Lake Worth High School fared in the bottom three of all high schools in the recent Algebra I exam with a score of 39% passing. Palm Beach Lakes (36%) and Glades Central (36%) joined Lake Worth in the bottom three. Only 68% of the kids county wide passed.
The school district spent $1.5 million for summer remediation classes for students who had failed algebra previously... your tax dollars going towards a results oriented use.
Frank Rodriguez, the district's assistant superintendent of quality assurance said, "This is good news that more of our kids were able to score proficiently and above." Mr. Rodriguez is proud of this achievement but failed to say that the teachers teach to the exam questions and the students still couldn't figure out x2 + 2x - 5.
Read more... of the deplorable story.
13 comments:
My daughter goes to Dreyfus and their results were at 92%. Those kids read and speak English. I could not see having her stay at Lake Worth where maybe 2/3rds of the kids fail because of language and reading insufficiencies and parents at home who don't speak English.
Well, then maybe we need to teach them in Spanish or Creole? Teach them in their language so they can learn the material better, still infusing English. We have way too many excuses why our kids do not perform. There are always so many variables/dynamics to it all for real success. Maybe Lake Worth needs some teachers like Jaime Escalante teaching math to better reach these young people, it is so critical in the age of STEM.
It all starts with the parents.
NO. Maybe they should learn ENGLISH.
Wow, what arrogance anonymous has to even suggest that we teach them in their language. Not on our tax payer dollar we won't. They want to learn in their language they can do that in their very own country. When I wanted to learn Spanish formally I went to Puerto Rico and did my high school there. English is the easiest language to learn. I am pretty sure if you polled the numbers you would be surprised how many of those underacheivers are homegrown. The quality of teachers in public schools and their resources need to improve not a change in language! That is just ludicrous to seriously suggest such a travesty!
Sincerely,
Mark A. Parrilla
Parent!!!! Thought this was interesting:
From Psychology Today, Thursday, May 16, 2013,. See http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200411/nation-wimps
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A Nation of Wimps
Parents are going to ludicrous lengths to take the bumps out of life for their children. However, parental hyperconcern has the net effect of making kids more fragile; that may be why they're breaking down in record numbers.
By Hara Estroff Marano
Maybe it's the cyclist in the park, trim under his sleek metallic blue helmet, cruising along the dirt path... at three miles an hour. On his tricycle.
Or perhaps it's today's playground, all-rubber-cushioned surface where kids used to skin their knees. And... wait a minute... those aren't little kids playing. Their mommies-and especially their daddies-are in there with them, coplaying or play-by-play coaching. Few take it half-easy on the perimeter benches, as parents used to do, letting the kids figure things out for themselves.
Then there are the sanitizing gels, with which over a third of parents now send their kids to school, according to a recent survey. Presumably, parents now worry that school bathrooms are not good enough for their children.
Consider the teacher new to an upscale suburban town. Shuffling through the sheaf of reports certifying the educational "accommodations" he was required to make for many of his history students, he was struck by the exhaustive, well-written-and obviously costly-one on behalf of a girl who was already proving among the most competent of his ninth-graders. "She's somewhat neurotic," he confides, "but she is bright, organized and conscientious-the type who'd get to school to turn in a paper on time, even if she were dying of stomach flu." He finally found the disability he was to make allowances for: difficulty with Gestalt thinking. The 13-year-old "couldn't see the big picture." That cleverly devised defect (what 13-year-old can construct the big picture?) would allow her to take all her tests untimed, especially the big one at the end of the rainbow, the college-worthy SAT.
Although we're well on our way to making kids more fragile, no one thinks that kids and young adults are fundamentally more flawed than in previous generations. Maybe many will "recover" from diagnoses too liberally slapped on to them. In his own studies of 14 skills he has identified as essential for adulthood in American culture, from love to leadership, Epstein has found that "although teens don't necessarily behave in a competent way, they have the potential to be every bit as competent and as incompetent as adults."
Parental anxiety has its place. But the way things now stand, it's not being applied wisely. We're paying too much attention to too few kids-and in the end, the wrong kids. As with the girl whose parents bought her the Gestalt-defect diagnosis, resources are being expended for kids who don't need them.
PBDC and many schools here in South Florida already teach the students in their native tongue Mark and we pay for it. Many schools have programs like this already, it is actually a good thing as it helps the students to also retain their mother tongue instead of losing it, like maybe you did. As a teacher here in PB we have many programs for young people, Dual Language programs are big now, many schools offer them, some students learn half day in English half in the other or one day in English the other day in their language, not all students take advantage of it, it helps in many ways. We need to move away from an "only English" mentality here. It was so impressive that yesterday, Serena Williams who won the French Open is fluent in French and she actually gave her acceptance speech entirely in French. This looks good for the USA and America. "We can do it" and it doesn't have to be only in English. Lo siento amigo! No todo tiene que estar en ingles en mi opinion.
If you are a resident of this country or an immigrant who wants to stay, learn the English language. It is expected.
If you are a visitor in a foreign country and you know their language, then by all means speak it. It's polite but not expected.
Resident vs. visitor. There is a big difference.
" We need to move away from an "only English" mentality here."
Why ? Why should we move away from demanding that the people that CHOOSE to come and live here speak our language, ENGLISH? I'll say it again, AMERICA'S LANGUAGE IS ENGLISH!!!!If you want to keep someone a second class citizen, make sure that they do not speak the language of the place that they reside. Go tell Quebec to move away from a "only French" mentality. And if you do , please take pictures for the rest of us to enjoy.
You would like people who are stupid and unemployed speak English, or better to have smart employed persons speak foreign language paying taxes, buying homes, cars, goods?
Teach them Afrikaner or Mongolian for I rather have educated community then English speaking welfare dummy.
English is not easy launguage to learn. My name Chris is Kris in majority world, learn frenetically. Polish is nationality, not use to clean silverware, see not easy.
Polish Chris
Yeah, Chris...you sound like one smart dude who is contributing to society in a very big way.
You are ignorant. I graduated from that school with a 3.7 g.p.a. Your daughter isn't too good for anything that's why she will grow up being a snobby child and eventually it'll come back to her. I am a smart independent woman who has a career and no my mother does not speak English. She did her best to raise her children making her more stronger and more of a woman than you will ever be. Shame on you for blaming parents who can't speak english. These people only want the best for their children.
Not too smart to call someone else "ignorant" who has a different opinion than yours.
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