More skills based grading at madison hs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wasn't there a feedback session in the past couple of months? What was that like? What was the response from the administration?

The feedback from parents was overwhelmingly that they did not like the changes.

[Anonymous]

In fact, I would say the session was pretty much unanimous and had very detailed reasons why it was not working for learning or for assessment.

[Anonymous]

Is it only Madison kids who have to deal with this or other schools too? Will Langley which has a top ranking nationally move to SBG? I feel like the only people defending it want to protect their property values

[Anonymous]

Good question. It was supposed to be all schools. We are hoping Langley parents put up a fuss because usually they get listened to more.

[Anonymous]

As a Langley parent how do you feel about your child having one graded assignment a quarter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it only Madison kids who have to deal with this or other schools too? Will Langley which has a top ranking nationally move to SBG? I feel like the only people defending it want to protect their property values

There are some people who aren't exactly "defending" it, but also not up in arms about it b/c our kids are doing just fine, and the grading system isn't really a positive or a negative. It is just one system, and our kids are working within the system. The parents of these kids didn't show up for the feedback session because they don't have strong feelings about it. Obviously, those who DO have strong feelings were the ones most motivated to show up and tell the administration what they think.

If my kid was telling me that SBG was frustrating or a problem, then I'd be more likely to be against it. My kid doesn't have any issue with SBG, hence, I don't either. My kid DOES have issues with one particular math teacher who gives "practice" work that bears no resemblance to the "assessments" -- but that is not a SBG issue. Even though that class is creating some frustration b/c the grade is lower than any grade this kid has ever had in math -- we are making choices to deal with that situation and adapt as best we can.

So, no, I'm not trying to "protect my property value" [which is doing quite nicely these days]. I just don't see the big "problem" with SBG that others on this thread do. And it seems that most parents are like me... just going with the flow. Is there a better system? Maybe. Does SBG have some positives -- yes. Does it have some negatives? -- yes. Is it ruining my student's life or college plans or self-esteem or ability to learn? Definitely not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it only Madison kids who have to deal with this or other schools too? Will Langley which has a top ranking nationally move to SBG? I feel like the only people defending it want to protect their property values

There are some people who aren't exactly "defending" it, but also not up in arms about it b/c our kids are doing just fine, and the grading system isn't really a positive or a negative. It is just one system, and our kids are working within the system. The parents of these kids didn't show up for the feedback session because they don't have strong feelings about it. Obviously, those who DO have strong feelings were the ones most motivated to show up and tell the administration what they think.

If my kid was telling me that SBG was frustrating or a problem, then I'd be more likely to be against it. My kid doesn't have any issue with SBG, hence, I don't either. My kid DOES have issues with one particular math teacher who gives "practice" work that bears no resemblance to the "assessments" -- but that is not a SBG issue. Even though that class is creating some frustration b/c the grade is lower than any grade this kid has ever had in math -- we are making choices to deal with that situation and adapt as best we can.

So, no, I'm not trying to "protect my property value" [which is doing quite nicely these days]. I just don't see the big "problem" with SBG that others on this thread do. And it seems that most parents are like me... just going with the flow. Is there a better system? Maybe. Does SBG have some positives -- yes. Does it have some negatives? -- yes. Is it ruining my student's life or college plans or self-esteem or ability to learn? Definitely not.

Don't believe you for a minute. No one would get in the way of people truly upset about something if they had no problem with it either way. Those meetings had about 100 people and everyone was welcome, even the people in support. It was meant to be a discussion about the changes so if there was support why wouldn't they show up? The writing was already on the wall that people wanted to discuss problems so if they thought it was so swell they should have shown up to discuss.

Really, we are just supposed to accept that you keep interjecting with these random half-baked ad hominem arguments every page here because you really don't care at all either way? You are here on this board relentlessly trying to paint everyone who speaks up against it as being against the school when really all these families were perfectly happy with Madison before Calvert arrived and before all the changes to grading and classroom curriculum as a result of it.

You keep saying there are positives but there really are no positives. You haven't mentioned a single positive ever. Just deflection. Because they don't exist. There are no positives.

[Anonymous]

Ok, sure.... you don't seem unhinged at all. Not at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

PP and yes, we are talking about same teacher. We’ve also raised concerns (after first encouraging our student to talk directly to teacher) and we were largely ignored.

I’m truly done with FCPS/JMHS. DC is a senior, so the end is near. Good riddance.

Was your DC hurt during college applications for having lower grades? That is what concerns me is if teachers saying “not mastered” in fall, that is when a lot of kids applying to colleges off those grades.

DP here but based on my older child’s application experience, I’m more worried about sophomore and junior year for my current HS kid. DC #1 applied to 12 schools and at most one of them even looked at senior mid-year grades (most had either made a decision already or directly said they weren’t considering first semester grades unless they requested them). Kids who apply to more schools RD might have an issue with senior year performance, but for ED, EA and rolling admissions it would not have been a problem.

FWIW, #2 has a teacher this year who was very aware of that and actually manipulated the grade book to make the seniors look as good as possible through first semester. Higher practice grades were kept in, a particularly difficult test with a low class average was kept out until after mid-year reports, etc., so some teachers are doing their best to mitigate the impact.

Nice teacher. Awful if you end up with the teacher that doesn’t do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it only Madison kids who have to deal with this or other schools too? Will Langley which has a top ranking nationally move to SBG? I feel like the only people defending it want to protect their property values

There are some people who aren't exactly "defending" it, but also not up in arms about it b/c our kids are doing just fine, and the grading system isn't really a positive or a negative. It is just one system, and our kids are working within the system. The parents of these kids didn't show up for the feedback session because they don't have strong feelings about it. Obviously, those who DO have strong feelings were the ones most motivated to show up and tell the administration what they think.

If my kid was telling me that SBG was frustrating or a problem, then I'd be more likely to be against it. My kid doesn't have any issue with SBG, hence, I don't either. My kid DOES have issues with one particular math teacher who gives "practice" work that bears no resemblance to the "assessments" -- but that is not a SBG issue. Even though that class is creating some frustration b/c the grade is lower than any grade this kid has ever had in math -- we are making choices to deal with that situation and adapt as best we can.

So, no, I'm not trying to "protect my property value" [which is doing quite nicely these days]. I just don't see the big "problem" with SBG that others on this thread do. And it seems that most parents are like me... just going with the flow. Is there a better system? Maybe. Does SBG have some positives -- yes. Does it have some negatives? -- yes. Is it ruining my student's life or college plans or self-esteem or ability to learn? Definitely not.

Don't believe you for a minute. No one would get in the way of people truly upset about something if they had no problem with it either way. Those meetings had about 100 people and everyone was welcome, even the people in support. It was meant to be a discussion about the changes so if there was support why wouldn't they show up? The writing was already on the wall that people wanted to discuss problems so if they thought it was so swell they should have shown up to discuss.

Really, we are just supposed to accept that you keep interjecting with these random half-baked ad hominem arguments every page here because you really don't care at all either way? You are here on this board relentlessly trying to paint everyone who speaks up against it as being against the school when really all these families were perfectly happy with Madison before Calvert arrived and before all the changes to grading and classroom curriculum as a result of it.

You keep saying there are positives but there really are no positives. You haven't mentioned a single positive ever. Just deflection. Because they don't exist. There are no positives.

Would agree that the prior poster saying kid working within the system does not sound like a resounding “pro” and if that is the strongest pro, not a strong case

[Anonymous]

I will add that my child has twice had situations where the teacher forgot to do the grade replacement for a skill at the end of the quarter. In one class they had to reach out 5 times to the teacher about the grade. And I’m the one who noticed it in grade book. So much for equity grading - this type of monitoring and advocacy would not happen for children whose parents are working multiple jobs or who do not speak English.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will add that my child has twice had situations where the teacher forgot to do the grade replacement for a skill at the end of the quarter. In one class they had to reach out 5 times to the teacher about the grade. And I’m the one who noticed it in grade book. So much for equity grading - this type of monitoring and advocacy would not happen for children whose parents are working multiple jobs or who do not speak English.

Our school is like this. It is exhausting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wasn't there a feedback session in the past couple of months? What was that like? What was the response from the administration?

The feedback from parents was overwhelmingly that they did not like the changes.

That's because the rest of us who don't care didn't bother participating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wasn't there a feedback session in the past couple of months? What was that like? What was the response from the administration?

The feedback from parents was overwhelmingly that they did not like the changes.

That's because the rest of us who don't care didn't bother participating.

So.... many don't care and those that do care, don't like it. So why are we having this one-off grading scheme again?

40 pages and no one can seem to describe the benefits of this grading scheme.

[Anonymous]

I am warming up to SBG. This year seems better than last year. I’m hoping moving to the 100 pt scale will get rid of the bias against As since the spread will be 93-100 vs 3.8 to 4.0.