A lot of people have been talking, and will be talking for a while, about the Integrated Algebra curriculum/exam in New York this year. For now, consider the following question (#31) from this brand-spanking-new exam:
"Tom drove 290 miles from his college to home and used 23.2 gallons of gasoline. His sister, Ann, drove 225 miles from her college to home and used 15 gallons of gasoline. Whose vehicle had better gas mileage? Justify your answer."
Two questions:
(1) Do you think this question is harder for students whose parents do not own cars? Or perhaps, have not spent considerable time in cars?
(2) If yes, does this make the test "unfair"?
(1) Do you think this question is harder for students whose parents do not own cars? Or perhaps, have not spent considerable time in cars?
(2) If yes, does this make the test "unfair"?
Upon seeing the question, the eyebrows went up, the blood boiled as I thought about my kids from upper Manhattan who, in general, do not spend time in cars. Buses, subways, yes; cars, not nearly as much. They don't gas them up, don't drive them around, don't have a sense of what gas mileage really is. I don't think this is even about being economically disadvantaged; people in the five boroughs do not drive as much as people outside of the five boroughs. I don't own a car. Most people I know don't either, even if they could afford one.
In the end it's yes and yes. The question is far harder if you've never filled a car with gas and driven it around. Let alone if you don't even know what the phrase "gas mileage" means. My best students struggled with this question. Put the phrase in the performance indicators or write a fairer question, New York.
I've always thought it would be interesting to write an exam that had a bias the other way, where my kids would "get" all the questions and everyone else would struggle with vocabulary, context, meaning. Is there a way to "invert" this question?
3 comments:
This is why standardized tests are unfair - kids don't come from some sort of "standardized" background. If you're a student from, say, West Texas, it's reasonable to say you might have a good understanding of gas mileage, but not know why someone would wear "galoshes" to save your life.
Just a comment that this question wasn't just a difficult context for city kids. I teach in a suburban school where I'd venture to say the kids have spent significant time in cars, however, they are in 9th grade. They haven't driven them nor had to gas them up. I for one try to AVOID contexts in my classroom that would be foreign to the students, I try to stick to situations where they have some familiarity, so I didn't touch "gas mileage" either. NY gives us a HUGE word list already, then they include crap on the test that isn't even on it. Throw us a freaking bone, here.
cipolla: Interesting to hear the suburban perspective. I think you're right on: a big part of our job as teachers is presenting material in a context that students find comfortable/interesting. Foreign/strange/unuseful contexts are often left out, with good reason. Throw us a bone, indeed.
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