MCPS Giving out As?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC attends MCPS high school and we feel they are not learning much, but get excellent grades. Do others have the impression schools are extremely lenient with grading? I am worried MCPS students will not be prepared for college if teachers are handing out easy As. Am I off base here?

What grade level? What courses? 9th graders usually take mostly the same set of classes. A well prepared student in all Honors courses will most likely be getting easy As, but not because of generous grading. There are other kids who aren’t breezing along.

Beginning 10th grade your kid should be taking more rigorous courses (AP) and should be more challenged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC attends MCPS high school and we feel they are not learning much, but get excellent grades. Do others have the impression schools are extremely lenient with grading? I am worried MCPS students will not be prepared for college if teachers are handing out easy As. Am I off base here?

They could try signing up for some challenging courses like CalcBC or APUSH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC attends MCPS high school and we feel they are not learning much, but get excellent grades. Do others have the impression schools are extremely lenient with grading? I am worried MCPS students will not be prepared for college if teachers are handing out easy As. Am I off base here?

They could try signing up for some challenging courses like CalcBC or APUSH.

APUSH is challenging? Who knew?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC attends MCPS high school and we feel they are not learning much, but get excellent grades. Do others have the impression schools are extremely lenient with grading? I am worried MCPS students will not be prepared for college if teachers are handing out easy As. Am I off base here?

Way off base

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the teacher, OP, and the rigor of the course. For example, my son had straight As in AP Calc AB in 11th grade, then had a lowly 2 on the AP exam. He had an inkling the teacher was too lenient, and failed to take corrective measures, like request a tutor, or alert us that there was an issue. It was a learning experience for him. All his other AP teachers were appropriately demanding and he had to work for his As, and received 5s on his exams.

If it's not an AP course with a non-MCPS exam at the end, then all bets are off, and you're at the mercy of the teacher and school culture for whatever's taught to your kid. My son was at Walter Johnson in Rockville, where most teachers weren't slackers, so for the non-AP courses he took, I believe some learning did happen. But if you want to teach your kids to write, you HAVE to insist on AP Comp and AP Lit. Nothing else compares in MCPS.

Bottom line: pay close attention.

Yup. You can tell the grade inflation and leniency is happening when there's a wide disparity between the classroom grade the AP/IB exam grade. Also, if you bother to look at the graded work, assuming it's available, you can see what kids are getting away with and still getting an "A" for.

What's the wide disparity between the classroom grade and the AP/IB grade ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Yup. You can tell the grade inflation and leniency is happening when there's a wide disparity between the classroom grade the AP/IB exam grade.

In many cases, this is correct, but there are other explanations. Some students have trouble with long-term retention. They can remember information thru the very next quiz or test, but not months later for the AP exam.

Another reason could be weak preparation by the teacher or student for the AP exam, which often has specific formats, vocabulary, and timed conditions which should be practiced. If not, even students in an otherwise well-taught class may underperformed on the exam.

Another reason could be that the AP exam is a one-time thing. If a student is just having a bad day, or blanks on an important topic, or runs out of time, the exam could under-represent their typical performance. I frequently have at least a few students with surprisingly low (or high) scores on the exam. I don't think that means I'm a lenient (or harsh) grader throughout the year.

[Anonymous]

If a student can get a 79 in one quarter and 89 in the other and still get an A, that is 100% grade inflation. You all should be worried because if your kid gets a B, it looks really really bad to the college admissions officer who is evaluating their transcript. A B in an MCPS school is like a C in the nearby private schools. Just sayin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If a student can get a 79 in one quarter and 89 in the other and still get an A, that is 100% grade inflation. You all should be worried because if your kid gets a B, it looks really really bad to the college admissions officer who is evaluating their transcript. A B in an MCPS school is like a C in the nearby private schools. Just sayin.

As if.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If a student can get a 79 in one quarter and 89 in the other and still get an A, that is 100% grade inflation. You all should be worried because if your kid gets a B, it looks really really bad to the college admissions officer who is evaluating their transcript. A B in an MCPS school is like a C in the nearby private schools. Just sayin.

Sorry that would be a B and this is an extreme and unlikely example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If a student can get a 79 in one quarter and 89 in the other and still get an A, that is 100% grade inflation. You all should be worried because if your kid gets a B, it looks really really bad to the college admissions officer who is evaluating their transcript. A B in an MCPS school is like a C in the nearby private schools. Just sayin.

WARNING private recruitment is incoming!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If a student can get a 79 in one quarter and 89 in the other and still get an A, that is 100% grade inflation. You all should be worried because if your kid gets a B, it looks really really bad to the college admissions officer who is evaluating their transcript. A B in an MCPS school is like a C in the nearby private schools. Just sayin.

Says who?? You are really reaching here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC attends MCPS high school and we feel they are not learning much, but get excellent grades. Do others have the impression schools are extremely lenient with grading? I am worried MCPS students will not be prepared for college if teachers are handing out easy As. Am I off base here?

With the 50% rule, assessment makeups and the pressure to have all students demonstrate mastery. Yes A's are getting passed out but talk to college students in your community, for most majors, they pass out A's there too. Education is just different than it was a generation ago.

[Anonymous]

Fact of the matter is it requires too much work to let a kid fail. Get ac no one says anything, but to drop below 69.5% requires too much effort on my part.

Parents, you have 24 hour access to your kids grade, there should be no surprises, yet you fail to keep your end of the deal here and my butt gets dragged into the principals office because you and your kids can’t be bothered.

So yeah, no one gets less than a C because it saves me time and effort and we all just go on our way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a student can get a 79 in one quarter and 89 in the other and still get an A, that is 100% grade inflation. You all should be worried because if your kid gets a B, it looks really really bad to the college admissions officer who is evaluating their transcript. A B in an MCPS school is like a C in the nearby private schools. Just sayin.

Sorry that would be a B and this is an extreme and unlikely example.

As a teacher, it is very common for a student to get an 89.5 (or just above) one quarter and therefore earn an A, and then get a very low B, sometimes even a 79.5 and therefore have an A on the transcript.

I don't know what colleges think about Bs on transcripts from MCPS schools, but students earning As on transcripts that mathematically were not As, is very common.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, news to MCPS here. A student’s grade in the course is not an average of the term grades???