Please no more skills based grading!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does it promote equity?

In the past, grades could included things like homework (either graded homework or completed homework) as part of the grade.

However, homework is racist. So it must be ungraded, or eliminated.

Some of the most anti-homework parents I know are white. They don’t think Larla should be forced to do homework after school and dance/acro/parkour class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does it promote equity?

In the past, grades could included things like homework (either graded homework or completed homework) as part of the grade.

However, homework is racist. So it must be ungraded, or eliminated.

Some of the most anti-homework parents I know are white. They don’t think Larla should be forced to do homework after school and dance/acro/parkour class.

And I agree. Kids are in school all day - then we ask them to work hours after school on homework? Ridiculous. College was easy for me after FCPS high school! It was refreshing only having reading for homework.

[Anonymous]

Had a friend who taught at NOVA. Said, no grades for homework, but if you are borderline between grades, he would use that as the determining factor. I think he thought that doing homework reflected effort.

I think some homework is appropriate. An English class without papers? Really? A math class without practice?

Homework gives the students an opportunity to figure out where they are struggling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Had a friend who taught at NOVA. Said, no grades for homework, but if you are borderline between grades, he would use that as the determining factor. I think he thought that doing homework reflected effort.

I think some homework is appropriate. An English class without papers? Really? A math class without practice?

Homework gives the students an opportunity to figure out where they are struggling.

Some yes. But FCPS goes way overboard in all classes now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does it promote equity?

Fewer As and Fs more Bs and Cs so everyone is average. Hurts college apps for the smart kids.

[Anonymous]

My kid had a lot of homework and classwork
last year that counted for nothing. Its frustrating for the diligent kids who aren't geniuses. Especially when all the tests are computerized and auto-graded with no partial credit. So five questions on a test,
you miss a step in a math problem. No one is checking your work -ever--so you don't know what went wrong.

[Anonymous]

If you are going to allow retakes, let the kids retake up to a 100. Who does that hurt? The teachers aren't doing anything by hand. Everything is automated. Even English tests are multiple choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are going to allow retakes, let the kids retake up to a 100. Who does that hurt? The teachers aren't doing anything by hand. Everything is automated. Even English tests are multiple choice.

My kid’s private school offered retakes but they were always capped so you could improve your grade but the poor initial grade always mattered. My kid has learning disabilities so it was hard. However…it did incentivize doing as well as you could on the first test and not just using it as review. I think the only thing that matters is learning the material, but I did want my kid to have the practice of grades mattering the first time for when he gets to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are going to allow retakes, let the kids retake up to a 100. Who does that hurt? The teachers aren't doing anything by hand. Everything is automated. Even English tests are multiple choice.

My kid’s private school offered retakes but they were always capped so you could improve your grade but the poor initial grade always mattered. My kid has learning disabilities so it was hard. However…it did incentivize doing as well as you could on the first test and not just using it as review. I think the only thing that matters is learning the material, but I did want my kid to have the practice of grades mattering the first time for when he gets to college.

The difference is you selected that school
and the grading policy. Public school kids are at the whim of the SB and they change the policy every year.

[Anonymous]

There's no accountability for the quality ofnthe tests. When a "test" is only four questions and multiple choice with no partial credit, one mistake in a calculation and the kid has a C. So one little mistake has a huge effect on the grade but piles of homework and classwork count for nothing. Its stressful for the kids and letting them retake up to an A was the counterbalance to that.

No kids used the first test for "review" bc every teacher required huge packets to be completed (no credit for completing review packets) before another chance at the four multiple choice questions.

[Anonymous]

Is Madison going to continue skills-based grading with the new change to the re-assessment policy? Seems unfair to make kids retake the same skill three times now and only have previous “skills” be replaced to 90. I’m thinking this will most affect math where the skills actually are repeated. More room for interpretation in the other classes since the skills aren’t actually being retested, they are more for show.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's no accountability for the quality ofnthe tests. When a "test" is only four questions and multiple choice with no partial credit, one mistake in a calculation and the kid has a C. So one little mistake has a huge effect on the grade but piles of homework and classwork count for nothing. Its stressful for the kids and letting them retake up to an A was the counterbalance to that.

No kids used the first test for "review" bc every teacher required huge packets to be completed (no credit for completing review packets) before another chance at the four multiple choice questions.

Agree. No kid is going to do retakes if they can only get a 90%. The teachers make retaking incredibly onerous. The kids have to do huge amounts of (unchecked) work to get to retake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are going to allow retakes, let the kids retake up to a 100. Who does that hurt? The teachers aren't doing anything by hand. Everything is automated. Even English tests are multiple choice.

I am an English teacher. The only multiple-choice assessments we, as a department, give are the ones provided by the district (which are required but are not graded). Every other assessment is short answer or essay-based.

On average, our students have five or six summative assessments per quarter, one or two of which are full-length essays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is Madison going to continue skills-based grading with the new change to the re-assessment policy? Seems unfair to make kids retake the same skill three times now and only have previous “skills” be replaced to 90. I’m thinking this will most affect math where the skills actually are repeated. More room for interpretation in the other classes since the skills aren’t actually being retested, they are more for show.

Madison continued using SBG this year in a way that was different even from the other schools using SBG in FCPS. Try to get anyone at Madison to explain it to you the same way and teachers still implement it differently. Nothing will change except for continued tweaks to "comply" with FCPS. The parents at Madison are mostly some combination of oblivious or indifferent to this issue and the admin has done a great job of limiting conversation around the topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are going to allow retakes, let the kids retake up to a 100. Who does that hurt? The teachers aren't doing anything by hand. Everything is automated. Even English tests are multiple choice.

I am an English teacher. The only multiple-choice assessments we, as a department, give are the ones provided by the district (which are required but are not graded). Every other assessment is short answer or essay-based.

On average, our students have five or six summative assessments per quarter, one or two of which are full-length essays.

Not true at my dc's HS.