Breaking the Small Business Code

College Kids and Monkeys About Equal on Math

 "College Kids and Monkeys About Equal on Math" is an eye-catching title of an article posted by MSN Health today,  (PDF copy available here if it is missing from the MSN Site: LPT_PDF02142009).

Elizabeth Brannon, an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University is studying how human adults and infants, lemurs and monkeys think about numbers without using language. She is trying to identify which parts of the brain house "number sense" and the she is trying to determine how this math skills develop.

Among other things, she found college students and macaque have similar speed and accuracy (!) when doing a rough sort of math by summing sets of objects without actually counting them! As an engineer who speaks "math", I found it very interesting that math skills are apparently inherent to primates!

When I first saw the title I was prepared for an article on the sad state of math skills in our college students.  So while it didn't turn out to be that, it got me thinking about why students fight math when it is such a critical tool for college and life success.

I regularly have students tell me they are picking their college major based on NOT wanting anything with "math in it".  I have also lost count on the number of times one of my solid "B to B+" students ended up in a remedial math class in college - a situation which added time AND costs for getting their undergraduate degree!

I started my college planning career with college funding and scholarships, then added admissions, then majors and careers, and eventually added test prep.  But over the last 15 years it has become apparent that focusing on those 4 college-related steps with just high school juniors and seniors was not addressing the real needs of my client families.  Something was missing in their tool kits for success in college and for life!

Basic math skills are critical in the increasingly high tech economy.  Math is needed for personal financial literacy. A lot of our current economic problems can be blamed on people's inability to understand their personal cash flow. That is because virtually all the studies show our students are NOT getting what they need for math success.

I am not going to point fingers at anyone in the education "system" for failing to create math "literate" students. Blaming schools, teachers, parents, administrators, and/or the government is not the way to find solutions. Instead, I went looking for PROVEN TOOLS to make basic skills accessible and successful for more students regardless of the system.  I wanted to find something for teaching 21st century students using 21st century technology.

I am taking an engineering approach to building a SYSTEM for success in education available to anyone with internet access. I am proud to announce the launch on March 1 of a new initiative from Linda P. Taylor's Insider Secrets:  "Creating Access to Higher Scores and the Education Edge" (CAHSEE). 

CAHSEE is designed to pull together the tool kit that middle school, high school, college, and even adults need for learning success!  I want to give families access to the FUNDAMENTAL SKILLS we ALL need for a lifetime of success.  

I will soon announce the CAHSEE program for creating mastery in Math and English Language Arts (ELA).  But in the meantime, I want suggestions from readers about what other needs and especially what tools, programs, and systems you think should be included.  PLEASE send me comments, suggestions, ideas and referrals to make CAHSEE rock!

Do AP Classes Teach the Subject or to Pass the Test?

     My favorite resource for college-related news US News has ANOTHER great article -  this time on how some high schools are considering dropping the College Board's Advanced Placement (AP) classes. 

    The reason being given is it "restricts" how teachers can teach.  The issue teachers say is they want to put less emphasis on memorization and test preparation and more on "exploration" of the material.  This is another example of the conflict between testing to make sure our students have a minimum level of skills versus teaching to pass the exit or other measurement exam!

     What complicates things is the AP class is considered as being a "valuable"  indicator of the ability of the student to do college-level work compared to taking a traditional/non-AP classes.  Because AP classes are taught to a specific "rigorous" college prep level and there is a national test through the College Board (same people who do the SAT), it helps validate a student's college potential compared to other students.  This is especially valuable when the college admissions staff does not know much about the high school's reputation.

     Most high schools also add a point to the student's classroom grade (e.g., a 3.0 is a 4.0 in an AP class) in recognition of the difficulty of the classes compared to the traditional level classes.  This AP bonus can mean a higher overall GPA value for students.  The problem in dropping the AP classes is the more elite the college, the more likely other applicants are taking AP classes and that their high school GPA will be over 4.0!

    I can agree that "learning" may be different when there is less emphasis on memorization and preparation for passing the AP test. I also agree there is a need to measure the "learning outcome" so we can tell if our children are getting the education they need.  So both approaches are right and both are wrong.  We need a blend of both!

   Again, what do you think?  What should we do to measure student preparation versus teaching beyond passing a test?

   

Example of Our Problems with Education!

       There is a great article by Howard Blume today in the Los Angeles Times on the problems with the new mandatory Algebra class in California schools.  This debate is an example of what is happening in our high schools:  how to educate our students to the highest level possible while accomodating students not ready for "prime time".

     For those who don't know, it is now California state policy to REQUIRE algebra in the eighth grade.  There are now two sides pulling and pushing over this requirement.

     One side is supported by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to create a math test for all eighth-graders that would satisfy federal officials.   The other side as represented by the California School Boards Assn. and the Assn. of California School Administrators (suing to stop the implementation) which feel the new requirement sets up unprepared students for failure while holding back others with solid math skills.

     This is a classic example of positive intentions (teach higher math) running into social issues (students arriving in 8th grade with 2nd grade skills).  My questions are:

• How did those kids hit 8th grade with 2nd grade skills? 
• What does that say about the education system that allows students to be passed along? 
• Why is money always the answer when the amount of money already being spent in cities like Washington D.C. (the most money per student) is cited in the story as dead last in math assessment?
• What does it say about educators who sue to stop the implementation rather than sit down and address these real problems?

    As a college planning advisor, these are REAL issues that I face evry day trying to find colleges for students and then helping them pay for it.  What happens when a student who can be 6 grades behind in skills like math are given a position in colleges as a "special admit" for athletic or other reasons?  What happens to the USA in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) when students enter less than prepared?

    Let's start talking NOW.  The longer we wait to address these issues, the more students will end up dropping out or taking majors that do not have math components that lets the USA fall farther behind in STEM.