Wednesday, August 13, 2008

State Superintendent Flunks Everyday Math

Today's P & C story on ACT scores provides both the good news and the bad news. [See State ACT Scores up 5th Year in Row.]

First, the good news: "The composite score for the Palmetto State's 2008 high school graduates was 19.9 on a 36-point scale, which is a .3 improvement from last year."

Now, the bad news: "'This is pretty remarkable to see a three-fold increase in one year,' [Jim Rex] said."

Mathematicians of the world, unite! Most readers won't even see the problem.

By the way, although CCSD did finally manage to beat South Carolina's average, the only non-magnet high school to match the NATIONAL average was Wando.

2 comments:

dan dempsey said...

"This is pretty remarkable to see a three-fold increase in one year," he said.

I hope this is an example of inaccurate reporting.

An increase of 0.3 points is approximately an increase of 1.5%
which is certainly not a three fold increase.

Yikes, is it the Superintendent or the Press who are mathematically ignorant?

Anonymous said...

Both.