More sub 50% means in HS AP Science Classes

[Anonymous]

Ugh. What are these teachers doing? If for each and every test, the mean hovers at 50% all year long, doesn't it indicate that the test is out of alignment with the instruction? In College, they curve. Here, the teacher allows correction, but the max when one gets 50% is 75%.

[Anonymous]

In an AP class, the burden shifts from the instructor to the student. It's college-level, so students are expected to do a lot of reading, research and problem solving on their own.

So this might reflect the quality of the cohort, but that's not in the school's control since AP is open to anyone who who wants to take it, so it's not like they can weed the kids out.

[Anonymous]

APES? That’s about how it’s going for my DC’s class. Teacher is not great. I’ve never seen such low exam averages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APES? That’s about how it’s going for my DC’s class. Teacher is not great. I’ve never seen such low exam averages.

Pp again - reread and definitely different class. Quiz corrections only count as PP in my kid’s class so basically worthless. I thought they had to allow one retake per quarter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. What are these teachers doing? If for each and every test, the mean hovers at 50% all year long, doesn't it indicate that the test is out of alignment with the instruction? In College, they curve. Here, the teacher allows correction, but the max when one gets 50% is 75%.

No. It means students are not performing to the level of standard for the class. This year’s juniors in particular seem to be significantly lacking in study skills. They had a virtual 9th grade where they were passive observers of instruction, and an easy 10th grade with overly flexible deadlines, retakes, and grading. They have arrived in 11th grade with an overinflated idea of their natural abilities, and when faced with difficulty have no idea they should do something about it. Many aren’t even doing classwork during class time (they do work for other classes), don’t complete basic homework like reading a textbook, and certainly don’t know how to review for a test. I don’t teach APES specifically, but I get an earful about it from that teacher. They are very experienced and usually have students earning great scores, but this year is just not coming together for kids.

[Anonymous]

One benefit of APs is that there is a ton of outside resources like books and online materials. My kid is taking two APs with very nice teachers but neither one is doing a great job at conveying the information. My kid just watches the online instruction and has A’s in both classes. If she relied on what is taught in class, would definitely be a C.

Fwiw, I feel bad for both teachers. One came from industry and I think just doesn’t know this area very well but they don’t have anyone else that knows the material. The other seems to me to be depressed or something, just based on their demeanor—my kid likes them but says the class moves very slowly and sometimes the teacher just doesn’t cover any material.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. What are these teachers doing? If for each and every test, the mean hovers at 50% all year long, doesn't it indicate that the test is out of alignment with the instruction? In College, they curve. Here, the teacher allows correction, but the max when one gets 50% is 75%.

No. It means students are not performing to the level of standard for the class. This year’s juniors in particular seem to be significantly lacking in study skills. They had a virtual 9th grade where they were passive observers of instruction, and an easy 10th grade with overly flexible deadlines, retakes, and grading. They have arrived in 11th grade with an overinflated idea of their natural abilities, and when faced with difficulty have no idea they should do something about it. Many aren’t even doing classwork during class time (they do work for other classes), don’t complete basic homework like reading a textbook, and certainly don’t know how to review for a test. I don’t teach APES specifically, but I get an earful about it from that teacher. They are very experienced and usually have students earning great scores, but this year is just not coming together for kids.

How are they addressing the study skill deficit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. What are these teachers doing? If for each and every test, the mean hovers at 50% all year long, doesn't it indicate that the test is out of alignment with the instruction? In College, they curve. Here, the teacher allows correction, but the max when one gets 50% is 75%.

No. It means students are not performing to the level of standard for the class. This year’s juniors in particular seem to be significantly lacking in study skills. They had a virtual 9th grade where they were passive observers of instruction, and an easy 10th grade with overly flexible deadlines, retakes, and grading. They have arrived in 11th grade with an overinflated idea of their natural abilities, and when faced with difficulty have no idea they should do something about it. Many aren’t even doing classwork during class time (they do work for other classes), don’t complete basic homework like reading a textbook, and certainly don’t know how to review for a test. I don’t teach APES specifically, but I get an earful about it from that teacher. They are very experienced and usually have students earning great scores, but this year is just not coming together for kids.

How are they addressing the study skill deficit?

The schools cannot cure all problems. Kids have to learn to step up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. What are these teachers doing? If for each and every test, the mean hovers at 50% all year long, doesn't it indicate that the test is out of alignment with the instruction? In College, they curve. Here, the teacher allows correction, but the max when one gets 50% is 75%.

Are you saying no one has an A in the class?
Are most kids getting C’s?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. What are these teachers doing? If for each and every test, the mean hovers at 50% all year long, doesn't it indicate that the test is out of alignment with the instruction? In College, they curve. Here, the teacher allows correction, but the max when one gets 50% is 75%.

No. It means students are not performing to the level of standard for the class. This year’s juniors in particular seem to be significantly lacking in study skills. They had a virtual 9th grade where they were passive observers of instruction, and an easy 10th grade with overly flexible deadlines, retakes, and grading. They have arrived in 11th grade with an overinflated idea of their natural abilities, and when faced with difficulty have no idea they should do something about it. Many aren’t even doing classwork during class time (they do work for other classes), don’t complete basic homework like reading a textbook, and certainly don’t know how to review for a test. I don’t teach APES specifically, but I get an earful about it from that teacher. They are very experienced and usually have students earning great scores, but this year is just not coming together for kids.

How are they addressing the study skill deficit?

The schools cannot cure all problems. Kids have to learn to step up.

So nothing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In an AP class, the burden shifts from the instructor to the student. It's college-level, so students are expected to do a lot of reading, research and problem solving on their own.

So this might reflect the quality of the cohort, but that's not in the school's control since AP is open to anyone who who wants to take it, so it's not like they can weed the kids out.

"the quality of the cohort"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. What are these teachers doing? If for each and every test, the mean hovers at 50% all year long, doesn't it indicate that the test is out of alignment with the instruction? In College, they curve. Here, the teacher allows correction, but the max when one gets 50% is 75%.

No. It means students are not performing to the level of standard for the class. This year’s juniors in particular seem to be significantly lacking in study skills. They had a virtual 9th grade where they were passive observers of instruction, and an easy 10th grade with overly flexible deadlines, retakes, and grading. They have arrived in 11th grade with an overinflated idea of their natural abilities, and when faced with difficulty have no idea they should do something about it. Many aren’t even doing classwork during class time (they do work for other classes), don’t complete basic homework like reading a textbook, and certainly don’t know how to review for a test. I don’t teach APES specifically, but I get an earful about it from that teacher. They are very experienced and usually have students earning great scores, but this year is just not coming together for kids.

How are they addressing the study skill deficit?

The schools cannot cure all problems. Kids have to learn to step up.

So nothing?

High schools have moved on from the pandemic, and are not trying to help make up study skills deficits. In fact, the only place I've seen any kind of deficit addressed is in Alg II, and that was because the students literally had not received the original instruction during online Alg. I, and the teacher could not move on without backtracking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. What are these teachers doing? If for each and every test, the mean hovers at 50% all year long, doesn't it indicate that the test is out of alignment with the instruction? In College, they curve. Here, the teacher allows correction, but the max when one gets 50% is 75%.

Are you saying no one has an A in the class?
Are most kids getting C’s?

There are other assignments. The tests at 50% can correct up to 75%. Very few are getting As. Cs are common.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like there's a lot of kids who don't belong in that AP class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. What are these teachers doing? If for each and every test, the mean hovers at 50% all year long, doesn't it indicate that the test is out of alignment with the instruction? In College, they curve. Here, the teacher allows correction, but the max when one gets 50% is 75%.

No. It means students are not performing to the level of standard for the class. This year’s juniors in particular seem to be significantly lacking in study skills. They had a virtual 9th grade where they were passive observers of instruction, and an easy 10th grade with overly flexible deadlines, retakes, and grading. They have arrived in 11th grade with an overinflated idea of their natural abilities, and when faced with difficulty have no idea they should do something about it. Many aren’t even doing classwork during class time (they do work for other classes), don’t complete basic homework like reading a textbook, and certainly don’t know how to review for a test. I don’t teach APES specifically, but I get an earful about it from that teacher. They are very experienced and usually have students earning great scores, but this year is just not coming together for kids.

Virtual was a long time ago and you really can't use that excuse anymore