Above: The book. Click on the picture to get a good look.

Below: A representative student paper.

Please don’t blame me for the lack of understanding in the above paper. It’s difficult to jump four years of math in a single bound, especially when you are in bilingual classes because you speak relatively little English compared to many peers. I drove an hour on Saturdays to provide tutoring. I tutored for free in school and in McDonalds. I taught furiously. But I had kids coming in at a first grade level in English-language acquisition. The majority of my students were at a third grade level in math. Some were lower.

I was required to give this test to all my students, exactly as written. Any modifications to the test would have “compromised the data.” Data ruled. Students did the best they could. I was also required to base 100% of their grades on tests since we were doing mastery-based grading.

Eduhonesty: Best move for anyone trapped in this situation: Retire if possible. If not, change districts. If you can’t change districts, consider changing professions. Because giving the student who wrote the above pizza answer that particular math book and that common-core-based test can only be termed lunacy. In fact, I’d say mandatory use of that test qualifies as educational malpractice.