Word: mathes
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...tougher challenge for all concerned. Thus far the attempts to build a portfolio include everything from exercises in factors and fractions to mind-stretching essays on the color of mathematics and the composition of letters to Albert Einstein. But, says Ann Rainey, an award-winning eighth-grade math teacher in the Shelburne Middle School near Burlington, "we still don't know what a math portfolio should be." The development of a uniform portfolio-scoring system is equally difficult. Vermont education authorities have set up seven week- long sessions this summer to help teachers calibrate their mathematics scoring...
Most Vermont teachers seem enthusiastic, if curious, about the new method. But some fear that basic skills will suffer if uniform testing of students is abolished. "That would definitely be a mistake in math," says Steven Jarrett, an eighth-grade math teacher in Craftsbury. "Algebra needs to be practiced continuously." Concedes Ross Brewer, director of the Vermont project: "There are no smart people to copy. We are literally making this thing up as we go along...
...more sensitive issue is whether national tests will actively harm the prospects of minority students. "It is still an open question whether we can create a fair test," says Thomas Romberg, a University of Wisconsin mathematics professor who spent six years helping develop a set of widely praised national math standards. Beverly Cole, education director for the N.A.A.C.P., which is a member of FairTest, admits she is "paranoid" about the idea. "There's a knee-jerk response on the part of minorities against national testing because we've suffered the most from them in the past...
...eschew the shopping- mall approach they see in public high schools, where students shop around for courses among endless electives. Their high schools routinely offer fewer electives and require a heavier load of basics than do inner-city public schools: four years of English; three years or more of math; three years of science, foreign language and social science; and at least one year of computer science. Students must show proficiency in a course before they can move up a grade. Period...
Hence we have another suggestion: a fundamental change in the structure of honors programs and departments facing teaching crunches. Certain departments, among then Applied Math and Classics, do not require students to write theses in order to graduate with honors. These are by no means lightweight concentrations--they simply have other strict requirements. If English and Government want to cut down on the number of thesis writers, it should make the thesis optional, and institute a set of rigorous distribution requirements for honors candidates who opt not to write one. This would cut down the number of students who write...