Grade inflation in MS?

[Anonymous]

DD transferred to 8th grade in MCPS from small catholic (parochial) school. She has an IEP. So far she has straight As and I never see her do any homework. She says she finishes most of it in resource class. She used to spend way more time on her work in her old school and still had mostly Bs and occasional Cs as a semester grades. She often needed a tutor to help with homework, and struggled to understand some concepts. But now I never see her do anything and she gets all As. As much as I'd like to believe she just transformed into an excellent student, I can't help but wonder if she is actually learning anything.

[Anonymous]

And you’re here why? When the people to talk to would be your DD, the resource teacher and counselor

[Anonymous]

High school will be a big step up.

Middle schools prioritize “success”. Lots of kids get A’s if not most at some high achieving schools.

[Anonymous]

Welcome to public school where the grades mean nothing.

[Anonymous]

Ask to see some of her work. It is hard to know as grade inflation is real. My sons also has an IEP and it was hard to see beyond his grades which were not so terrible...but then I would look at his English work and know what was really going on. Sometimes I thought the IEP made it worse. They just accepted anything.

[Anonymous]

My kid is in 6th at a Christian K-8 and just got an ADHD diagnosis. I’d say she’s a solid B student but has to work to keep it there.
I know one grading difference is my kid gets a 0 for missing or late work. This can bring entire grade down. MCPS doesn’t give 0s apparently.

[Anonymous]

They may suggest she doesn't need a resource class then

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 6th at a Christian K-8 and just got an ADHD diagnosis. I’d say she’s a solid B student but has to work to keep it there.
I know one grading difference is my kid gets a 0 for missing or late work. This can bring entire grade down. MCPS doesn’t give 0s apparently.

Many middle schools are still using 50% - per their administration teachers are not allowed to enter zeros for any assignment. Yes, the policy changed, but it doesn't mean certain admin will let you do what you want with your gradebook. It 100% affects their grades and does inflate them if all grades start at 50. We are encouraged to 'pass' and not have many D's and E's in our classes, which is a huge disservice to students when they enter high school and then college. I hate it as a teacher. There are other ways to grade and for students to demonstrate mastery, but MCPS picked the easy way out IMO and it will only end up hurting more students than helping them when they need to demonstrate learning at any point in their academic or working career. - Middle school teacher.

[Anonymous]

There is a lot of pressure to go easy with grading with IEP kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of pressure to go easy with grading with IEP kids

I don't know if it's pressure as much as extended time has now become unlimited time. But, there are many kids who take advantage of resource classes to focus on completing their work and getting support, so this student might not have as much homework now.

[Anonymous]

50% rule and the way final grades are averaged definitely makes grade inflation real. Combine that with no real due dates for homework and retakes you are not looking at a lot of challenge or accountability. Not sure what your goal was in moving kid from private to public. If rigor was your goal, I'd move back. Otherwise, I'd probably relax. It sounds like your kid is finishing their work on time and is getting good grades. That could be really beneficial for self-esteem.

[Anonymous]

MCPS MS does not focus on academics. They focus more on social emotional learning. Academics is a joke, which sets them up for failure when they hit HS and start taking AP classes.

In hindsight, we should've put our DC in private school for MS; we had thought about that during covid, but we let it go.

When they hit HS and started taking AP classes, the lack of any academic rigor in MS became obvious.

[Anonymous]

I would look at some of the assignments on Canvas to get a sense of the work quality. It may be that the resource class is unnecessary and your child could take a language instead next year to increase the challenge. (For my DC, language is by far the most challenging course.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 6th at a Christian K-8 and just got an ADHD diagnosis. I’d say she’s a solid B student but has to work to keep it there.
I know one grading difference is my kid gets a 0 for missing or late work. This can bring entire grade down. MCPS doesn’t give 0s apparently.

Yes they do. Keep up. The 50 perfect rule is gone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:50% rule and the way final grades are averaged definitely makes grade inflation real. Combine that with no real due dates for homework and retakes you are not looking at a lot of challenge or accountability. Not sure what your goal was in moving kid from private to public. If rigor was your goal, I'd move back. Otherwise, I'd probably relax. It sounds like your kid is finishing their work on time and is getting good grades. That could be really beneficial for self-esteem.

What schools are still giving 50 percent for no work? Not my kids school.