Saturday, March 8, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
IS anyone surprised about Nevada's ranking in the National Assessment of Educational Progress test? Out of 43 states, Nevada ranked 31st.
No way we should be surprised.
The NAEP test was administered around this time last year. In the fall, before the test was administered, Clark County Superintendent of Schools Brian Cram undertook a number of initiatives to address student achievement. Those included preparing documents for parents and evaluating the preparedness of the district's teachers.
To determine if schools were doing the things the district claimed to be doing, Cram began a math audit. User-friendly curriculum expectancies were being readied, so parents would know exactly what to expect their children to know in each subject area at each grade level; meetings were held with UNLV and the school district to address student needs and teacher training; principals and staff had to submit plans to address student deficiencies as well as identify who worked well; and there was a renewed emphasis on basic skills.
By April or May of last year, identifiable changes were taking place across the district. Since most of those changes took hold after the NAEP test, those scores would not reflect those activities. However, scores on tests given this fall were up.
Last fall, the State Board of Education put the memorization of the basic arithmetic facts and algorithms back into the elementary curriculum. It's been way beyond me how anyone could have voted to take those out of the curriculum in the first place. You can't develop critical thinking skills unless you have a pool of knowledge from which to draw. And not knowing those arithmetic facts only impedes the progress of students when trying to continue their study of mathematics.
To increase student achievement or raise standards in math, a number of factors have to be considered. The two most important ones are teacher knowledge and giving teachers enough time to do the job well.
You can't have high standards if everyone can meet those standards on the first try. Knowing that, some flexibility has to be built into the system that would allow a second attempt. A standard is based on course content and student performance, not solely seat time or credits. A standard is measured through testing.
Parents and teachers wanting to help students learn would require students to take notes. Those notes would include a title, definitions, identifications, pattern development, algorithms and examples worked out using those algorithms. They should be used daily for home study.
In school with teachers and at home with parents, students should recite important definitions, formulas, theorems, strategies and algorithms almost daily. Besides having the entire class participate in oral recitations, individual students should also be called to recite important information. At home, parents should look at their child's notebook. They should be able to see exactly what the teacher taught that day. They should also ask their kids to recite information in the notebook.
In first grade, we learned our spelling words by saying them, saying them, saying them, then writing them two or three times. Only after then did we ask our parents to quiz us on the information. Another news flash: That hasn't changed. Whether the kids are in first, fifth or 12th grade, oral recitation is important for the great majority of kids.
Clearly, kids who can't verbalize what they are learning are going to have a tough time knowing the next step. That's typically demonstrated by kids announcing: "I'm lost," "I'm stuck" or "What do I do next?". Memorizing algorithms or strategies for computation or solving problems eliminates many of those complaints. Knowing definitions allows students to have an idea of what's being discussed. Is that a bad idea?
Relating new material to skills and concepts already taught not only makes kids feel more comfortable, it reinforces concepts, vocabulary and algorithms previously learned. That's a review in itself. Educational research suggests there is a strong correlation to increased student achievement when this linkage exists.
Homework should mean more than just completing an assignment and going to the next book; students should study -- which entails thinking. Parents need to check that at least once a week. Kids who don't study should be grounded. Remember, test preparation isn't done the night before the test. Parents should know when tests are scheduled and ask their kids what's to be tested so they can help them prepare by asking them questions. Naturally, parents could get those questions by looking in the notebook.
To be successful, students need to understand concepts, use correct vocabulary and notation, memorize important facts and algorithms, see the relationships that exist and be able to apply that knowledge.
There are no shortcuts; that takes time and study. It also eliminates surprises.
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