Gothamist: Screwy Schools Math Exam Tests Dept. of Ed

Elaine

Sat, 26 Mar 2005 10:27:14 -0500

The sad fact is, we are spending more time teaching our kids how to test well than to think well.

Dirk

Fri, 25 Mar 2005 12:33:04 -0500

The Dept of Education made a mistake? Unpossible!

Max

Fri, 25 Mar 2005 12:05:24 -0500

I would say that the last bit there summed it up. You screw up majorly in a protected bureaucracy like the DoE and you get " a letter of repremand to the person's file". You dont get fired, you dont even (semantics here but what the hell) get repremanded, your file does. And of course, you get that nice pension and probably a mandated raise at the end of the year. If you could actually fire these people, they would be a bit more carefull, but you cannot, so they are not.

HR

Fri, 25 Mar 2005 12:04:12 -0500

those weren't typos in the test. those were actual errors, test was most likely created by a fellow victim of the NYC public school system.

W

Fri, 25 Mar 2005 11:40:50 -0500

Why does the copy editor need a math degree? I have two degrees in English (I didn't even take a math course in college) and I could figure out these problems. Considering the spelling and grammar problems, I'd say the editor just plain sucked.

megan

Fri, 25 Mar 2005 11:04:57 -0500

it's Carmen Farina, not Carolyn

Upton

Fri, 25 Mar 2005 10:41:55 -0500

"... but it seems symbolize the problem with bureaucracy." It seems like Gothamist needs a copy editor!!

ed209

Fri, 25 Mar 2005 10:38:26 -0500

Forth instead of Fourth? Wrong answers on the math exams. The Board of Ed needs to get its act correct!

Bob

Fri, 25 Mar 2005 10:28:34 -0500

Kevin - I think the instructions were to round each month to the nearest hundred. You didn't round EACH month. Rounding 212 down to 200 is fine since it is the NEAREST hundred. Answer is undeniably "C".

Kevin Walsh

Fri, 25 Mar 2005 10:08:51 -0500

As for the first question, 178+212+254=644, and if you round it to the nearest hundred, it's 600. The correct answer should be B. The answer given in the handout is correct, unless you're not allowed to round down. When I went to school, in 19XX, you could round down; perhaps they don't do it that way any more. The second answer of course is completely wrong...