Math curriculum support workshop number five
Math curriculum support workshop number five was held on Friday 01 February 2013 at Madolehnihmw High School. Due to a change in my own schedule, the session was able to begin earlier in the afternoon than the fall sessions. Leaving the college at 1:45 I was able to arrive just before three in the afternoon.
With the COMET admissions examinations looming, the session was a brief session which focused on mathematics problems that the instructors were apparently having difficulty explaining to the students. The problems involved mixtures and differential rates of travelers.
I took a diagrammatic approach to solving these problems, solving them in pictures before working on the mathematics.
The questions were from some practice instrument off of the Internet. I was reminded yet again of the need for the college to provide a practice test for students. I was also reminded of the intensely high stakes measurement that the COMET presents for these students. Quite unintentionally the college has created what, out in the municipality, feels like a national college entrance examination. And maybe the COMET is exactly that - a national college entrance examination. The COMET is an entrance test and the college is quick to point out that it is the nation's college. With stakes that high, a real practice test ought to be available to the students.
The college is aware of the need to move beyond a single high stakes test, and there have been small steps made in that direction, but much more needs to be done as pointed out in the recommendations in a report from spring 2012. The college should be looking not just at the overall grade point average of a student as a floor requirement, but should also be looking at their academic stream (academic college prep, business, technology and industry, agriculture) along with individual classes and grades when making admissions decisions.
With the COMET admissions examinations looming, the session was a brief session which focused on mathematics problems that the instructors were apparently having difficulty explaining to the students. The problems involved mixtures and differential rates of travelers.
I took a diagrammatic approach to solving these problems, solving them in pictures before working on the mathematics.
The questions were from some practice instrument off of the Internet. I was reminded yet again of the need for the college to provide a practice test for students. I was also reminded of the intensely high stakes measurement that the COMET presents for these students. Quite unintentionally the college has created what, out in the municipality, feels like a national college entrance examination. And maybe the COMET is exactly that - a national college entrance examination. The COMET is an entrance test and the college is quick to point out that it is the nation's college. With stakes that high, a real practice test ought to be available to the students.
The college is aware of the need to move beyond a single high stakes test, and there have been small steps made in that direction, but much more needs to be done as pointed out in the recommendations in a report from spring 2012. The college should be looking not just at the overall grade point average of a student as a floor requirement, but should also be looking at their academic stream (academic college prep, business, technology and industry, agriculture) along with individual classes and grades when making admissions decisions.
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