If We Don’t Test Students, How Will We Know Which Colleges Don’t Teach?

Duncan lays out priorities for education law: Testing, preschool funding, teacher evals – The Washington Post. I commented. I’m a former math professor. I have seen firsthand why so many high school students don’t have a chance to learn. It all starts in college. Here is how it happens, what to do about it, why […]

American 15-Year-Olds Fall Further Back in Math

The New York Tims and the Wall Street Journal both reported the results of the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).  (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/education/american-15-year-olds-lag-mainly-in-math-on-international-standardized-tests.html?ref=us&_r=0 http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304579404579234511824563116) I commented on wsj.com and I wll follow up with a post that contains another personal story.  Here is my comment. “I am a former math professor who taught at an […]

WSJ Writes That Businesses Want Workers With Math and Science Degrees

But they are having trouble sinceIn terms of basic math and science skills, “we’re really floundering here in the U.S.,”  Mike Russo, Globalfoundries’ director of government relations, said in an interview. .  Here is the article, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303672404579147282887082384 But Washington University in St. Louis says they have been working to fix this, as I wrote in […]

It Starts in the18th Grade

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/education/us-students-still-lag-globally-in-math-and-science-tests-show.html?ref=us is a link to an article in the NYTimes. Of course, it is not news that US students perfom poorly in math and science.  What is probably not understood is how US graduate education impacts this in a big way.  How does this happen?  Here are my conclusions. The Short Summary:  For a variety of reasons, […]