Many students struggle with basic computation, but word problems, which make up the bulk of the 8th-grade ITBS, give them the most difficulty, transition teachers say. Only one word problem comes up today. Leslie's car can go 95 miles on 5 gallons of gasoline. Here she leads them through the setup of two equivalent ratios. Next week, she'll work on interpreting graphs and later a little geometry.
Some students still flounder with math as basic as the multiplication tables, however.
During a chapter test the second period, several have to refer to a times table chart over the blackboard. Other students have more serious issues than times tables. The same six who didn't work earlier also refuse to take the test. Each has a different problem, which White addresses individually as best she can. One girl was just reinstated at Transition F this morning.