senior at a university in Texas next year.
We’ve had beefs with the public school system for years.
We’ve pulled our 4th grade daughters out and they are in a great private Christian school.
However, we are still dealing with my son in a public middle school. He has 1 more year to go, and then off to private for high school.
He has had an okay education. It’s been lacking in history/science. Finally, in middle school he’s getting some good science.
My son had to answer a survey yesterday about school. One of the questions was “Is school challenging”. My son said “no”, and he’s taking high school algebra in 7th grade.
We’re also having a problem with one of his teachers.
The school closed the media center with the only announcements about it being closed over their PA system. My son never heard the announcements (his class talks too much).
He had to read 2 books and then had a choice to take an easy computer test on the books or write 2 long reports about the books. He went in the day before it was due to take the test, and the media center was closed. He tried the next day but the computers were full.
He told his teacher his problem. Lots of kids had similar problems. He asked if he could e-mail the report to her, and she said no. Out of 100 points she gave him 0. He was a straight A student (going on his 3 semester).
My husband and I e-mailed her about the situation, she wouldn’t change her policy.
We met with the teacher and the asst. principal, and nothing was changed.
They think that announcing something over a PA is adequate communication.
They think it wouldn’t be fair to let my son write the reports. He would have special treatment. We said we think all of the kids that were affected by the media center closure should be allowed to write the reports.
His teacher said he shouldn’t have waited until the last day. I told my daughters’ private school principal this and he said “Well, he’s a 7th grade boy. That’s what they do.”
We’ve had beefs with the public school system for years.
We’ve pulled our 4th grade daughters out and they are in a great private Christian school.
However, we are still dealing with my son in a public middle school. He has 1 more year to go, and then off to private for high school.
He has had an okay education. It’s been lacking in history/science. Finally, in middle school he’s getting some good science.
My son had to answer a survey yesterday about school. One of the questions was “Is school challenging”. My son said “no”, and he’s taking high school algebra in 7th grade.
We’re also having a problem with one of his teachers.
The school closed the media center with the only announcements about it being closed over their PA system. My son never heard the announcements (his class talks too much).
He had to read 2 books and then had a choice to take an easy computer test on the books or write 2 long reports about the books. He went in the day before it was due to take the test, and the media center was closed. He tried the next day but the computers were full.
He told his teacher his problem. Lots of kids had similar problems. He asked if he could e-mail the report to her, and she said no. Out of 100 points she gave him 0. He was a straight A student (going on his 3 semester).
My husband and I e-mailed her about the situation, she wouldn’t change her policy.
We met with the teacher and the asst. principal, and nothing was changed.
They think that announcing something over a PA is adequate communication.
We also found out that she let other kids e-mail her the reports. She also said she doesn’t even remember talking to my son about the reports.
Now she says it wouldn’t be fair to let my son write the reports. He would have special treatment. We said we think all of the kids that were affected by the media center closure should be allowed to write the reports.
12 The transfer of carbon that results from burning fossil fuels will most likely affect Earth in the future by —
F raising the average global temperature
G reducing evaporation rates of ocean water
H decreasing the total mass of plant life
J making air transparent to ultraviolet light
I notice the test is offered in Spanish.
I can't speak for the 90% but I am in Houston in the energy industry in R&D and math *IS* the second language amongst software engineers, researchers, and geophysicists.
Without math, you'll never understand science, and you'll never work in R&D.
9 Which of these is an advantage of producing
electricity using solar power plants rather
than using coal-fired power plants?
A Solar power plants can operate for about
10 hours per day.
B Solar power plants can produce variable
amounts of energy.
C Solar power plants produce fewer
pollutants.
D Solar power plants require continuous
sunlight.
19 Which of these devices uses the sun’s energy
directly?
A Windmill
B Hydroelectric dam
C Nuclear power plant
D Photovoltaic cell
28 A company has decided to market itself as
environmentally friendly. If the company is
going to sell calculators, the use of which
energy source would produce the fewest
by-products and the least waste?
F Rechargeable batteries
G Solar cells
H Dry-cell batteries
J Tesla coils
47 Why is Sendai virus used as a vaccine against
HPIV-1?
A It alters the protein coat of HPIV-1.
B It makes cells chemically unrecognizable
to HPIV-1.
C It forms a protective barrier against
HPIV-1.
D It triggers the production of antibodies
that fight HPIV-1.
• Some infants and children are infected
with human parainfluenza virus type 1,
also known as HPIV-1.
• A vaccine against HPIV-1 is made of a
low dose of Sendai virus.
• Sendai virus has a similar structure to
HPIV-1.
• Sendai virus makes mice sick but does
not make humans sick.
Information About Sendai Virus
Mostly simple logic and reasoning questions, but I detect a hint of Environmentalism...........
She was on her way to Dallas to meet a group of science teachers to take them to Galveston so they could hop a cruise boat, tour offshore in the Gulf somewhere, and admire the diversity of its marine ecosystem.
I told her that my daughters, then in junior high, were studying the planetary geology, dinosaurs and archeology in the honors science program in Midland, Texas. She smiled and said that this due to her fine efforts and then mistakenly asked me what I thought of her program.
I unloaded for about the next five minutes. "What generally worthless garbage to thrust on their tender brains," I explained. "When will my children become astronauts, or paleontologists, or grave robbers. Wouldn't it be better for the children to learn about more mundane practical things like how internal combustion engines work, how electricity is generated and is used to light houses and run motors, how computers process data, how hearts pump blood, or what happens to wood when you strike a match."
I told her that fortunately, as a degreed engineer, I could (and did) sit down with my children and overcome the limitations of a public school education in Texas. "But millions of children in Texas do not have that option. What about them," I asked.
The Twit-wit explained that it was more important in her opinion for the children to find school interesting enough to stay class and eventually graduate than to learn anything practical.
The article you posted clearly shows the results of her short-sighted policy.
The SAT measures your ability to learn more knowledge, not the current state of your knowledge. It is presumed that aptitude in Science and English reflects the ability to learn other subjects. You can’t master Science without math, and you can’t learn History without english comprehension.
It is a good idea to know what the kids are being tested on, however, it doesn’t have anything to do with whether the general public can pass the test. The general public doesn’t sit in the classes everyday being drilled in the subject matter.
And everyone wonders why the high tech jobs are going to India.
Exactly. When a good portion of the parents may or may not even speak English it is difficult or impossible for them to assist the kids in any kind of school work. I have a 7th grader that has been doing basic algebra, geometry, etc. all year. It takes a good bit of help from home to make sure they understand the material. If mom or dad can’t add two plus two then how are they going to help the kids? The bad thing is that when the kids get behind there is very little chance they will catch up without great support from home or from some place. If they don’t get it then you start getting discipline problems along with the failing test scores.
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