Do you care about how semester grades will show up on your kids' transcript? Email the BOE ASAP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would prefer that everyone have to do the same thing. If one kid chooses to show her 3rd quarter grade and another student doesn't, it'll reflect poorly on the other student. So this "choice" will have repercussions beyond MCPS.

People keep suggesting this, but I honestly don't see how/why it would. Especially if they add an asterisk to the transcript indicating this was from the COVID-19 time period.

Because if you had a choice, and you chose the don't-show-the-grade option, then obviously your grade was bad. Nobody who had a good grade is going to choose the P/F option.

+1

[Anonymous]

What about using the grade earned in the 3rd quarter with the ability to raise but not lower the grade during the 4th quarter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about using the grade earned in the 3rd quarter with the ability to raise but not lower the grade during the 4th quarter?

that's effectively what Howard County is doing. 4th quarter is pass/no credit, with a pass counting as an A towards the semester grade and a "no credit" not counting at all towards the semester grade. It lets students raise (or maintain, if they had an A) but not lower their grade.

[Anonymous]

A student with exception circumstances that derailed them 4th quarter can show this in two ways:

MP 4 is an outlier: MP 1 A MP 2 A MP 3 and MP 4 D is pretty obviously a result of the pandemic.

Student essay:
My mom is a nurse and she worked with COVID patients. I was so stressed that I could not concentrate.

My dad owned restaurant and it was all hands on deck to help my family stay afloat financially. I delivered takeout 8 hours a day and was too exhausted to study.

My aunt lost her job in March. She and her three kids moved in with us. Suddenly, we were eight people in a two bedroom apartment. It was too noisy to focus.

My grandparents ended up in the ICU on ventilators and my grandpa died. I was very depressed all of April through June.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about using the grade earned in the 3rd quarter with the ability to raise but not lower the grade during the 4th quarter?

This is what private schools are doing according to the thread on that forum.

Insisting that MCPS not credit students with good grades because some students underwent terrible experiences during remote learning is just bizarre. Why have grades at all then? Any day of the week, pre/post Covid, there will always be considerable divergence in life experience outside of the school environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about using the grade earned in the 3rd quarter with the ability to raise but not lower the grade during the 4th quarter?

that's effectively what Howard County is doing. 4th quarter is pass/no credit, with a pass counting as an A towards the semester grade and a "no credit" not counting at all towards the semester grade. It lets students raise (or maintain, if they had an A) but not lower their grade.

I hope MCPS does this, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about using the grade earned in the 3rd quarter with the ability to raise but not lower the grade during the 4th quarter?

This is what private schools are doing according to the thread on that forum.

Insisting that MCPS not credit students with good grades because some students underwent terrible experiences during remote learning is just bizarre. Why have grades at all then? Any day of the week, pre/post Covid, there will always be considerable divergence in life experience outside of the school environment.

Can we please agree that these are not usual circumstances, right now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would prefer that everyone have to do the same thing. If one kid chooses to show her 3rd quarter grade and another student doesn't, it'll reflect poorly on the other student. So this "choice" will have repercussions beyond MCPS.

People keep suggesting this, but I honestly don't see how/why it would. Especially if they add an asterisk to the transcript indicating this was from the COVID-19 time period.

Because if you had a choice, and you chose the don't-show-the-grade option, then obviously your grade was bad. Nobody who had a good grade is going to choose the P/F option.

Sure, but how does that reflect poorly on the student? It merely shows that their grade may have been affected by the pandemic. That's an explanation, and it would provide context to college admissions officers, not be seen in the same way as a lower grade in a "normal" semester.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would prefer that everyone have to do the same thing. If one kid chooses to show her 3rd quarter grade and another student doesn't, it'll reflect poorly on the other student. So this "choice" will have repercussions beyond MCPS.

People keep suggesting this, but I honestly don't see how/why it would. Especially if they add an asterisk to the transcript indicating this was from the COVID-19 time period.

Because if you had a choice, and you chose the don't-show-the-grade option, then obviously your grade was bad. Nobody who had a good grade is going to choose the P/F option.

Sure, but how does that reflect poorly on the student? It merely shows that their grade may have been affected by the pandemic. That's an explanation, and it would provide context to college admissions officers, not be seen in the same way as a lower grade in a "normal" semester.

You're a glass-half-full person, aren't you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about using the grade earned in the 3rd quarter with the ability to raise but not lower the grade during the 4th quarter?

that's effectively what Howard County is doing. 4th quarter is pass/no credit, with a pass counting as an A towards the semester grade and a "no credit" not counting at all towards the semester grade. It lets students raise (or maintain, if they had an A) but not lower their grade.

I hope MCPS does this, too.

Howard County has it right. I hope MCPS does this too. 3rd Quarter was not easy for a lot of kids who were trying to get and figure out technology and assignments.

[Anonymous]

When will they decide how to determine semester grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When will they decide how to determine semester grade?

At the May 12th BOE meeting.

[Anonymous]

I know the semester grade calculation still has to be approved. I’m wondering whether the BOE had to approve MCPS going to pass/fail in Q4? Or could MCPS do that without approval?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know the semester grade calculation still has to be approved. I’m wondering whether the BOE had to approve MCPS going to pass/fail in Q4? Or could MCPS do that without approval?

Well, they have already announced the pass/incomplete for 4th quarter so kind of irrelevant at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about using the grade earned in the 3rd quarter with the ability to raise but not lower the grade during the 4th quarter?

that's effectively what Howard County is doing. 4th quarter is pass/no credit, with a pass counting as an A towards the semester grade and a "no credit" not counting at all towards the semester grade. It lets students raise (or maintain, if they had an A) but not lower their grade.

I hope MCPS does this, too.

+1