kitchen table math, the sequel: David Steiner, David Steiner

Friday, April 30, 2010

David Steiner, David Steiner

here

here

and

here

Amazing.

12 comments:

Catherine Johnson said...

There was lots more

incredible

SteveH said...

"Dr. Steiner told the audience, repeatedly, that New York’s state tests in grades 3-8 do not match the “college trajectory.” "

NAEP doesn't either. There is also a very wide range for the college trajectory. There is an order of magnitude difference between Brown University and the local community college. There seems to be a K-16 trend that wants to dumb down college to make the college trajectory possible for all. Instead of fixing the problem, they are redefining it.

lgm said...

In my county the CC is reporting that students who have scored in the 90s on the English Regents exam are failing the CC's English placement exam.

Laura M. said...

In my county the CC is reporting that students who have scored in the 90s on the English Regents exam are failing the CC's English placement exam.

That's outrageous.

lgm, what county are you in, again?

lgm said...

I'm not sure if it is outrageous. It may simply mean that CCs are testing some unit that the public school has left out. Or it may mean that there is a difference of opinion on how an essay is graded (we know that essay grading can differ wildly based on grader). Or it may mean that districts are trying to push students into the CC's College English 101 when in reality they need 12th grade English. I'd like to see some data, but the board member who reported this info didn't have it available.

I'm in NY, within the NYC commuting radius. We only spend $16K per pupil here and are considered 'average' for NY state.

lgm said...

Catherine,
Given that he's been at Hunter, he's aware of the many intelligent nonelite children who don't have appropriate academic options available due to limited seating or just plain being in the minority in their district. Did he have any comments on how the state intended to serve these children?

Lisa said...

To say that gifted or even high average students are neglected is an understatement. I'd love to see schools admit there are differences in children and that they are not all going to end up at the same place. Sorry, that hit my particular button.

Laura M. said...

I'm not sure if it is outrageous.

Fair enough.

I'm in NY, within the NYC commuting radius

Is there any chance you'd be interested and available to help brainstorm requirements for NY State elementary kids, in order for them to be prepared for the college prep track (what remains of it at least) by middle school?

lgm said...

No availability at this time, but perhaps in the fall. In a formal endeavour I am not the right person as I don't have the credentials to be taken seriously. My background is in engineering rather than mathematics or education.

I suspect though, that you may be reinventing the wheel.
From what I did with my own children, it seems to me that the existing NY objectives by grade level are sufficient prep. The JHU CTY and Stanford EPGY math course objectives by grade level also show the path.

Laura M. said...

I suspect though, that you may be reinventing the wheel.
From what I did with my own children, it seems to me that the existing NY objectives by grade level are sufficient prep. The JHU CTY and Stanford EPGY math course objectives by grade level also show the path.


Thanks, I will take that into consideration--I would prefer not to spend my time reinventing the wheel. :-)

By the way, if you have time to answer, I'd love to know what you think of the Core Knowledge sequence.

Also, I think someone with an engineering background and an amateur interest in education and math, and a personal interest in the goal, would be incredibly valuable, so I am going to follow up in the fall and see how things stand then, if that's ok.

lgm said...

Sure, glad to chat.

I looked at CK six years ago and thought it was too lite for us on the math. The rest seemed like general knowledge -myths, history, etc. Were I homeschooling, I'd probably go with Well Trained Mind's suggestions combined with the children's interests with the exception of math. For math, I ran across this post
http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?p=33140#p33140 and ended up afterschooling with Singapore Primary Math 3-6.

Laura M. said...

great, and thanks, lgm, that's helpful.

I also like The Well Trained Mind approach.

What I like about the CK sequence is that it has some specific guidelines about what x graders should be able to do (in terms of reading and writing), but I haven't looked into it in detail.