Updated Dec 7, 2011 - 3:47 pm
School board member fails tenth grade assessment; questions real-life value of test material
![]() Should kids be required to pass a test on material they'll never use again? (AP Photo) |
A school board member who took and failed a tenth grade state student assessment test says he wonders just how much of this material we should be holding students accountable for.
Orange County Florida School Board member Rick Roach says he scored 62 percent on the verbal section of the test and only got 10 out of 60 questions right on the math section.
"I was shocked by my results," Roach tells 97.3 KIRO FM's Ross and Burbank Show. "I really wanted to do well. I really threw up my hands and I've got to tell you, it was a little bit of a self-esteem bashing there."
Listen to Rick Roach: School board member fails tenth grade assessment
After seeing his own verbal score, Roach thinks many students may be being mislabeled as poor readers.
"My concern is we're probably calling a lot of tenth grade kids poor readers when they're probably pretty good readers," said Roach. "I wasn't a great student in school, but I teach 19 graduate level courses to teachers in America and I've never considered myself a poor reader."
In the math section of the test, Roach said he was at a complete loss.
"I literally didn't know any of the math questions."
While Roach said he passed courses in algebra and geometry when he was a student, he could not answer the questions on the test. He points out material taught to students that is not essential to their life after school is often not retained.
"If you do not need the information that you're learning for survival, you won't retain it," said Roach. "I've talked to a couple dozen different friends in different professions and I've asked them if they used that math. All of them, every one of them has said, 'No, I don't use that kind of math.'"
With that in mind, Roach said perhaps educators should consider whether requirements to learn such material should be a roadblock to graduation.
"A lot of the stuff we teach kids today really just registers in their short-term memory. They pass the test, they move on. But if you don't use the material, if you don't use it, you lose it," said Roach. "Let's teach them things that make them successful in life that the brain holds onto because it needs it for survival."
Roach says educators should spend more time considering the material they hold students accountable for.
"If that's what kids need to be successful today in 2011, then I'm fine with it," said Roach. "We ought to at least be asking the questions."
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By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor
Jamie Griswold, MyNorthwest.com Editor
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