What does D and A make?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does anyone not have a 4.0 at MCPS? Really. It's nuts.
With retakes and this scale (79.5 and 89.5 = A) it would seem almost impossible for any kid who is trying.

Do you have a current high schooler in MCPS? There’s been 1 retake allowed per quarter in my kid’s classes and they aren’t allowed to be on the big unit tests. In my kid’s AP science class at a W school, the average grade on the exams is about 70%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a relatively new high school teacher. Once I realized how much the school system rounds up everything, I decided I have to make all my grading harder, so that an A or B during one quarter doesn't make a kid pass to easily. It was very frustrating seeing kids get an A or B first quarter and then becoming really lazy the next quarter.

As a long-time reader of these boards, I heard a lot about lax standards and multiple retakes in HS. But now that my kid is here, I haven't seen it. The standards seem hard and classes seem way harder than anything I had at the same age (and I was an honors student). I was never a freshman in Algebra II and Foreign Language 4. And yes, the pacing, testing, and grading seem challenging to me. So I want a teacher who challenges my kid but I do find it odd to do it purposefully to push down kids' grades rather than the spirit of making them rise to the challenge.

Well stated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks. Mixed feelings: relief he might still salvage something for college apps, fear he'll never make an A in this subject, and disgust that getting a D for half the semester can get you a B for the semester!

Wait til your kid is applying for college. You'll be happy with this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you can get the lowest possible D 59.5 and lowest possible A 89.5 and still end up with a B, that is so wrong, MCPS is a screwed up place.

Agree. Our standards have fallen sooo far.
First they did away with semester exams.
Then they did away with the average by trend. It used to be if your grade trended down you would get the lower option for the semester.
If you trended up, you were rewarded for the progress with the higher option.
Now, it’s the higher option no matter what.
I personally think it should be the actual average of the two quarters.
But MCPS will do whatever makes them look better.

I’m all for flexibility with the students, but we are not setting them up for how it works in the real world.
I do not want my kid getting 50% for doing NOTHING. That’s not how life works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:you can get the lowest possible D 59.5 and lowest possible A 89.5 and still end up with a B, that is so wrong, MCPS is a screwed up place.

Agree. Our standards have fallen sooo far.
First they did away with semester exams.
Then they did away with the average by trend. It used to be if your grade trended down you would get the lower option for the semester.
If you trended up, you were rewarded for the progress with the higher option.
Now, it’s the higher option no matter what.
I personally think it should be the actual average of the two quarters.
But MCPS will do whatever makes them look better.

I’m all for flexibility with the students, but we are not setting them up for how it works in the real world.
I do not want my kid getting 50% for doing NOTHING. That’s not how life works.

What is the reason behind this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:you can get the lowest possible D 59.5 and lowest possible A 89.5 and still end up with a B, that is so wrong, MCPS is a screwed up place.

Agree. Our standards have fallen sooo far.
First they did away with semester exams.
Then they did away with the average by trend. It used to be if your grade trended down you would get the lower option for the semester.
If you trended up, you were rewarded for the progress with the higher option.
Now, it’s the higher option no matter what.
I personally think it should be the actual average of the two quarters.
But MCPS will do whatever makes them look better.

I’m all for flexibility with the students, but we are not setting them up for how it works in the real world.
I do not want my kid getting 50% for doing NOTHING. That’s not how life works.

Not so sure about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:you can get the lowest possible D 59.5 and lowest possible A 89.5 and still end up with a B, that is so wrong, MCPS is a screwed up place.

Agree. Our standards have fallen sooo far.
First they did away with semester exams.
Then they did away with the average by trend. It used to be if your grade trended down you would get the lower option for the semester.
If you trended up, you were rewarded for the progress with the higher option.
Now, it’s the higher option no matter what.
I personally think it should be the actual average of the two quarters.
But MCPS will do whatever makes them look better.

I’m all for flexibility with the students, but we are not setting them up for how it works in the real world.
I do not want my kid getting 50% for doing NOTHING. That’s not how life works.

Actually life does work that way. How many slackers at your job get paid 100% of their paycheck for doing minimal work.

[Anonymous]

I still don’t understand the reason behind this grading policy. Does anyone know the history and intent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:D first quarter.
A second quarter.
DS says it means a B for the semester. In short, having a D in his worst subject for this quarter, he would need an A in the second quarter to pull off a B for the semester.
Do any of you know if it's true?

if you don't mind me asking what classs? MY DD is a freshman and failed her first class this marking period high school is way different than middle school when it comes to grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:D first quarter.
A second quarter.
DS says it means a B for the semester. In short, having a D in his worst subject for this quarter, he would need an A in the second quarter to pull off a B for the semester.
Do any of you know if it's true?

if you don't mind me asking what classs? MY DD is a freshman and failed her first class this marking period high school is way different than middle school when it comes to grades.

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/pdf/ikara.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I still don’t understand the reason behind this grading policy. Does anyone know the history and intent?

This is the information MCPS shared when the changes were made about six years ago

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/info/assessment-strategy/faq.aspx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I still don’t understand the reason behind this grading policy. Does anyone know the history and intent?

Like everything in MCPS it’s to “close” the achievement gap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still don’t understand the reason behind this grading policy. Does anyone know the history and intent?

Like everything in MCPS it’s to “close” the achievement gap.

Yup. But when the issue comes up on the private schools forum, you’ll find there are parents convinced that the grading change happened to give MoCo kids an advantage over those at privates. Kind of funny in a myopic way. The change made it a lot harder for high achievers to distinguish themselves from the pack, and I haven’t seen data indicating that it succeeded in its intended purpose of improving the appearance of achievement gap. It was a much better system before the change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still don’t understand the reason behind this grading policy. Does anyone know the history and intent?

Like everything in MCPS it’s to “close” the achievement gap.

Yup. But when the issue comes up on the private schools forum, you’ll find there are parents convinced that the grading change happened to give MoCo kids an advantage over those at privates. Kind of funny in a myopic way. The change made it a lot harder for high achievers to distinguish themselves from the pack, and I haven’t seen data indicating that it succeeded in its intended purpose of improving the appearance of achievement gap. It was a much better system before the change.

Is there any interest in evaluating whether the policy change achieved its intended goals and/or created new problems? Is there any review or change on the horizon?

If it isn’t helping any one and it is leading to problems, shouldn’t it be revised?

I can definitely think of problems created by a system where 79.5+89.5=100+100 but I don’t have general evidence