APS - Standards Based Grading

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually prefer standards-based grading because it gives more targeted information and feedback. Our current school does traditional letter grades and our former school did standards-based.

What I’ve read is that most SBG policies have “exceeds expectations,” but not APS. And all the comments at our school are largely a copy and paste job. I’d be fine w SBG if it had exceed expectations but middle school should have traditional A, B, C, D, F.

APS middle schools do have traditional letter grades.

Gunston has SBG and the idea is to roll it out to other schools.

It’s fine for ES. Not MS. In MS kids need to get prepared for HS, and SBG isn’t going to get them there. Also, our school still does exceeds expectations, at least they did last quarter. Is that going away?

If you’re school has it then you’re not at a SBG school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hard to believe that a system full of overachievers expect so little of people without the same pedigree. This week on AEM was calculus is bad. People were tripping over themselves to step up and drink the koolaid.

The funny part of the article about calculus being used to weed out potential admits is that it’s happening because they went test optional. If they had SATs and ACTs to look at they wouldn’t resort to using calculus as a proxy for academic potential. Getting rid of the “racist” tests has led to a much more inequitable proxy because a student who has never taken calculus (because it’s not offered or they weren’t set on that path, etc) can still get a high SAT score.

The soft bigotry of low expectations is in full display in Arlington, that’s for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hard to believe that a system full of overachievers expect so little of people without the same pedigree. This week on AEM was calculus is bad. People were tripping over themselves to step up and drink the koolaid.

The funny part of the article about calculus being used to weed out potential admits is that it’s happening because they went test optional. If they had SATs and ACTs to look at they wouldn’t resort to using calculus as a proxy for academic potential. Getting rid of the “racist” tests has led to a much more inequitable proxy because a student who has never taken calculus (because it’s not offered or they weren’t set on that path, etc) can still get a high SAT score.

The soft bigotry of low expectations is in full display in Arlington, that’s for sure.

Lol yes. AEM has really jumped the shark. It’s like the same 6 people saying ridiculous shit and everyone just send each side texts about the lunacy being said. The other APS Facebook groups are better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hard to believe that a system full of overachievers expect so little of people without the same pedigree. This week on AEM was calculus is bad. People were tripping over themselves to step up and drink the koolaid.

The funny part of the article about calculus being used to weed out potential admits is that it’s happening because they went test optional. If they had SATs and ACTs to look at they wouldn’t resort to using calculus as a proxy for academic potential. Getting rid of the “racist” tests has led to a much more inequitable proxy because a student who has never taken calculus (because it’s not offered or they weren’t set on that path, etc) can still get a high SAT score.

The soft bigotry of low expectations is in full display in Arlington, that’s for sure.

Lol yes. AEM has really jumped the shark. It’s like the same 6 people saying ridiculous shit and everyone just send each side texts about the lunacy being said. The other APS Facebook groups are better.

And most of those 6 people sent their kids to option schools! But tell me more about how inequitable calculus and other rigorous courses are.

[Anonymous]

It's totally worthless if your kid is above grade level. You can't even tell if they're doing anything at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hard to believe that a system full of overachievers expect so little of people without the same pedigree. This week on AEM was calculus is bad. People were tripping over themselves to step up and drink the koolaid.

The funny part of the article about calculus being used to weed out potential admits is that it’s happening because they went test optional. If they had SATs and ACTs to look at they wouldn’t resort to using calculus as a proxy for academic potential. Getting rid of the “racist” tests has led to a much more inequitable proxy because a student who has never taken calculus (because it’s not offered or they weren’t set on that path, etc) can still get a high SAT score.

The soft bigotry of low expectations is in full display in Arlington, that’s for sure.

Lol yes. AEM has really jumped the shark. It’s like the same 6 people saying ridiculous shit and everyone just send each side texts about the lunacy being said. The other APS Facebook groups are better.

What other groups? I find AEM isn’t my cup of tea.

[Anonymous]

I much prefer SBG in elementary school as both a teacher and a parent. It is standard procedure in many countries and I have direct experience with it. When done properly it actually gives much more targeted feedback than the typical letter/number based systems, and is very easy to determine if a child is exceeding expectations. That said, I would not use it in MS or HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hard to believe that a system full of overachievers expect so little of people without the same pedigree. This week on AEM was calculus is bad. People were tripping over themselves to step up and drink the koolaid.

The funny part of the article about calculus being used to weed out potential admits is that it’s happening because they went test optional. If they had SATs and ACTs to look at they wouldn’t resort to using calculus as a proxy for academic potential. Getting rid of the “racist” tests has led to a much more inequitable proxy because a student who has never taken calculus (because it’s not offered or they weren’t set on that path, etc) can still get a high SAT score.

The soft bigotry of low expectations is in full display in Arlington, that’s for sure.

Lol yes. AEM has really jumped the shark. It’s like the same 6 people saying ridiculous shit and everyone just send each side texts about the lunacy being said. The other APS Facebook groups are better.

What other groups? I find AEM isn’t my cup of tea.

Yes, please. AEM is largely ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

I am a very involved parent to my kiddos and I do NOT even look at the report card anymore, because it's pointless.

APS can't do all this crap in the name of the e word.

The level of equity they want to achieve cannot even be achieved by any two siblings (except the 2 Superbowl brothers maybe). Seriously, two siblings, loved and supported by the same parents, cannot even achieve the type of "equity" APS claims to have across all student groups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hard to believe that a system full of overachievers expect so little of people without the same pedigree. This week on AEM was calculus is bad. People were tripping over themselves to step up and drink the koolaid.

The funny part of the article about calculus being used to weed out potential admits is that it’s happening because they went test optional. If they had SATs and ACTs to look at they wouldn’t resort to using calculus as a proxy for academic potential. Getting rid of the “racist” tests has led to a much more inequitable proxy because a student who has never taken calculus (because it’s not offered or they weren’t set on that path, etc) can still get a high SAT score.

The soft bigotry of low expectations is in full display in Arlington, that’s for sure.

Lol yes. AEM has really jumped the shark. It’s like the same 6 people saying ridiculous shit and everyone just send each side texts about the lunacy being said. The other APS Facebook groups are better.

What other groups? I find AEM isn’t my cup of tea.

Yes, please. AEM is largely ridiculous.

There are school-specific groups and APE.

[Anonymous]

I ignore the SBG report cards. I'm wondering if it's because it's SBG? Or my kids are in 2nd grade / kindergarten and I don't care much about lower elementary report cards anyways.

They can read? They can add and subtract? Do they seem happy? Ok, moving on.

[Anonymous]

The report card is worthless in lower elementary. I look at the standardized tests and the feedback from the teacher in the PT conference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The report card is worthless in lower elementary. I look at the standardized tests and the feedback from the teacher in the PT conference.

Same. The irony is that the move to SBG makes me care a whole lot more about standardized tests. It’s the only objective feedback I have other than PTCs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I ignore the SBG report cards. I'm wondering if it's because it's SBG? Or my kids are in 2nd grade / kindergarten and I don't care much about lower elementary report cards anyways.

They can read? They can add and subtract? Do they seem happy? Ok, moving on.

https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/

How well can they read, those are important measures..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I much prefer SBG in elementary school as both a teacher and a parent. It is standard procedure in many countries and I have direct experience with it. When done properly it actually gives much more targeted feedback than the typical letter/number based systems, and is very easy to determine if a child is exceeding expectations. That said, I would not use it in MS or HS.

How can you tell if a child is exceeding expectations? They only gets a "Meets" after a subject is introduced and tested, even if the kid knew the topic at the beginning of the year. There is no "Exceeds" nor any opportunity to demonstrate knowledge of standards in the next grade up. Basically you only get feedback whether your child is meeting the absolute minimum standards and no feedback whether they're turning in work or doing the assignments.