Prolonged study period

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Prolonged study period

by kvitkod » Fri Jun 03, 2011 12:41 am
The principal of School X has proposed a plan that would add an hour-long study period to the end of the school day. She claims that the extension would improve the school's average score on the math section of the state assessment by allowing students more time to complete math homework that they wouldn't otherwise have time to complete.

Which of the following statements, if true, would most weaken the argument presented above?

A.Math teachers of students in School X have noted an overall decline in the number of homework assignments completed by students since the school eliminated midday study periods two years ago.

B.Administrators from neighboring School Y recently implemented a school day extension and have seen no significant improvement in student test scores on the state assessment.

C.Music department faculty members at School X strongly oppose the plan because they feel any time added to the school day should be used to bolster the music curriculum.

D.Parents of students from School X have expressed concern that the proposed schedule change would interfere with students' extracurricular activities.

E.The core components of School X's math curriculum are not aligned with the topics tested on the state math assessment.

[spoiler]OA - E, my choice B. I think that B weakens the argument, since it provides us with similar situation, which results in another effect (As I remember this is an option to weaken the argument under the CR Bible). E, on the other hand, out of the scope - we do not know that additional hour will be used by the students to study curriculum program. Moreover, it is possible that students will use this hour for other (additional) math study, which aligns with state assessment test. Please explain[/spoiler]

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by itsmebharat » Fri Jun 03, 2011 12:49 am
IMO E
I am not an Expert, please feel free to suggest if there is an error.

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by cans » Fri Jun 03, 2011 12:50 am
IMO E
conclusion is - school's average score on the math section of the state assessment will improve
b) school Y is out of context. maybe school Y implemented school day extension for music period.
c)music dept faculty is purely out of scope. They don't have any relation with the math score.
by allowing students more time to complete math homework that they wouldn't otherwise have time to complete.
the one hour study time will be used to complete math homework and thus it has to be math's curriculum of school. As it is not aligned with state assessment, how can they claim to improve state assessment score. Thus E.
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by rohu27 » Fri Jun 03, 2011 12:52 am
The principal claims that using the additional one hour study time, avg score of the state assessment can be improved.
BUT what if the course syllabus is not in line with what is tested on the on the state assessment ?
If above is true even if the children are made to study more, the results cannot be improved.

Choice E captures this perfectly.

otherhand C says, for school Y the program was not successful. there may be many other reasons for tht.we cannot apply the same to school X

HTH