by Ellie Beman

They can write. They read pretty well, too. But can Canby kids pass math?
High school principal Dr. Robert Slaba says yes but questions if that’s the most important thing to peg graduation on.
Recent results showed that 100 per cent of Canby’s ninth graders passed the Minnesota’s statewide writing test.
Every single freshman took the test and passed, Slaba confirmed. Administered in April, there is typically a two-hour time limit where students write on a “prompt” from the Department of Education. The test is scored by two readers and the two scores averaged together.
For the purists, Slaba said, neatness counts. Clarity, penmanship and spelling are three of the five factors that are considered.
While its tough to argue with 100 per cent in writing, reading and math test results get a little murkier.
Canby tenth graders tested in reading last year scored four points above the state average. Not bad, Slaba said, and that gives teachers time to remediate those who don’t make the grade.
The problem comes with 11th graders where just 52 percent managed to pass the state math test on the first try. In fairness, he said, another five per cent of Canby students were just one point short of passing.
Statewide, students did little better. Only 57 percent of the high school juniors passed on their first attempt, leaving nearly one in two seniors in danger of not graduating.
Slaba said Canby began planning to avoid the graduation fall-out three years ago by moving algebra I into junior high and adding algebra III trigonometry into the curriculum. “Every student who’d taken algebra III trig passed the math on the first try,” he said.
The Minnesota Legislature helped, as well, passing legislation allowing students to retake the math test without penalty.
Dumbing down the system? Slaba says no. Heavily concentrating on math means skimping on something else. “Then we aren’t offering a liberal arts eduction.”
It depends on your goals, he said. For his part, Slaba said, graduating productive citizens is what’s important.
Public education can’t operate as if college prep is the sole concern. “Not every student is going to be an engineer.”