Standards Based Grading - APS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't waste your time trying to understand the APS standards-based grading. It's just a tool for teachers to avoid the hard work of preparing assessments and grading assessments. The teacher sticks out a wet finger and estimates the direction of the wind and that's it. Zero value to students or parents - it doesn't tell you anything about how your child is doing. Whatever little information is there is buried in meaningless fluffed up wording - I honestly don't know how parents put up with this nonsense. We were strung along with these APS "assessments" for four years until we had enough of APS and voted with our feet. Now we have actual assessments and finally understand how our child is doing.

Ah yes…
It’s the teachers who came up with this system. We were looking for something that would require a lot more work, ideally accompanied by hours of meetings and “professional development,” only for APS to change its mind several times until it figured it out. You got it!

It's certainly not the parents who came up with this system. It's absolutely the "educators" who did. Aka the teachers who got promoted to Syphax.

Many Syphax people were teachers long, long ago, and for short periods of time. Anyone with any real power over there is fully immersed in that special blend of educationalese, bureaucracy and self-importance. You don’t get to blame this on teachers.

And if you think it makes life easier for teachers, you are woefully (and likely deliberately) uninformed.

Yup.

[Anonymous]

Teacher here—The way APS has implemented standards based grading is confusing and ineffective. One problem is, since it’s many pages long, paper copies aren’t sent home and have to be accessed online. Teachers waste many hours writing narratives for each child that are unlikely to be read by the parents of the most at-risk students. I have experience in FCPS (teacher) and ACPS (parent), and both implement SBG in a way that can fit on one page (front/back), address the the umbrella standards rather than every individual standard, have 4 achievement levels rather than 3 (important in assessment), and are easier for parents to interpret. I’m glad I’m no longer at a school that uses APS’s version of SBG and hope my current school doesn’t move in that direction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't waste your time trying to understand the APS standards-based grading. It's just a tool for teachers to avoid the hard work of preparing assessments and grading assessments. The teacher sticks out a wet finger and estimates the direction of the wind and that's it. Zero value to students or parents - it doesn't tell you anything about how your child is doing. Whatever little information is there is buried in meaningless fluffed up wording - I honestly don't know how parents put up with this nonsense. We were strung along with these APS "assessments" for four years until we had enough of APS and voted with our feet. Now we have actual assessments and finally understand how our child is doing.

Ah yes…
It’s the teachers who came up with this system. We were looking for something that would require a lot more work, ideally accompanied by hours of meetings and “professional development,” only for APS to change its mind several times until it figured it out. You got it!

It's certainly not the parents who came up with this system. It's absolutely the "educators" who did. Aka the teachers who got promoted to Syphax.

Many Syphax people were teachers long, long ago, and for short periods of time. Anyone with any real power over there is fully immersed in that special blend of educationalese, bureaucracy and self-importance. You don’t get to blame this on teachers.

And if you think it makes life easier for teachers, you are woefully (and likely deliberately) uninformed.

Maybe Syphax positions should be a rotational assignment for experienced/nominated teachers.

[Anonymous]

Is ATS doing SBG or are they the only ones using real grades?

[Anonymous]

They really need to add a metric for kids who have met the standard and are being given extension work.

My kid meets just about every grade level standard before the school year even starts. I'd like APS to provide information on what my child is actually being taught.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't help that APS has moved to online assessments so parents often don't see graded work come home. For instance, I've never ever seen a math assignment for my 2nd grader. Standards based grading makes it even more opaque.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't help that APS has moved to online assessments so parents often don't see graded work come home. For instance, I've never ever seen a math assignment for my 2nd grader. Standards based grading makes it even more opaque.

That is at least partly because MasterConnect, APS’s latest assessment software, doesn’t have a good reporting option for teachers to provide that to parents. First you have to print out the assessment, then pair it with a convoluted score report. Then parents get to piece it all together like the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew.

[Anonymous]

I meant MasteryConnect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't waste your time trying to understand the APS standards-based grading. It's just a tool for teachers to avoid the hard work of preparing assessments and grading assessments. The teacher sticks out a wet finger and estimates the direction of the wind and that's it. Zero value to students or parents - it doesn't tell you anything about how your child is doing. Whatever little information is there is buried in meaningless fluffed up wording - I honestly don't know how parents put up with this nonsense. We were strung along with these APS "assessments" for four years until we had enough of APS and voted with our feet. Now we have actual assessments and finally understand how our child is doing.

Ah yes…
It’s the teachers who came up with this system. We were looking for something that would require a lot more work, ideally accompanied by hours of meetings and “professional development,” only for APS to change its mind several times until it figured it out. You got it!

It's certainly not the parents who came up with this system. It's absolutely the "educators" who did. Aka the teachers who got promoted to Syphax.

Many Syphax people were teachers long, long ago, and for short periods of time. Anyone with any real power over there is fully immersed in that special blend of educationalese, bureaucracy and self-importance. You don’t get to blame this on teachers.

And if you think it makes life easier for teachers, you are woefully (and likely deliberately) uninformed.

Maybe Syphax positions should be a rotational assignment for experienced/nominated teachers.

That is brilliant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't help that APS has moved to online assessments so parents often don't see graded work come home. For instance, I've never ever seen a math assignment for my 2nd grader. Standards based grading makes it even more opaque.

That is at least partly because Mastery Connect, APS’s latest assessment software, doesn’t have a good reporting option for teachers to provide that to parents. First you have to print out the assessment, then pair it with a convoluted score report. Then parents get to piece it all together like the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew.

Not to mention that no one has proofread the Mastery Connect tests and they're full of errors. Really, really terrible quality.

[Anonymous]

Not to mention that no one has proofread the Mastery Connect tests and they're full of errors. Really, really terrible quality.

Yes! I think everyone’s using crappy ones that are available and ready made. Who can blame them for not wanting to invest time and energy in making new ones, just for APS to change systems again. I think this is the… third one in 6 years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Not to mention that no one has proofread the Mastery Connect tests and they're full of errors. Really, really terrible quality.

Yes! I think everyone’s using crappy ones that are available and ready made. Who can blame them for not wanting to invest time and energy in making new ones, just for APS to change systems again. I think this is the… third one in 6 years?
I spoke to the person responsible for Mastery Connect from Syphax and she said they purchase some tests and they make some tests, but they have no system at all to quality control what is offered. As a result, the tests are horrible and full of errors.