Friday, February 10, 2017

Common Core Algebra II: A Truckload of Oranges?

Can someone please explain to me WTH "The Orange" question (#26) from the January 2017 Common Core Algebra II Regents was asking?

This question is... just, wow. Where do I even begin?
"An orange-juice processing plant receives a truckload of oranges. The quality control team randomly chooses three pails of oranges, each containing 50 oranges, from the truckload. Identify the sample and the population in the given scenario.
State one conclusion that the quality control team could make about the population if 5% of the sample was found to be unsatisfactory."
The statistic doesn't quite make sense (5% implies 7.5 oranges were unsatisfactory?). State one conclusion? I mean, I'm sure there are lots of things one could say about the oranges. I'm not sure how any of the conclusions could be statistical in nature. Also, I don't understand how this is a 2-pointer. Seems like the second task should be more substantial, but not on a question worth so few points. What exactly were they looking for here? Of course, the scoring rubric and sample responses are of no use whatsoever.

See more here: Common Core Algebra II January 2017 Regents exam.

(Photo: from Creative Commons.)

2 comments:

  1. What's one conclusion that can be made about the quality of the writing of A2 Regent's exam questions? I can think of a few...no z-scores or CIs needed!

    ReplyDelete