The elite private schools are getting rid of grades altogether.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got a speech from HOS at our independent school, grades will be a thing of the past.
They are following the example of Andover, Exeter, etc...
So not only are they dropping AP, they are going to get rid of grades entirely.

What say you DCUM hive?

I think this wonderful -- very progressive. Any child gaining acceptance to an elite private in the first place is bound to perform well anyway. Bravo!

See, this is the bias that is BS.

Agree this is total BS. My kid left DCPS for a Big3 for high school and we had no idea how he/she would perform. Turns out she/he is performing at the top of the class.
My eyes are opened that a lot of the kids at these top schools are not genius level kids but are there because of other reasons: early childhood admissions, legacy status, sports, siblings, VIPs--the list goes on and on. I knew this in theory but now that I have a kid there I'm seeing it play out. My kid works reasonably hard but isn't a genius and was able to quite easily rise to the top of the cohort. There are a lot of kids in these schools that aren't academic overachievers at all.

Agree.

wash DC private school environment is not intellectually merit based nor even close to the demands or academic student body caliber of NE boarding schools or top NYC private schools or large city magnet public programs.

We were hoping it wouldn’t be that since we like the well-rounded curriculum but the robustness is not there. And we are not in the upper school yet. Student body at the lower years was based on peanuts concerned for behavior or attention issues, and tradition (parent went there, lots is wealth so why not).

DC doesn't have the same private school culture that NYC or NE has. Sidwell could probably compete with some of those schools, but we are a newer city in a lot of ways. If you like NE boardng schools better than our local privates and/or publics, then send your kids there.

Sidwell is not different form the other private schools.

+1 I chuckled when I read that too. Sidwell is absolutely no different academically from GDS, NCS, STA…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got a speech from HOS at our independent school, grades will be a thing of the past.
They are following the example of Andover, Exeter, etc...
So not only are they dropping AP, they are going to get rid of grades entirely.

What say you DCUM hive?

Umm, Andover hasn't gotten rid of grades. Some classes in first semester of 9th grade will be pass/fail. They also don't compute class rank or have honor roll. However, they most certainly have grades. Exeter does too.

Not today.
But this is where they are headed. This is the plan.

Would also love to know where you got this info. For Andover, I have a recent grad and current student and grades (though not traditional A, B, C) are very much present. To get a top grade of a 6, you need to get between 93- 95. There has not been any mention of phrasing out the grading system.

And you know that how? I'm an Andover alum. My guess is I'm more plugged into that community than you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got a speech from HOS at our independent school, grades will be a thing of the past.
They are following the example of Andover, Exeter, etc...
So not only are they dropping AP, they are going to get rid of grades entirely.

What say you DCUM hive?

Umm, Andover hasn't gotten rid of grades. Some classes in first semester of 9th grade will be pass/fail. They also don't compute class rank or have honor roll. However, they most certainly have grades. Exeter does too.

Not today.
But this is where they are headed. This is the plan.

Would also love to know where you got this info. For Andover, I have a recent grad and current student and grades (though not traditional A, B, C) are very much present. To get a top grade of a 6, you need to get between 93- 95. There has not been any mention of phrasing out the grading system.

And you know that how? I'm an Andover alum. My guess is I'm more plugged into that community than you are.

Sorry, put my reply in the wrong spot.

Would also love to know where you got this info. For Andover, I have a recent grad and current student and grades (though not traditional A, B, C) are very much present. To get a top grade of a 6, you need to get between 93- 95. There has not been any mention of phasing out the grading system.

[Anonymous]

Our country is in decline and will stop at nothing to ensure the fall is as fast as possible. News at 11.

[Anonymous]

PP - But we will have equality!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These schools do nothing-nothing-if it doesn't improve their competitive position for college admissions. Any big change they contemplate has to be viewed through that lens.

They are abandoning grades because it will make it harder to perform apples-to-apples comparisons between their students and graded programs in public schools. All that admissions offices will have to go on will be 1)"portfolios" of academic work that can only be assembled through a labor-intensive instructional model more like personal coaching than regular teaching, and 2) extracurricular resumes packed with the sort of activities unavailable to a poor or middle class student focused on academics: "I see here that little Brimsby/Muffy/Preston/Chip/ founded an NGO and went to Peru to provide aid to earthquake-displaced capybaras. How enterprising!"

There was a time when simply graduating a "Philips Academy man" will be enough to demonstrate you were "Harvard material". We seem to be headed back in that direction.

This. With college admissions more scrutinized and changing this all has to do with potentially dwindling ROI for private.

It only works if there are enough colleges that buy in willing to take whole classes. It would suck to be passed over by those schools and unable to even compete for admission at a Michigan or other state school because you have no grades

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell never leads in this type if thing. They will follow if others start doing it.

But, i will bet that the NE boarding schools will go back to grades when their kids college admissions success decreases. You need some objective criteria to measure applicants. There are too many great students everywhere.

Why would their college admissions decrease? These are the feeder schools for the Ivies. Colleges will adjust. It’s all a game. Other private schools will copy them and then public schools will, and it won’t affect the elite kids, but it will be detrimental to the middle class and lower class schools. Just like taking away phonics didn’t hurt kids in wealthy schools but has been detrimental to almost everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got a speech from HOS at our independent school, grades will be a thing of the past.
They are following the example of Andover, Exeter, etc...
So not only are they dropping AP, they are going to get rid of grades entirely.

What say you DCUM hive?

Umm, Andover hasn't gotten rid of grades. Some classes in first semester of 9th grade will be pass/fail. They also don't compute class rank or have honor roll. However, they most certainly have grades. Exeter does too.

Not today.
But this is where they are headed. This is the plan.

Would also love to know where you got this info. For Andover, I have a recent grad and current student and grades (though not traditional A, B, C) are very much present. To get a top grade of a 6, you need to get between 93- 95. There has not been any mention of phrasing out the grading system.

And you know that how? I'm an Andover alum. My guess is I'm more plugged into that community than you are.

Sorry, put my reply in the wrong spot.

Would also love to know where you got this info. For Andover, I have a recent grad and current student and grades (though not traditional A, B, C) are very much present. To get a top grade of a 6, you need to get between 93- 95. There has not been any mention of phasing out the grading system.

I don’t have a student at Andover, but they are part of the consortium. I’m sure administrators can give you more info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our country is in decline and will stop at nothing to ensure the fall is as fast as possible. News at 11.

K-12 private and public standards are down the tubes trying to get the top half to be as dumb as the bottom half.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your school will significantly harm the chances of its students to get into the elite schools where GPA and stats determine 99% of the admission process.

These schools are known to colleges. My DCs attended a Big 3 and now a similar school in another metro city - no class rank, no GPA, and no APs. Every year there are kids headed to HYPSM, T-10s, etc. Colleges and universities like their school because the hardest year of college for these kids really is, like the old cliché, their junior year of high school. These kids don't need APs because many of their teachers have doctorates and teach college-style courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everybody is terrified of quantitative metrics because they ensure equality of outcomes. If you only rely on OBJECTIVE metrics then you can’t socially engineer your perfectly balanced intersectional class. Utter nonsense.

+1

[Anonymous]

Well my kid won’t study at all then …

Research shows best predictor for future success is grades …

How will they motivate students to do any extra work outside of class rooms? Or is that the point ? To make it as relaxing as possible ?

Isn’t the USA far enough down the international mat, science and language competency measures as it is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your school will significantly harm the chances of its students to get into the elite schools where GPA and stats determine 99% of the admission process.

These schools are known to colleges. My DCs attended a Big 3 and now a similar school in another metro city - no class rank, no GPA, and no APs. Every year there are kids headed to HYPSM, T-10s, etc. Colleges and universities like their school because the hardest year of college for these kids really is, like the old cliché, their junior year of high school. These kids don't need APs because many of their teachers have doctorates and teach college-style courses.

Colleges like the schools because the families have the cash to be full pay. Take away grades and it’s easier to admit the kids on more subjective measures that have more to do with their well-resourced families than merit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of colleges are test-optional now, and if kids don’t have grades anymore either, they can be admitted solely on lacrosse, hefty donations, and little white lie “recommendations” — just what the customers want.

Exactly!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well my kid won’t study at all then …

Research shows best predictor for future success is grades …

How will they motivate students to do any extra work outside of class rooms? Or is that the point ? To make it as relaxing as possible ?

Isn’t the USA far enough down the international mat, science and language competency measures as it is?

Did you read the article?