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McDonald's Adds Test Prep to Happy Meal Menu
Note: YOU try answering this first grade math question. I say the answer is "14 tubes." Apparently the idea is that since math in the real world is often ambiguous, math questions on tests should be ambiguous too.
BENNINGTON -- McDonald's is offering more than Quarter Pounders and milk shakes for the next few months: Customers will also be able to answer test questions from the New Standards Reference Exam.
The fast food restaurant's placemats are printed with some practice questions from the same tests that landed the middle school and high school in hot water.
The statewide tests measure school quality and student achievement and are taken each year by Vermont students in the second, fourth, eighth and 10th grades.
Here's a sample of what may await you the next time you stop in for a Big Mac and fries.
"We have 14 children to play in the snow. Snow tubes hold one child. Sleds hold two children. Toboggans hold three children. How many tubes, sleds and toboggans will we need?"
If it sounds simple, it should be - that's a first grade question.
The Bennington McDonald’s is working with the Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union to provide examples of the questions on the New Standards Math Reference Exams in grades 4, 8 and 10, and the problem-solving questions given to students in all grades. The school district approached the restaurant, which took on the cost of producing the placemats.
For those who want to challenge themselves a bit more, here is a 10th grade-level question that requires a diagram printed on the placemat to answer completely.
"I was constructing towers when I noticed that each time I made one higher, I had to add more blocks to the sides to stabilize the structure. I would like to know how many cubes I'll need to build a five-block tower and a 10-block high tower."
For the next three months sample questions like these will be rotated on the placemats for families to chew over along with the Value Meals.
The idea for the placemats came out of some brainstorming sessions held last October and November when local educators were trying to come up with ways of improving scores on the statewide tests, according to Helene Mellon, assistant superintendent for curriculum development at the Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union.
"We need to share with community what the tests look like," Mellon said "Problems that students are tested on today are based on real-life applications, unlike the test questions from years ago."
The SVSU approached the Bennington McDonald's restaurant with the idea of putting the questions on the placemats, Mellon said. McDonald's helped with the printing and layout as well as paying for most of the costs, Mellon said. There will be five separate series of placemats with different sets of questions, she said.
According to Patti Matthews, a spokeswoman for the Capital Region McDonald's Cooperative based in Albany, N.Y., the cost of a case of the placemats is about $130, and a typical restaurant uses two cases a month.
McDonald's was happy to participate in the project, according to manager Hazel Harris.
"We try to do anything in the community we can that would be helpful, especially if it involves children," Harris said.
The placemats have been out for more than a week, but so far Harris hasn't been able to gauge the reaction.
The statewide tests include sections on language skills as well as math. The next round of tests will be administered in early March, and will be used to determine whether the Mount Anthony Union High School and Middle School remain identified as needing improvement.
Parents who may be concerned about getting shown up by the kids will have the benefit of the answers printed on the placemats, according to Robert Marcoux, interim superintendent of the SVSU.
"This is a way of getting families involved in the tests," said Marcoux. "McDonald's has been generous to offer their support."
— Andrew McKeever
Burgers, Fries, and a Math Test
Bennington Banner
Jan 9, 2003
http://www.benningtonbanner.com/Stories/0,1413,104%7E8678%7E1098040,00.html
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
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