Mr. Teachbad was musing about the sleeze of being easy (as far as grading) which fit what I woke up thinking about: the "arithmetic" course I thought for seniors this year.
Well, they are supposed to be seniors and are old enough for that title, but only a little more than 60% were actually 12th graders. I wondered about my pass rate, since there were several who just quit coming to school (mentally or physically) and I couldn't get the work out of them to justify passing them.
Of the seniors, a little more than half graduated. In total (all students, not just the ones classified as 12th graders), a third dropped out or moved away. Several spent time in the hoosegow for various offenses.
Only 70% completed the course and of those, my failure rate was 10%.
Since it was a ridiculously easy class - even if I weren't easy - but a necessary one (consumer math), these stats are ridiculous.
(PS a couple of the kids were honor graduates, in calculus as well as this class [which they didn't need to graduate] so there was a challenge teaching it. That is, a challenge dealing with something other than homelessness, court, drugs, etc.)
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2 comments:
i teach English and we have that same problem with our seniors and electives. many of them are taking the AP course and then take the elective, which they don't have to pass and then, well, do nothing. my fellow teachers are frustrated...why take a class if you aren't going to do it?
I only had a couple who didn't need this class to graduate (And they earned As) Unfortunately for most, easy as it is, it is required for you to walk.
But easily a third had set themselves up before entering my door to where they could not graduate.
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