Editor's note: This is the first in a series of periodic
articles about reforms in public education. During a conference
for more than 200 Aiken County School District administrators
and teachers this week, a national consultant showed them some
math questions a student might find on a test. • Express
probabilities as fractions, percents or decimals. • Classify
triangles according to angle size and/or length of sides. Then
the consultant, Dr. Bill Daggett, produced other questions:
Calculate percentages of advertising in a newspaper. Tour the
school building and identify examples of parallel and
perpendicular lines, planes and angles. The last two questions
are asking essentially for the same answers, but students are
far more likely to respond positively to them, Daggett said.
“That's a framework that's interesting and relevant to
students,” said Dr. Beth Everitt, the district superintendent.
“It's important to put their work into a context that they can
understand.” She invited Daggett to Aiken to meet with