Math testing is really just more reading testing

Here are some examples of the math questions my ELL students will face the week of April 20th:

Instructions: Read each question carefully and circle the correct answer.

4. The Smith family was on vacation. They had 2 months to complete their journey. They drove 50 miles on the first day. By the end of the first month, they had driven 1,500 miles. They wanted to drive 3,250 total miles by the end of their journey. How many miles do they need to travel in the last month?
A. 50 miles
B. 1,500 miles
C. 3,250 miles
D. 1,750 miles


5. The family baked cookies for the school fundraiser. They baked 2 dozen oatmeal, 3 dozen chocolate chip and 1 dozen peanut butter. They plan on selling each cookie for $1.00 and they want to raise $75.
How many chocolate chip cookies did the family need to bake?
A. 24 cookies
B. 12 cookies
C. 36 cookies
D. 72 cookies


6. Helen bought 6 green notebooks, 5 orange notebooks, 2 pink notebooks, 9 pencils, and 14 pens. How many notebooks did Helen buy?
A. 36 notebooks
B. 22 notebooks
C. 11 notebooks
D. 13 notebooks

7. Fill in the blank.
If N + 17 = 39, then N is _______.
A. 56
B. 663
C. 22
D. 2


8. Fill in the blank.
If N ÷ 24 = 6, then N is _____.
A. 134
B. 144
C. 1,444
D. 14


9. Fill in the blank.
If N x 4 = 112, then N is _______.
A. 28
B. 448
C. 108
D. 116


10. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor went to the movies. They took their three children with them. Adult tickets cost $5.50 and child tickets cost $2.75. How much did the movie cost the family?
A. $8.25
B. $19.25
C. $22.00
D. $27.50


11. Mr. Mila owns two restaurants in the middle of town. A total of 23 people work for Mr. Mila. There are 19 people that work at his Italian restaurant and 7 people that work at his Greek restaurant. How many people work at both restaurants?
A. 26 people
B. 23 people
C. 3 people
D. 19 people



12. Shantal bought 6 doughnuts for $0.45 each and an orange juice for $0.95. How much money did she spend?
A. $3.65
B. $1.40
C. $8.40
D. $6.15


13. Which of these numbers comes between
5.32, ___, 5.40?
A. 5.42
B. 5.28
C. 5.31
D. 5.34


14. Which of these numbers comes between
600.005, _____, 600.1?
A. 600.004
B. 600.11
C. 600.01
D. 600.2


15. What number comes between
48.56, ____, 53.56?
A. 58.76
B. 48.55
C. 51.10
D. 53.66


This is only 15 of 12o questions that take up 36 pages in the test booklet. Let that sink in for a second, 36 pages with 120 questions on one section of the test. There are three other sections that every 3rd and 4th grader has to take. ELL, autistic, special needs, life skills all get to sit through 4 days and almost 8 hours of testing. If they have a reading disability they can get the math test read to them but only if it's in their Education Plan, if not they are on their own. They are expected to read questions that are on grade level, answer them and achieve as well as a native English speaker.

How will my students do?
Better than any adult I work with who had to take the same test in Spanish or Arabic or Kurdish or French.

(Just 4 of the native languages of my students.)