I = Fail at end of year report card?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Bwahahahaha! MCPS is far too enlightened to include anything as concrete as "can name and identify the planets". Please..we measure metacognition and synthesis. There are no pedestrian unit tests or documentation. The grades are derived by teacher observation. MCPS has basically stopped doing grading and assessment. Its the stupidest school system in the country.

That is not true. DD took an assessment test for every topic. Those assessments were sent home with grades on them. Her marking period grades reflected the grades on the assessments. If your child was never objectively tested, there is something ver wrong at your school.

Agreed. There is plenty of grading and assessment at my children's school. If that is how things are at your school, there is a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I teach at a DC charter so I am not sure what the MD report cards look like. We have about 150 grades on each report card, allegedly acocunting for every standard the student has worked towards that year. For example, one standard says something like "Can name and identify the planets"

There are no over-arching grades for a subject as a whole.

Is this the same as the MD one?

Bwahahahaha! MCPS is far too enlightened to include anything as concrete as "can name and identify the planets". Please..we measure metacognition and synthesis. There are no pedestrian unit tests or documentation. The grades are derived by teacher observation. MCPS has basically stopped doing grading and assessment. Its the stupidest school system in the country.

I want to marry this post. But, governor omalley is running for president on BEST SCHOOL DISCTRICT IN THE COUNTRY!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I teach at a DC charter so I am not sure what the MD report cards look like. We have about 150 grades on each report card, allegedly acocunting for every standard the student has worked towards that year. For example, one standard says something like "Can name and identify the planets"

There are no over-arching grades for a subject as a whole.

Is this the same as the MD one?

As a teacher to be honest, every student had at least 5-10 Is, most had more. A lot of it had to do with what we ended up having time to cover in depth and such. There were a few standards nobody got a P in, not because of any deficiency on their part, but because we did not, as a grade level, have enough time to fully teach that standard at the end of the year.

Why are students being graded on things that the teachers didn't manage to teach properly (for whatever reason)? What message does it send to the students that they get a less than proficient grade, not because of any lack of effort on their part, but because they were not taught properly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I teach at a DC charter so I am not sure what the MD report cards look like. We have about 150 grades on each report card, allegedly acocunting for every standard the student has worked towards that year. For example, one standard says something like "Can name and identify the planets"

There are no over-arching grades for a subject as a whole.

Is this the same as the MD one?

Bwahahahaha! MCPS is far too enlightened to include anything as concrete as "can name and identify the planets". Please..we measure metacognition and synthesis. There are no pedestrian unit tests or documentation. The grades are derived by teacher observation. MCPS has basically stopped doing grading and assessment. Its the stupidest school system in the country.

That is not true. DD took an assessment test for every topic. Those assessments were sent home with grades on them. Her marking period grades reflected the grades on the assessments. If your child was never objectively tested, there is something ver wrong at your school.

What grade is your DD in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I teach at a DC charter so I am not sure what the MD report cards look like. We have about 150 grades on each report card, allegedly acocunting for every standard the student has worked towards that year. For example, one standard says something like "Can name and identify the planets"

There are no over-arching grades for a subject as a whole.

Is this the same as the MD one?

Bwahahahaha! MCPS is far too enlightened to include anything as concrete as "can name and identify the planets". Please..we measure metacognition and synthesis. There are no pedestrian unit tests or documentation. The grades are derived by teacher observation. MCPS has basically stopped doing grading and assessment. Its the stupidest school system in the country.

That is not true. DD took an assessment test for every topic. Those assessments were sent home with grades on them. Her marking period grades reflected the grades on the assessments. If your child was never objectively tested, there is something ver wrong at your school.

What grade is your DD in?

She is a rising third grader at a Silver Spring school.

[Anonymous]

Up county rising 3rd grader here, the kids were taught and properly assessed on all topics. It didn't seem to take much to get an "I" on a math assessment. One wrong out of 10 or 20 would do it. And there is no way to get an ES on math or spelling at our school. None. 100% = P.

[Anonymous]

Parent of rising 4th grader here.

We were told repeatedly "the goal for students is to be P at the end of the year." So I do assume that logic applies to Kindergarten and they wanted kids "P" at the end of the year. And thus, an "In progress" end-of-year grade would mean the student wasn't fully proficient in that area.

My big question for MCPS is "If your child wasn't Straight Ps, WHAT are we going to do about it?" ("We" refers to everyone in the learning process - parent, student, teacher, principal/staff, and MCPS.)

I did not write the post above, but it could have been me. Was also told repeatedly that the goal was to be P at the end of the year. My DD received an I in Geometry (which is only graded in 4th quarter) and a P for the year. What the heck is this supposed to tell me? "She's not to standard in geometry, but hey, that doesn't matter." or "we needed to give her at least one "I" in math during the year so that when you ask why she is not being placed in the accelerated math class then we can tell you it's because of the one "I" she received in geometry in the 4th quarter."

I think that assigning "I" grades with zero commentary is pointless. What does the "I" grade say? Apparently nothing.

Earlier in the year, my DD had one "I" grade in reading comprehension. She is way above grade level in reading comprehension (as indicated by standardized testing but also my own knowledge of my daughter). Teacher's explanation of the "I" is that my DD gets distracted in class and did not complete the classroom work on more than one occasion. Can someone explain to me what distraction/completion of work has to do with reading comprehension?

Feeling very frustrated at the moment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Earlier in the year, my DD had one "I" grade in reading comprehension. She is way above grade level in reading comprehension (as indicated by standardized testing but also my own knowledge of my daughter). Teacher's explanation of the "I" is that my DD gets distracted in class and did not complete the classroom work on more than one occasion. Can someone explain to me what distraction/completion of work has to do with reading comprehension?

Distraction/non-completion of work doesn't have much to do with reading comprehension. It has a lot to do with assessment of reading comprehension, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Earlier in the year, my DD had one "I" grade in reading comprehension. She is way above grade level in reading comprehension (as indicated by standardized testing but also my own knowledge of my daughter). Teacher's explanation of the "I" is that my DD gets distracted in class and did not complete the classroom work on more than one occasion. Can someone explain to me what distraction/completion of work has to do with reading comprehension?

Distraction/non-completion of work doesn't have much to do with reading comprehension. It has a lot to do with assessment of reading comprehension, though.

Agreed. Grades are not given for ability, they are given for demonstrated performance in school. Sure, she can comprehend what she reads, but if she doesn't complete the work that demonstrates that comprehension, she won't get a P.
and in your example about her getting an I in geometry, but P for the year, would you understand better if she had gotten As for three marking periods, a B for teh fourth marking period, but got an A average for the year? I really don't see what is so hard to understand about that.

[Anonymous]

Agreed. Grades are not given for ability, they are given for demonstrated performance in school. Sure, she can comprehend what she reads, but if she doesn't complete the work that demonstrates that comprehension, she won't get a P.
and in your example about her getting an I in geometry, but P for the year, would you understand better if she had gotten As for three marking periods, a B for teh fourth marking period, but got an A average for the year? I really don't see what is so hard to understand about that.

If they were As and Bs, then it would be quite easy to understand, as per your example.

However, if "I" means that she is not meeting the grade-level standard, then it is more akin to a D or F, no?

Does "I" = "B"?

[Anonymous]

Agreed. Grades are not given for ability, they are given for demonstrated performance in school. Sure, she can comprehend what she reads, but if she doesn't complete the work that demonstrates that comprehension, she won't get a P.

Hmmm. I have to take issue with this. There is more than one way to demonstrate reading comprehension in school. One way is through a piece of classwork with questions (that is not called a "test" but apparently is used to substitute as a test). Another way might be through class discussion, I would hope? Other interactions between teacher/student?

If the only way that teachers are going to grade is based on scores on discrete pieces of classwork, then why not just call the classwork a "test" and explain clearly how grades are calculated? (if indeed they are based only on test scores)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Agreed. Grades are not given for ability, they are given for demonstrated performance in school. Sure, she can comprehend what she reads, but if she doesn't complete the work that demonstrates that comprehension, she won't get a P.

Hmmm. I have to take issue with this. There is more than one way to demonstrate reading comprehension in school. One way is through a piece of classwork with questions (that is not called a "test" but apparently is used to substitute as a test). Another way might be through class discussion, I would hope? Other interactions between teacher/student?

If the only way that teachers are going to grade is based on scores on discrete pieces of classwork, then why not just call the classwork a "test" and explain clearly how grades are calculated? (if indeed they are based only on test scores)

But then they would get parents complaining that the grades are based on something nebulous, not objective assessments. And, maybe the child did gt some credit for demonstrating comprehension through discussion, but if the child didn't complete the written work too, the child is not going to get a P. Serioslsy folks, you cannot expect your kids to be able to blow off work, do only what they feel like doing, and then get high grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Agreed. Grades are not given for ability, they are given for demonstrated performance in school. Sure, she can comprehend what she reads, but if she doesn't complete the work that demonstrates that comprehension, she won't get a P.
and in your example about her getting an I in geometry, but P for the year, would you understand better if she had gotten As for three marking periods, a B for teh fourth marking period, but got an A average for the year? I really don't see what is so hard to understand about that.

If they were As and Bs, then it would be quite easy to understand, as per your example.

However, if "I" means that she is not meeting the grade-level standard, then it is more akin to a D or F, no?

Does "I" = "B"?

I means in progress towards the grade level. N means not making progress towards the grade level. The definitions are right there on the report card. No, I is not like a D or F. I means you got a couple of questions wrong on a 20 question math quiz. I means you didn't put enough detail in your story. N is more like D or F.

[Anonymous]

I means in progress towards the grade level. N means not making progress towards the grade level. The definitions are right there on the report card. No, I is not like a D or F. I means you got a couple of questions wrong on a 20 question math quiz. I means you didn't put enough detail in your story. N is more like D or F.

So let me get this straight:

100% on a math quiz = P
90% on a math quiz = P
80% on a math quiz = I?

Really?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I means in progress towards the grade level. N means not making progress towards the grade level. The definitions are right there on the report card. No, I is not like a D or F. I means you got a couple of questions wrong on a 20 question math quiz. I means you didn't put enough detail in your story. N is more like D or F.

So let me get this straight:

100% on a math quiz = P
90% on a math quiz = P
80% on a math quiz = I?

Really?

Yes, really. Did you not see any of your child's graded assessments this past year?