AP world history and skills-based grading

[Anonymous]

My child taking AP world history has had just 7 assignments that “count” across the first two quarters. Everything else in the grade book is marked “not for grading” because you automatically receive an A just for turning in something. There are no retakes. No homework. Is this how things are being graded in non skills-based grading high schools? Seems like so little assignments compared to their other classes but maybe my expectations are out of whack.

[Anonymous]

It's maddening. I was willing to give skills-based grading a chance, but my child went from an A to a D once they "not for grading"-ed out a bunch of their assignments. They should not have had an A to begin with given some of their lower grades, and to hit us with a D at the end of the quarter is crazymaking. This system is giving me no useful information about how they are progressing in a class until it's too late to do anything about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's maddening. I was willing to give skills-based grading a chance, but my child went from an A to a D once they "not for grading"-ed out a bunch of their assignments. They should not have had an A to begin with given some of their lower grades, and to hit us with a D at the end of the quarter is crazymaking. This system is giving me no useful information about how they are progressing in a class until it's too late to do anything about it.

That is really frustrating as well and new for this year. Last year the teachers were careful from the beginning to put things in as not for grading. You now have to recalculate the grade yourself to figure out what is going on, which is easy for some classes but not for others. I don’t know why they even enter the grades that don’t count. It doesn’t tell the student or parent anything useful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's maddening. I was willing to give skills-based grading a chance, but my child went from an A to a D once they "not for grading"-ed out a bunch of their assignments. They should not have had an A to begin with given some of their lower grades, and to hit us with a D at the end of the quarter is crazymaking. This system is giving me no useful information about how they are progressing in a class until it's too late to do anything about it.

That is really frustrating as well and new for this year. Last year the teachers were careful from the beginning to put things in as not for grading. You now have to recalculate the grade yourself to figure out what is going on, which is easy for some classes but not for others. I don’t know why they even enter the grades that don’t count. It doesn’t tell the student or parent anything useful.

That is by design. Introduce confusion for everyone, student, parent and in many cases teacher. Perfect breading ground for equitable grading, mostly Cs for the poor performers and Bs for the higher performers.

Not how SBG is supposed to work, but a deviation to achieve the administration’s desired outcome.

[Anonymous]

Our world history teacher counted just 3 assignments for 1st 2 quarters. Some are worth more than 1 grade because she says they cover more than 1 skill. She tells d as lo the kids that a “B is an A and a C is a B in here.” Almost everyone has a B or C and if you look at the work products, rubric and her feedback, you can’t tell why the grade is what it is.

[Anonymous]

Really frustrating to have a class where the outcome seems predetermined no matter how hard you work.

[Anonymous]

DC is in honors world history with the teacher that just gives Bs and Cs. Just realized this discussion was AP world. I was hoping AP would be better next year - disappointed to hear it’s not better grading wise.

[Anonymous]

OP - last year, assessments became easier at the end of the year and almost everyone’s grade went up in most classes.

[Anonymous]

Take the grading out of it. This is an AP class...college level. That's how we grade in college. I don't count homework, just major assessments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Take the grading out of it. This is an AP class...college level. That's how we grade in college. I don't count homework, just major assessments.

I have a kid in college and SBG does not resemble college grading at all. DC said college was a shock after SBG and kids have to catch up to higher expectations in college.

Nice try admin

[Anonymous]

They don’t do weird things in college to make sure everyone has a bad grade then give easy assessments at the end of the year and say “look, this shows growth and improvement.” Admin pats themselves on the back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take the grading out of it. This is an AP class...college level. That's how we grade in college. I don't count homework, just major assessments.

I have a kid in college and SBG does not resemble college grading at all. DC said college was a shock after SBG and kids have to catch up to higher expectations in college.

Nice try admin

Not admin. College professor. How exactly was it such a big shock...and assuming your kid went to JMHS.

The problem so many of you have with SBG is that you don't get to fluff grades with busy work. Which is exactly how I assess my students.

My students know if they don't do the readings or homework, they are screwed. They adjust pretty fast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take the grading out of it. This is an AP class...college level. That's how we grade in college. I don't count homework, just major assessments.

I have a kid in college and SBG does not resemble college grading at all. DC said college was a shock after SBG and kids have to catch up to higher expectations in college.

Nice try admin

Not admin. College professor. How exactly was it such a big shock...and assuming your kid went to JMHS.

The problem so many of you have with SBG is that you don't get to fluff grades with busy work. Which is exactly how I assess my students.

My students know if they don't do the readings or homework, they are screwed. They adjust pretty fast.

My worry is that the SBG students will fare worse in college admissions because they have artificially lower grades compared to the other nearby high schools. This is the opposite of equity. Thanks for the poster who provided context that things will get easier in the coming semester.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take the grading out of it. This is an AP class...college level. That's how we grade in college. I don't count homework, just major assessments.

I have a kid in college and SBG does not resemble college grading at all. DC said college was a shock after SBG and kids have to catch up to higher expectations in college.

Nice try admin

Not admin. College professor. How exactly was it such a big shock...and assuming your kid went to JMHS.

The problem so many of you have with SBG is that you don't get to fluff grades with busy work. Which is exactly how I assess my students.

My students know if they don't do the readings or homework, they are screwed. They adjust pretty fast.

The busy work is “the readings or homework,” which you correctly point out have very real value. So it’s not fluff to grade the things that provide value for the desired education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take the grading out of it. This is an AP class...college level. That's how we grade in college. I don't count homework, just major assessments.

I have a kid in college and SBG does not resemble college grading at all. DC said college was a shock after SBG and kids have to catch up to higher expectations in college.

Nice try admin

Where did your kid have SBG for HS?