Pearson says 3x7x26 is not 546

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/10/08/pearsons-wrong-answer-and-why-it-matters-in-the-high-stakes-testing-era

by taylorling • 11 years ago

6 6 11 years ago

washingtonpost.com

vancomycin• 11 years ago

I disagree with her premise. Higher stakes tests presumably have their answer keys reviewed more closely. Multiplication problems in math textbooks appropriately don't have their answer keys reviewed with the same degree of scrutiny. In medical qualification exams, if enough people get an answer wrong, it may be reviewed for an incorrect answer key, or even thrown out for being confusing or ambiguous.

anigbrowl3• 11 years ago

I don't care about an answer key being wrong - typographical errors are a fact of life, and as long as they're not too common that's fine. What I care about is teachers using an answer key. I never heard of such a thing until I came to the United States. At least in Ireland, where I grew up, teachers are expected to be good enough at the subject they teach to do the damn homework assignments. There are no such things as answer keys for textbook problems.

Every time I bring this up with an American teacher they go into this long litany of how busy they are and how poorly they're paid and so on. I don't give a fuck. If you are using an answer key, you are No Good and I don't take you seriously. I refuse to give a fuck about any of your other problems if your brain is not minimally engaged with the subject material in which you purport to be competent.

mattlutze2• 11 years ago

Teachers in the US regularly work 9-12 hours a day already building lesson plans, actually teaching, dealing with administrativa, etc.

It's common sense to run through a homework assignment to certify the key they're using. But I don't understand how it would be logical to suggest they're no good as teachers unless they spend another 1..n hours a night writing all their assignments by hand and not using prepared material from the books.

anigbrowl3• 11 years ago

I don't care any more. If you're using an answer key then you're prioritizing something else over your core task and you don't have a leg to stand on in political terms. I'm very pro public education, and I would like to be pro teachers, but I am simply not going to lend any support to them as long as they rely on a strategy of whining to get what they want. Relying on answer keys is shameful. The implacable opposition to any sort of standardized testing is bullshit. Academic rigor should be teachers' trump card in political negotiations, and yet they keep acting like it's some sort of unwelcome imposition.

I'm well aware of all the pressure on teachers to act as substitute parents, social workers and so on. But none of their input on these subjects has any value when its divorced from a foundation of academic rigor as their first priority. Without that foundation you cannot have any political leverage. American teachers seem to have forgotten this basic political truth. If the general public does not perceive teachers are intellectually competent and engaged, then it is not going to give any weight to those teachers' opinions on other topics. A degree is education is not a substitute for command of the course material, it's a complement to it. If you can't do a problem like 3 x 7 x 26 in your head then you are innumerate and should not be allowed to teach a math class.

Pearson says 3x7x26 is not 546

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