Message from Jack Smith about Grade Inflation

[Anonymous]

Blair parents are literally the most obnoxious hellbent people. They train their kids since birth to live the most mundane boring life of only books, reading, and science. None of them have normal well rounded lives. Some kids thrive in that environment and should truly be there. Most are prepped and pushed and know no better.

The high schools have what, 2000 kids minimum? Just stop with all the extra programs that these parents go crazy for and just let kids take the highest classes at school or take college classes for free if needed. The cost of the testing and bus service alone would provide so much more to kids in need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Blair parents are literally the most obnoxious hellbent people. They train their kids since birth to live the most mundane boring life of only books, reading, and science. None of them have normal well rounded lives. Some kids thrive in that environment and should truly be there. Most are prepped and pushed and know no better.

The high schools have what, 2000 kids minimum? Just stop with all the extra programs that these parents go crazy for and just let kids take the highest classes at school or take college classes for free if needed. The cost of the testing and bus service alone would provide so much more to kids in need.

LOL
You obviously don't know anything about Blair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny, my sidwell friends high schooler neighbor was in robotics club and the school got him a $10k grant to work in the science contest robotic submarine plus found an indoor pool to work in it. He went ivy for ugrad and grad- in biochem.
That STEM kid worked his butt off but loved every second of it (high school at SFS). He turned down Blair magnet, plus other private schools.

The Blair robotics team has a budget of 40k+

Privates have never fared well when compared to public magnets, but for wealthy parents whose kids couldn't make the cut its a fine option. If a public had similar SES to a private, it would likely perform similarly.

Holton Arms won the Maryland State Chemathon last year at UMD. I think they have maybe 300 upper school girls only and one AP Chem class of 15 girls a year. Beat out all the MCPS magnet schools that recruit from a pool of 48,000 students.

So it isn’t like these private schools are rich idiots. Most have 30% of their kids on financial aid and most thoroughly teach these kids with zero grade inflation, small class sizes with lecture grades, graded projects, oral assignments, and absolutely no grading curves or retakes on tests. They also show actual number grades on reports cards and only give a 0.5 boost with AP’s that will only be shown on a final GPA. Never on a report card. There are minimal honors classes as most classes are just known to be rigorous.

MCPS grading system is a joke. No finals, curved tests, retakes allowed, no oral or lecture assignments, almost every class that is not remedial is honors or AP which means an additional 1.0 boost on every class. A grade that shows a semester grade of 84.5 as an A BEFORE the 1.0 boost. So you can sit here and say public magnets are the cream of the crop. That is fine. I had two kids go thru high school. One at a private and another IB. You truly need to work for your A’s at private. And if you are truly smart, your report card will stand out. You don’t stand out in public. Everyone has A’s and there are too many of them.

So take your magnets. My 3rd is going private for a complete education.

This sounds like “Race to Nowhere” to me. I can’t believe there are parents who argue on anonymous message boards about who stresses out their children more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Privates have never fared well when compared to public magnets, but for wealthy parents whose kids couldn't make the cut its a fine option. If a public had similar SES to a private, it would likely perform similarly.

Holton Arms won the Maryland State Chemathon last year at UMD. I think they have maybe 300 upper school girls only and one AP Chem class of 15 girls a year. Beat out all the MCPS magnet schools that recruit from a pool of 48,000 students.

So it isn’t like these private schools are rich idiots. Most have 30% of their kids on financial aid and most thoroughly teach these kids with zero grade inflation, small class sizes with lecture grades, graded projects, oral assignments, and absolutely no grading curves or retakes on tests. They also show actual number grades on reports cards and only give a 0.5 boost with AP’s that will only be shown on a final GPA. Never on a report card. There are minimal honors classes as most classes are just known to be rigorous.

MCPS grading system is a joke. No finals, curved tests, retakes allowed, no oral or lecture assignments, almost every class that is not remedial is honors or AP which means an additional 1.0 boost on every class. A grade that shows a semester grade of 84.5 as an A BEFORE the 1.0 boost. So you can sit here and say public magnets are the cream of the crop. That is fine. I had two kids go thru high school. One at a private and another IB. You truly need to work for your A’s at private. And if you are truly smart, your report card will stand out. You don’t stand out in public. Everyone has A’s and there are too many of them.

So take your magnets. My 3rd is going private for a complete education.



OK.

But really, I never know how we're supposed to respond to this.

[Anonymous]

^ TLDR an overpriced private won an award once in a third rate contest

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
A Message from Superintendent Jack R. Smith - Grading and Assessment
Do_Not_Reply <[e-mail]> Today at 11:58 AM
To
Montgomery County Public Schools Recipients



Dear Parents and Guardians:

As you may have read or heard, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) grading and assessment policies have been a subject of discussion in the media over the last several weeks. While we regularly discuss grading and reporting, including a robust discussion at the December 4, 2018, Board of Education meeting, I am reaching out to you directly to share some key points and context about grading and assessment in our school system.

The purpose of a classroom grade is to serve as a reflection of what students know and have learned. But grades are only one measure and must also be viewed in the context of multiple measures for student learning. For instance, measurements like ACT, SAT, AP/IB, district measures, career certifications, and state assessments each “provide valuable information because they measure different aspects of student performance and potential.” Through our Evidence of Learning Framework, we use these measures collectively to gauge the progress of all students.

Across the nation, school systems are grappling with this issue as they work to ensure this purpose is met for every student, in every classroom of their schools. MCPS has been a leader and innovator in working toward this shared purpose.

For those of you with children in MCPS in the two decades prior to my arrival in July 2016, you are likely aware that policies and protocols about grading and reporting changed significantly during that time period. As this memo outlines, there have been a series of changes that have impacted grading since 2000, including administering districtwide Algebra 1 final examinations; the adoption of the Maryland College and Career Ready Standards; a transition to more frequent, standards-aligned progress checks; allowing students to retake a high school course for a replacement grade (Drop and Replace); and revising the semester grade calculations for high school courses to remove the downward trend calculation and replace it with a mathematical grade calculation.

Recent data for the class of 2018 show that there has been an increase in the number of A’s awarded to students. This increase has led some to express concern that grade inflation is taking place in our schools. It is important to note that two changes in particular (transition to progress checks and Drop and Replace) impacted the class of 2018, as the changes were implemented during their tenure in high school.

We take concerns about grade inflation seriously. When grade inflation takes place, it creates a false sense of success for some students and a false sense of failure for others.

Since 2016, we have been consistently monitoring outcomes of grading and assessment practices, in relation to the other measures, to ensure they accurately reflect student learning. We have and continue to be prepared to recommend adjustments based on our findings.

Recently, MCPS partnered with Montgomery College to explore the impact of using students’ grades in selected MCPS courses to determine placement in credit-bearing courses in lieu of using the ACCUPLACER (college entrance/placement exam to determine whether students should be placed in credit-bearing courses). For these students, the grades assigned by their teacher have been a better predictor of their potential to achieve success in a credit-bearing course. The ACCUPLACER, as a single test measure, may have placed these same students in a remedial class based on a single test score.

It is possible that the changes in our grading and assessment practices have unintentionally led to grades that are not as reflective of student learning as we intended. It is also possible that the previous model for final exams and downward trend calculation grading suppressed student outcomes and that current grades better reflect student learning. Data from 2013 show how the final exam model did and did not affect outcomes for students. Based on this data, returning to the aforementioned model would be a mistake. It should be noted that there is nothing preventing a teacher from giving a summative final classroom assessment if they believe it will benefit student progress in learning. Moreover, there may be factors unrelated to policy, including improved teacher practices and better access to real time student data, that created a foundation for student improvement. Our ongoing analysis will help us determine if any of these possibilities are supported by evidence.

There are dozens of grading systems in schools across the country and research shows none is perfect. What we do know is that grading must be centered on what is best to assess student learning. MCPS will continue to monitor the impact of our policies and practices to reflect this goal.

Sincerely,
Jack. R. Smith, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools

So a bunch of MCPS grads attended Montgomery College, took some placement exams, and were told to take remedial classes. And Jack smith’s conclusion is the teachers high grade shows the student really mastered the material so the “one test” score should be discarded.

Wow. Hope WAsh Post puts that followup in its paper and real estate section.

Delusional.

Yes, I found this the most frightening part of the letter. So now you take the kids whom you have failed during high school and cause them to begin CC as failures. OR MC starts the grade deflation and a college degree is devalued even further.

[Anonymous]

I mean inflation ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So a bunch of MCPS grads attended Montgomery College, took some placement exams, and were told to take remedial classes. And Jack smith’s conclusion is the teachers high grade shows the student really mastered the material so the “one test” score should be discarded.

Wow. Hope WAsh Post puts that followup in its paper and real estate section.

Delusional.

Yes, I found this the most frightening part of the letter. So now you take the kids whom you have failed during high school and cause them to begin CC as failures. OR MC starts the grade deflation and a college degree is devalued even further.

No.

A 2014 study by by the Montgomery County Council’s Office of Legislative Oversight found that the Accuplacer test was putting students into remedial classes who did not need remedial classes. And students who take remedial classes they do not need must pay more for college, take longer to finish, and are more likely to not finish.

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/OLO/Resources/Files/Developmental%20Education%20at%20Montgomery%20College%202015-2.pdf

[Anonymous]

I can’t believe how delusional parents are when they see all A’s on their kid’s report cards and think how truly smart their kid is. When hundreds of kids are getting inducted into the NHS, you know something is up. But no one wants their Larla getting B’s or C’s so everyone seems okay with the inflation except the top kids. And since MCPS refuses to rank kids, it is really hard for colleges to accept the correct kids. Sometimes it is only the ACT or SAT, but most parents are paying top dollar to get their kids to ace this one test. Such a joke.

[Anonymous]

I took my kid out of public school so she could understand the value of good grades. When something like 75-80% of her 5th grade class got all As and Bs between 3rd-5th grades, I knew I had made the right decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I took my kid out of public school so she could understand the value of good grades. When something like 75-80% of her 5th grade class got all As and Bs between 3rd-5th grades, I knew I had made the right decision.

Hooray for you, I guess? I'm glad you're happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe how delusional parents are when they see all A’s on their kid’s report cards and think how truly smart their kid is. When hundreds of kids are getting inducted into the NHS, you know something is up. But no one wants their Larla getting B’s or C’s so everyone seems okay with the inflation except the top kids. And since MCPS refuses to rank kids, it is really hard for colleges to accept the correct kids. Sometimes it is only the ACT or SAT, but most parents are paying top dollar to get their kids to ace this one test. Such a joke.

Have you met many such parents? I don't think that I've met any.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe how delusional parents are when they see all A’s on their kid’s report cards and think how truly smart their kid is. When hundreds of kids are getting inducted into the NHS, you know something is up. But no one wants their Larla getting B’s or C’s so everyone seems okay with the inflation except the top kids. And since MCPS refuses to rank kids, it is really hard for colleges to accept the correct kids. Sometimes it is only the ACT or SAT, but most parents are paying top dollar to get their kids to ace this one test. Such a joke.

Have you met many such parents? I don't think that I've met any.

When I was in HS many years ago, the NHS consisted of about %6 of the total grade. What percentage is it today? One major difference is we didn't get extra grade points for APs so it was based on an unweighted GPA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe how delusional parents are when they see all A’s on their kid’s report cards and think how truly smart their kid is. When hundreds of kids are getting inducted into the NHS, you know something is up. But no one wants their Larla getting B’s or C’s so everyone seems okay with the inflation except the top kids. And since MCPS refuses to rank kids, it is really hard for colleges to accept the correct kids. Sometimes it is only the ACT or SAT, but most parents are paying top dollar to get their kids to ace this one test. Such a joke.

Have you met many such parents? I don't think that I've met any.

When I was in HS many years ago, the NHS consisted of about %6 of the total grade. What percentage is it today? One major difference is we didn't get extra grade points for APs so it was based on an unweighted GPA.

That answers a different question, namely: What was the percentage of students in NHS in your high school when you were there?

[Anonymous]

At Gburg we get that pressure to pass everyone even if they don't show up to class. We have families and want to keep our job. You got to play the game or you will be chewed out.