APS Most Likely Moving to Standards-Based Grading/Grading for Equity Next School Year

[Anonymous]

APS and the School Board last night had their first working session to discuss setting a new grading policy by the end of this school year, with changes driven by equity concerns (based off of the book "Grading for Equity" by Joe Feldman, which 100+ at APS are reading right now and every SB member received a copy of last night).

Some proposals include:
a) Eliminating late penalties for turning in homework late
b) Allowing retakes of tests
c) Eliminating extra credit
d) Having more ungraded formative assessments (and presumably less graded homework, classwork and labs)

Here are the board slides:
https://rb.gy/cl2icr

And the working session video:
https://www.apsva.us/school-board-meetings/school-board-work-sessions-meetings/

Thoughts? Anyone know about empirical results? Downsides?

[Anonymous]

What exactly are the equity concerns with grades?

[Anonymous]

Is this for all grades?

[Anonymous]

My kid's AP middle school has already been doing this.

[Anonymous]

It's insane that a kid can earn an A and then another kid that never turns in homework on-time, repeatedly gets a bad grade and gets to turn that assignment or correct that test OVER AND OVER again will end up with the same GPA. WTF?

I am so glad I pulled both my kids from APS after middle school. One 8th grader left.

Our private HS teaches consequences and instills work habits that they will need in college and for life. It sucks, but that's life. Getting downgraded and having it effect your course grade, is a consequence of not doing the work. And, if the course is too challenging you need to drop down or get help after school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are the equity concerns with grades?

Everyone is not getting a trophy like on the sports field.

Arlington now wants to apply 'everyone gets a trophy' to academics as well.

[Anonymous]

Hasn't this shipped sailed long ago???

I mean when you have 27 Valedictorians, it tells you something.

In Fairfax County in the 80s/90s, we had one.

Valedictorian: a student (singular), typically having the highest academic achievements of the class, who delivers the valedictory at a graduation ceremony.

The private schools still have one Valedictorian and one Salutatorian.

Salutatorian: the student who ranks second highest in a graduating class and delivers the salutatory. a graduating class and delivers the salutatory.

The terms have come to mean very little in public HS.

[Anonymous]

We have to fight against them watering down the grading anymore.

I have a current middle schooler who told me that he didn't bother to start trying until 6th grade because nothing was graded. I was a bit taken aback. But sure, makes sense. The elementary report card system of "Meets Expectations" are utter useless crap. I don't even bother reading them. I just read the comments at the top.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have to fight against them watering down the grading anymore.

I have a current middle schooler who told me that he didn't bother to start trying until 6th grade because nothing was graded. I was a bit taken aback. But sure, makes sense. The elementary report card system of "Meets Expectations" are utter useless crap. I don't even bother reading them. I just read the comments at the top.

This!

[Anonymous]

This sentence from the slide in particular...

Reduce pressure on students to constantly be at their
best.

Um, what? That's the exact opposite of what I teach my kids. Sorry, but you should be doing your best and at your best at school. Once you get out of the school environment, you'll need to go into a work environment and be at your best there too. Does being your best rule out asking for help, getting support when you need it, having fun? Nope.

Not doing these kids any favors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid's AP middle school has already been doing this.

How has it been going?

Some kids do better with frequent, concrete feedback, just like I do better with deadlines..

Are teachers behind this? It seems pretty inappropriate for high school classes, especially AP and IB. Kids need to know how they're likely to do on the exams.

Also, if we're doing standards-based grading, are we getting rid of SOLs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hasn't this shipped sailed long ago???

I mean when you have 27 Valedictorians, it tells you something.

In Fairfax County in the 80s/90s, we had one.

Valedictorian: a student (singular), typically having the highest academic achievements of the class, who delivers the valedictory at a graduation ceremony.

The private schools still have one Valedictorian and one Salutatorian.

Salutatorian: the student who ranks second highest in a graduating class and delivers the salutatory. a graduating class and delivers the salutatory.

The terms have come to mean very little in public HS.

I cannot believe how exercised some people get about this. The valedictorian designation is relevant one day: graduation. Do away with it, give it to everyone, I DGAF.

[Anonymous]

I want to read the book at some point because I don’t think I know enough to say.

But it’s unfair to everybody to send kids through school and not expect them to learn what kids are supposed to learn in school. DD has accommodations basically like the ones listed here, but if she doesn’t learn the stuff, she doesn’t pass. The problem in elementary is that the kids basically don’t learn anything except for math and maybe Virginia history, but it doesn’t seem like middle schools have no-content curriculum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are the equity concerns with grades?

Everyone is not getting a trophy like on the sports field.

Arlington now wants to apply 'everyone gets a trophy' to academics as well.

APS was already sub-par compared to FCCPS and the top schools in FCPS and now they want to race harder to the bottom?

[Anonymous]

I haven't read this book or much else on standards based grading. Is there any information as to how having a standards based grading system in a public school affects college admissions?