Your logic is wrong. Please ask someone who understand math to explain it to you. |
Only the final grade. A rolling grade book gives kids TRUE and ACCURATE information about what their final grade would be at any time during the year (based on ALL grades already accrued). |
It's not logic, it's math. While the end grade, at the end of the year, weighs every grade the same, during the year, the initial grades start out weighing more heavily, good or bad. And the grade after the first quarter is harder to change, up or down, in a rolling grade book. This effect is psychological, as well as mathematical. Kids aren't robots, kids are people. Is this another attempt to try to reduce kids' importance placed on grades? |
At the middle of the year and the end of the year, and all points in between... whenever you want to look at the grades accrued... all tests will have EQUAL value. That's how a rolling gradebook works. Yes, it is a mathematical fact that when there are only TWO tests being averaged, each one will count 50% toward the final grade. And yes, when there are EIGHT tests being averaged, each one will count 12.5% toward the FINAL grade. But, by your twisted logic, you are comparing the weight of a test at the end of the year (larger number of tests) to the weight of a test at the beginning of the year (when there might be only one or two tests). You can't compare the weight of a test in Sept. vs. the weight of all tests in May and then conclude that tests from the beginning of the year count more than tests at the end of the year! ALL TESTS COUNT THE SAME TOWARD THE FINAL GRADE. Your logic is like the people who see that candidate A has 75% of the vote 10 min. after the polls close and they start celebrating ... ignoring the fact that only 5% of the vote has been counted. |
Well, according to my teens the Cs they just got don't matter because they are using rolling gradebook and they can make it up anytime... |
| Why do they even have quarters then if they are using a rolling gradebook? |
This is so wrong and confused...... |
Yes, my kid has told me the same thing at time... "oh, we can just get an A on the final exam and that's our grade for the whole year b/c it replaces every other test." When you ask the teacher about this (as I did at BTSN), they will tell you that is NOT correct and the kid is misunderstanding the grading. They will get multiple opportunities to show mastery -- but you can't whiff the whole year and then replace all the C's, D's and F's with one amazing final test. Doesn't work that way. |
You should think of quarter grades as interim progress reports on the way toward a final grade. That's why they use the terminology of grades being a "snapshot in time." (meaning... at this very moment, this is your cummulative grade for the course.) |
I know, right? Shows how pitiful Americans' understanding of averaging and math is. |
No reason at all. |
That sounds like standards based grading. |
It depends on the type of grading they are using. This may not apply to your child's teacher as per your conversation at BTSN. However, some teachers use a version of equity grading whereby they use the last grade if it is highest as the overall grade, because the student has shown progress and shown that they have mastered the skill. Under this grading approach, D,D,D,D,B could be given a final grade of B. This differs from a purely mechanical rolling grade book but is a grading approach that some teachers use. It's confusing for kids because one of their teachers might use a rolling grade book and another teacher might use the type of equity grading described. Schools should standardize their grading systems and use them consistently across all classes. |
Freshman through junior year - final grades Senior year - first quarter or first semester grades |
Which is what FCPS is moving towards for all classes. The kids have figured out they don't need to do anything until the end of the year. |