More skills based grading at madison hs

[Anonymous]

Are any changes being made to Madison for next year? I hate how now there are several grades because of "skills". Sorry, it's still just one test given on one day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are any changes being made to Madison for next year? I hate how now there are several grades because of "skills". Sorry, it's still just one test given on one day.

I agree; I hate that one test on one day can result in 3-4 different grades because it assesses multiple skills. It lets teachers reach the “required “ number of grades while providing fewer assessment opportunities. One off day when a student doesn’t feel well or misunderstands a question can impact half a semester’s worth of grading or more.

DC had an English teacher last year who blamed delayed grading on SBG. Supposedly it took her more than the expected 10 days to return an assignment because of the need to evaluate each skill and provide feedback. Yet after 3+ weeks when the work was finally returned, there was still NO individual feedback. It was generalized to the entire class and everyone got the same comments whether they actually applied or not.

[Anonymous]

Yeah this English teacher has an assessment with 4 skills from February which she has not graded - my child may be in for a surprise when she finally starts grading since the first 3 quarters were based on 3 skills total. There is clearly no oversight of SBG at Madison

[Anonymous]

SBG and a 100 point grading scale coming to a school near year for 24-25 school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well it is using SBG to cover up her failure to grade assessments. So yes it is an SBG problem. And I’m not saying every teacher but this is how it can be used to show grading when there is none.

It has ALWAYS been the case that some teachers don't put in grades in a timely manner. That happened before SBG. It also happens in college. My older kid has finals the coming week. In one class there are 10-12 grade-able assignments/tests/projects/labs, but only THREE grades have been entered! So, kids are going into finals with a grade that looks like a 95%, but who really knows, because another 7+ labs/grades haven't even been entered. Some of the kids went to the Dept. chairperson and she said "there's nothing I can do about it."

So... it happens. Some teachers just aren't very effective in grading work.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s less obvious with SBG because of all the fake practice grades. This is not my first child in high school and I’ve never seen 3 grades total for 3 quarters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s less obvious with SBG because of all the fake practice grades. This is not my first child in high school and I’ve never seen 3 grades total for 3 quarters.

At the very least Madison needs to adhere to the minimum number of assignments and stop pretending that grading one assignment by 4 sections somehow meets the assignment guidelines for FCPS. Talk about checked out classes. I think the guidelines were 4 graded assignments a quarter. This is not overkill for teachers. Give me a break that they are overworked grading 2 assignments a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well it is using SBG to cover up her failure to grade assessments. So yes it is an SBG problem. And I’m not saying every teacher but this is how it can be used to show grading when there is none.

Ms. Gee?

[Anonymous]

15:09. Your argument is a non sequitur. Leave college out of it. High school is not college. Of course there are things high schools can do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:15:09. Your argument is a non sequitur. Leave college out of it. High school is not college. Of course there are things high schools can do.

Wait! I thought part of your arguments for why SBG is soooo bad is that it isn't like what kids will experience in college! But, now when I mention that failure to grade assignments happens both in HS and in college, you are telling me to stop talking about college. Hmmm.

The point still stands that SBG really has nothing to do with a particular teacher only grading three assignments/quarter. My kid's teachers at Madison seem to be capable of grading more than 3 assignments per quarter. Maybe it's the teacher that's the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well it is using SBG to cover up her failure to grade assessments. So yes it is an SBG problem. And I’m not saying every teacher but this is how it can be used to show grading when there is none.

Ms. Gee?

I’m a different pp, but if by “Gee” you mean the initial “G”, we may be discussing the same teacher. Administration was patronizing and dismissive when I raised concerns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s less obvious with SBG because of all the fake practice grades. This is not my first child in high school and I’ve never seen 3 grades total for 3 quarters.

At the very least Madison needs to adhere to the minimum number of assignments and stop pretending that grading one assignment by 4 sections somehow meets the assignment guidelines for FCPS. Talk about checked out classes. I think the guidelines were 4 graded assignments a quarter. This is not overkill for teachers. Give me a break that they are overworked grading 2 assignments a month.

FCPS requires 9 grades per quarter. But the “practice grades” are allowed to count for these in Madison, even though they aren’t graded and don’t count (these are always just As for completion.) So you can end up having just 3-4 real grades per quarter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:15:09. Your argument is a non sequitur. Leave college out of it. High school is not college. Of course there are things high schools can do.

Wait! I thought part of your arguments for why SBG is soooo bad is that it isn't like what kids will experience in college! But, now when I mention that failure to grade assignments happens both in HS and in college, you are telling me to stop talking about college. Hmmm.

The point still stands that SBG really has nothing to do with a particular teacher only grading three assignments/quarter. My kid's teachers at Madison seem to be capable of grading more than 3 assignments per quarter. Maybe it's the teacher that's the problem.

Someone above just showed you how it does. There are significantly less grades and assignments graded or even assigned with SBG.

I don't know who you are referring to about sbg and college. High school is a distinct time of life not to be confused with college and it has a different purpose. To educate all kids in America to a minimally competent academic level before adulthood if not going to college or prepare them for college. College is completely different because it's a focused study for adults mainly specific to a career choice and requires a selection to attend by the applicant and college whereas high school is for all kids within a boundary with no application needed other than specialty programs.

It's been 2 years. People still hate SBG. There is not one positive to the program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s less obvious with SBG because of all the fake practice grades. This is not my first child in high school and I’ve never seen 3 grades total for 3 quarters.

At the very least Madison needs to adhere to the minimum number of assignments and stop pretending that grading one assignment by 4 sections somehow meets the assignment guidelines for FCPS. Talk about checked out classes. I think the guidelines were 4 graded assignments a quarter. This is not overkill for teachers. Give me a break that they are overworked grading 2 assignments a month.

FCPS requires 9 grades per quarter. But the “practice grades” are allowed to count for these in Madison, even though they aren’t graded and don’t count (these are always just As for completion.) So you can end up having just 3-4 real grades per quarter.

So there should be 9 separate assignments on different days graded throughout the quarter. This is not terribly hard. Each quarter is about 45 days long. That is at least 35 days without assessments of any kind.

[Anonymous]

Our teacher that only gives 1 assessment per quarter worth multiple grades and takes 2 months to give back grades posted in schoology that there would be an opportunity after the final assessment to replace any of the final skills grades.

Don't know how she is going to handle all this grading. Oh wait, from the grading I've seen in the past, she just writes "and so?" a few times and gives kids a 3.