Re: Algebra (was Re: Half Grades?)

["Dr. William C. Cala, Ed.D." <wcala@SERVTECH.COM>]

AND, Rick, with 2 to 4 years of additional AIS (ALL IS Sh#$) (Academic
Intervention Services for the fortunate out there that are not connected to
NYS), let's pull kids out of every course and activity left that had any
meaning to them (art, music, sports, drama, clubs etc.).

BC
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick Parkany" <rparkany@BORG.COM>
To: <ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2001 8:38 AM
Subject: Re: Algebra (was Re: Half Grades?)


> Yes, Bill, and to make matters worse, all students failing
> the 8th grade Regents Math 8 exam are mandated to receive
> Academic Intervention Services (AIS) until they pass the
> next state benchmarked exam...which IS that Course A! This
> is what makes this 8th grade exam so high stakes: 2 -3,
> perhaps, 4 years of additional academic service w/no
> additional funding from the state!
>
> In response to the uproar this has caused in curriculum
> development in our upstate NY rural district, we had only
> two others (aside from myself) return to our department this
> year out of a total of 9. We attempted to do many things
> last year to install this creature (Math A/B), including
> making them two year courses for the *mellow learners* w/an
> accelerated 1 1/2 year sequence for the WhizKidz...and I
> came back yesterday to check my schedule only to find out
> that nothing of what we had decided as a department was
> being implemented.
>
> Math A/B installation in this state certainly IS curriculum
> development via train wreck modeling.
>
> Oh, and Bill, BTW, don'tCha just love how the state
> sanctimoniously instructs us NOT to call the Math Courses,
> *Course A* and *Course B* (Thing one and Thing Two...after
> Cat-in-the-Hat), these are just names for the *assessment
> protocols*!!! It's up to us to give names to the _Courses_
> that are so evaluated by Things 1 & 2.
>
> Go figure, that is, YOU do the Math...  ;-} rap.
>
> Bill Cala mentioned:
> In New York's infinite wisdom, they have developed a new 9th
> grade math course called Math Course A.  It is designed for
> 1 and 1/2 years.  That's right, not one, not two,
> but one and one-half years.  I don't want to get into how
> nuts this makes me.  Just think of the mechanics of this.  A
> kid will always have two teachers over two different
> school years to finish the course.  In my district it means
> two different school buildings as well. And that is just the
> beginning .
>
> BC
>
>
> --
> "Dein Wachstum sei feste und lache vor Lust!
> Deines Herzens Trefflichkeit / hat dir selbst das Feld
> bereit',
> auf dem du bluehen musst." Richard A. Parkany: SUNY@Albany
> Prometheus Educational Services -
> http://www.borg.com/~rparkany/
> Upper Hudson & Mohawk Valleys; New York State, USA
>
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