A closer look at teachers' assessment of Math preparation

• Autores: Susan White
• Localización: The Physics Teacher, ISSN 0031-921X, Vol. 51, Nº. 5, 2013, pág. 297
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • As we saw in the April issue, over 70% of high school physics teachers believe that their students' math background is at least adequate for the course. However, a very different picture emerges when we take a closer look. In the figure at right, we have separated private schools and public schools by socioeconomic status (SES). Although the majority of teachers at both public and private schools described their students as adequately prepared for physics in terms of their math backgrounds, teachers at private schools were significantly more likely to describe their students as very well prepared (23% versus 11%) and significantly less likely to describe their students as inadequately prepared (19% versus 32%). Furthermore, teachers at public schools where students were �worse off� economically1 were more likely to find their students inadequately prepared than teachers at other public schools. Have a great summer; we will see you in the fall with more data. Susan White is Research Manager in the Statistical Research Center at the American Institute of Physics; she directs the Nationwide Survey of High School Physics Teachers. If you have any questions, please contact Susan at swhite@aip.org.