Average Public School Math Proficiency

Public School Review ^ | 2023 | Public School Review

[DallasBiff]

The national average math proficiency is 38% (2023-24). Math proficiency of school are compared within their own state only.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“Me n him” — aaarghh!!!

[sjmjax]

That is exactly what they are doing. Have family members in public education. They are livid. All time, effort and resources are being geared to the bottom 1/4.

[Bigg Red]

Math proficiency of school are compared within their own state only.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don’t know if I can trust a report on the state of education from an organization whose writers don’t understand subject and verb agreement.

[Bigg Red]

It am.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

1/2 by 1/4.

1/2 =

1/4 =

HOW MANY QUARTERS ARE THERE IN ONE HALF?

[joma89]

The dumbing down of the US by communists is virtually complete, folks. They knew dumb and propagandized people are easy to control.

[Chgogal]

What is it now?

[caddie]

Why bother to have math proficiency if you can go into a Louis Vuitton store and take all the gear you want and just walk out with it? Zero plus zero plus zero equals zero. That's your receipt.

Why bother learning anything mathematical if there are no more math SATs because there are no more SATs?

All you have to BE is nonwhite or nonasian to get into Princeton or Harvard. You don't need to KNOW anything.

Only a foo' would learn math. It be hard.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“HOW MANY QUARTERS ARE THERE IN ONE HALF?” — That’s the third grade solution and a very good illustration for that age level. Clever using “quarters.” You can see the answer TWO by inspection.

By ninth grade, you better be able to solve it symbolically / algebraically:

(1/2) / (1/4) =

(1/2) x (4/1) / (1/4) * (4/1) =

(1/2) x (4/1) / 1 =

(1/2) x (4) =

(4/2) =

2

[Reynoldo]

“ But...but...then they wanna know what X is in 1+X=2. It’s mind boggling. “

And then in the next quiz question, X might be something different.
Those Whities that write the textbooks are trying to fool the kids.

[FamiliarFace]

The famous 1895 eighth grade final exam.
https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/p_test/1895_Eightgr_test.htm

[mabarker1]

Are You sure that You don't mean Wiley Coyote (Super Genius) and the Roadrunner ?

[mabarker1]

What kind of horse is this ?

[mabarker1]

I was just horrible at math in school and I survived it enough to get a passing grade. It wasn’t till I was in My 40’s and I was in the Water Treatment biz that I actually had a really good reason to use it. Up until then I had only used the basics making change in the Retail biz.

When I got to Water Treatment then all the other stuff was something I could actually use. I honed My math skills in making Spreadsheets to simplify calculation for Chemical Dosing, water consumption, Tank sizes, Flow and Capacity of Pipelines by creating the Formulas in the Spreadsheet so I could calculate what I needed to know in seconds by entering a couple of values and getting the correct answer. The old way was to use a calculator for each item and having to do it twice to double check the input on the calculator keys.

The calculator was a PIA !!!

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I’ll bite: A Kentucky Quarter Horse.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

By ninth grade, yes. But division by fractions was taught around fifth grade when I was in school, definitely not third. I went to Catholic school, and had 795 in the Math Level II SAT Achievement Test in high school, so I think I was okay in grammar school math. I maintain that teaching it symbolically is absolutely the wrong way to teach it. Teach it intuitively, then show how the symbols can facilitate calculation.

Math instruction in this country is a disgrace. See Richard Feymann's book Mr Feynmann, You Must Be Joking where he was invited to review high school math textbooks by the California Department of Education. Everything he criticized is summed up by your example.

[metmom]

Same here. I had a math teacher in 7th grade who was terrible and more interested in hitting on the girls than teaching math.

I lost it then. When I went back to college, I HAD to learn math because I needed to pass calc for my degree. I found a math prof who was a great Christian lady my age and she gave me a crash course in what I needed to know to get through calc.

Then when we homeschooled, we used Saxon math and I learned as I taught the kids and suddenly I understood it and realized that, yes, I actually was good at math.

I also worked at McD’s to put myself through college and it was in the days when you had to do it all by hand. I learned to add like no get out after a couple years on the job to the point where I could do it all mentally. I just wrote it out so the customer could watch and know I wasn’t cheating them.

Practical application is the best teacher.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“teaching it symbolically is absolutely the wrong way to teach it”

Absolutely right. I was not advocating that. You start with concrete, physical examples and, as the brain matures around age 12 or 13, you progress to symbolic math building upon the physical examples.

I remember that being a difficult transition for me, but you reach a certain “aha!” Point one day where it quickly starts to make sense.

So many kids cannot make that transition today and graduate from high school still depending on fingers and toes.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

They never taught division by fractions intuitively when I was in school. I “glommed onto” it by myself at about age 10, by thinking of pie slices. The problem with mathematics instruction is that it is too abstract. I am an EE and have absolutely no problem with complex numbers and actually “think” in complex numbers. It’s takes an effort to think about what physical entities they represent. Richard Feynman taught himself how to repair radios when he was ten, so electronics and electromagnetism did not seem completely abstract to him.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I’m an ME (now retired). I had an appreciation for physical things. I took two EE courses and always marveled at people who could deal with the world of pure mathematics. Then differential equations taught me there was no difference between the physical and unseen worlds.

I later went on to an MBA and a masters degree in telecommunications engineering and plunged deeper into the world of abstract math.

Now I focus on home improvement, gardening, turf management (nutrition, disease and pest management) and hiking. I’ve taken up baking sourdough bread which quickly leads to microbiology (yeasts, and bacteria), grains, ancient grains, and that leads to learning about farming practices and land management. I’ve got a number of small family farms near us in Washington State and learning about their practices to raise profitable ancient grains is fascinating. We have quite a few “boutique” flour mills west of us in Washington State that mill those small quantities of antique grains.

Once you have the engineer’s mind, you can’t get away from it! Lifelong learning and a natural curiosity keeps your brain in good shape.