[Fwd: Re: [seul-edu] Looking for math curriculum]

[Doug Loss <dloss@suscom.net>]

owner-seul-edu@seul.org wrote:

> From: pspears@hiscs.org
> To: seul-edu@seul.org
> Subject: Re: [seul-edu] Looking for math curriculum
>
> dave,
> give studyweb.com a try...
> phil
>
> Quoting Dave Prentice <dprentice@uno.edu>:
>
> > Hello all,
> >     It's been a while since I wrote. Hope somebody can give some
> > guidance. I am a high school math teacher in Orleans Parish (we don't
> > have counties), Louisiana. This is consistently one of the worst states
> > as far as education goes, and Orleans Parish is the worst of the worst.
> > We just heard the results of the latest LEAP test (LA Educational
> > Assessment Program), high-stakes testing students must pass to be
> > promoted out of 4th grade, 8th grade, and high school. Orleans was
> > lowest in the state with only 16% of eighth graders scoring "Basic" or
> > above on the math test. The state decided to pass the 20% who had even
> > "approaching basic" scores, for which they only had to get a 40% on the
> > test. This gave 36% passing, 64% failing. To keep the 8th grade
> > classrooms from overflowing while the 9th grade sits empty, they have
> > set up emergency "Grade 8.5" programs to move the students out of the
> > middle school buildings and on to high school.
> >     We teachers have to somehow bring these children up to speed, or
> > they will never graduate high school. To summarize: the children of New
> > Orleans are in big trouble!
> >
> >     I made a career change from computer service tech to teacher 2 years
> > ago fully aware what I was getting into. Since then, I've been
> > assembling a classroom Linux network from junked computers. (13 working
> > now, just waiting on a few more pieces and parts to add 4 more.) The
> > math chairperson at my school has taken notice, and has asked me to
> > design a program to teach at-risk students who either have failed the
> > high school graduation LEAP or are expected to fail. I am honored at the
> > trust, but also overwhelmed.
> >
> >     My question: does anybody have contacts or information about
> > computer-based remedial math programs for at-risk high school students?
> > We really need a comprehensive curriculum that starts from the basics
> > such as number sense, counting and so on. Ideally, it should progress
> > all the way through Algebra 1 and geometry. If it matters, the network
> > runs Linux but can also access anything on the Internet. I don't have
> > good enough hardware to run Windows emulation at any decent speed.
> >
> >     Any help will be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Dave Prentice
> > prentice@instruction.com
> >
> >




--
Doug Loss                 God is a comedian playing
Data Network Coordinator  to an audience too afraid
Bloomsburg University     to laugh.
dloss@bloomu.edu                Voltaire