MCCPTA Resolution on 2.0 Grading

[Anonymous]

Someone sent me this link from the Montgomery County PTA organization.

http://www.mccpta.org/uploads/MCCPTA_Resolution_on_Grading_and_Reporting_Measuring_Mastery_of_the_Elementary_Curriculum_FINAL.pdf

As a parent, this is welcome news and a reasonable request. Hopefully, MCPS will pay attention and make some fast changes.

[Anonymous]

I do to now why teachers of elementary school students don't just give all the students ES and make the parents happy. Grades in ES are pointless.

[Anonymous]

Some parents actually care about how their kids are doing in school. Some parents want their kids to work towards improving in areas where they are OK but aren't really applying themselves.

Its an amazing confidence builder to receive a mid-level grade one quarter and then work hard and see a better grade the next quarter. It send home the message that merit and performance is more important than walking in the door knowing everything. I worry what will happen when all the kids who are used to everything be easy to get a P hit more challenging work and actual grades down the road. They will not know how to handle it. You'll see a similar reaction that you see in college freshman who were straight A students in high schools that were less rigorous once they hit something actually challenging.

I used to teach and did see some instructors behave in arbitrary ways with unclear course objectives, poorly articulated criteria, and sometimes even inconsistent grading practices. Their students didn't learn as much and most ended up not being interested in the subject. I had a reputation for being a hard grader and requiring harder assignments but also being very fair and willing to work with a student as much as they needed to achieve the best outcome. I had more students get excited about the subject and in the end be really proud of what they accomplished. I do get the impression that many MCPS teachers want their students to do the best that they can. They shouldn't be constrained by a grading system that will not assess this progress.

[Anonymous]

I actually support this resolution, which I think would improve the current grading system.

And I am a person who thinks that:

1. A lot of complaints about the current grading system (at least on DCUM) are because parents can no longer use the report cards to tell themselves that their child is smarter than the other children in the class, and
2. Report card grades in elementary school are unnecessary and potentially harmful.

[Anonymous]

I agree that everything in these resolutions would greatly improve the situation.

I have a child with a learning disability. She is very talented in some subjects and struggles in other others. Its been difficult this year since all of sudden her assessment is basically equal across all areas. There is no differentiation and I'm lucky that we have good insurance so we can afford neuro-psych testing. She needs to start learning techniques that help her handle the disability and not wait until she fails. I worry about other kids that have to rely solely on the school system. A large part of whether a child is identified for help is their assessment progress. All "P"s with no separation, nuance and only one required teacher conference a year will let some kids fall through the cracks.

[Anonymous]

I actually support this resolution, which I think would improve the current grading system.
And I am a person who thinks that:
1. A lot of complaints about the current grading system (at least on DCUM) are because parents can no longer use the report cards to tell themselves that their child is smarter than the other children in the class, and

There isn't anything in the older grading system, new grading system, or resolution that provides comparative data or ranking. I'm not sure how you jump from parents wanting more teacher comments, documented criteria for grades, and a better scale to parents wanting to compare kids across the class.

Its interesting to me though how people are so uncomfortable with comparative data. Comparative data is an important tool in the diagnosis of learning disabilities and areas of strength. It is useful for a parent to know whether their child is in the bottom 10% or the top 10%. When my child had her evaluation, a really important data point was that in one test she scored in upper 90s and another she scored in the single digits. Her academic work was a P as she could compensate using other skills but she has a significant problem in one area which later, on as the work becomes more challenging will let her fall off the cliff. Its useful now to start giving her study and work techniques that will help her deal with this.

[Anonymous]

I'm the PP at 5:54. I think that there is a difference between the situation you and the PP at 7:15 are describing (using comparative data to identify potential problems) and "what good is a P if everybody else in the class gets a P too". I've read a lot of the latter lately on DCUM, and that's what I was referring to. I apologize for not making that clearer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I actually support this resolution, which I think would improve the current grading system.
And I am a person who thinks that:
1. A lot of complaints about the current grading system (at least on DCUM) are because parents can no longer use the report cards to tell themselves that their child is smarter than the other children in the class, and

There isn't anything in the older grading system, new grading system, or resolution that provides comparative data or ranking. I'm not sure how you jump from parents wanting more teacher comments, documented criteria for grades, and a better scale to parents wanting to compare kids across the class.

Its interesting to me though how people are so uncomfortable with comparative data. Comparative data is an important tool in the diagnosis of learning disabilities and areas of strength. It is useful for a parent to know whether their child is in the bottom 10% or the top 10%. When my child had her evaluation, a really important data point was that in one test she scored in upper 90s and another she scored in the single digits. Her academic work was a P as she could compensate using other skills but she has a significant problem in one area which later, on as the work becomes more challenging will let her fall off the cliff. Its useful now to start giving her study and work techniques that will help her deal with this.

+1000

I am also the parent of an LD child. Comparative data is important for all LD kids, but particularly so for GT/LD kids. When you can show that a kid with an IQ/ability score in the 99th%ile is performing/achieving in the 25%ile. "Average" or "low average" suddenly becomes clinically meaningful (very much so).

[Anonymous]

I knew that the MC parents would not let this grading nonsense go on. Good for the MCCPTA. I fully support this.

[Anonymous]

This is great. I find the teacher commnets much more illuminaitng than the "grades," and I was very disappointed to lose them.

[Anonymous]

I don't know with 25+ kids in the class I would not expect too much of a detailed personalized comment.

[Anonymous]

When I was in elementary school (early 70's in CT) the report cards where only hand-written teacher comments for each subject area. My mom saved them all. We also had more than 20 kids in a class. While we had graded assignments, there were no letter or numerical grades on report cards until middle school. I don't know why that would be any more difficult to do now than it was then. I think the comments are much more telling than a letter or number.

[Anonymous]

Maybe we know each other...I also went to school in CT in the 70's and got real personalized comments (and grades too). But, unfortunately MoCo in 2013 is not at all what CT is or was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that everything in these resolutions would greatly improve the situation.

I have a child with a learning disability. She is very talented in some subjects and struggles in other others. Its been difficult this year since all of sudden her assessment is basically equal across all areas. There is no differentiation and I'm lucky that we have good insurance so we can afford neuro-psych testing. She needs to start learning techniques that help her handle the disability and not wait until she fails. I worry about other kids that have to rely solely on the school system. A large part of whether a child is identified for help is their assessment progress. All "P"s with no separation, nuance and only one required teacher conference a year will let some kids fall through the cracks.

+1

My child also has a learning issue but she is "in-progress" in the areas we are concerned about yet the comment/feedback of class performance and work competion makes you wonder at what point will we know it isn't going well ... 4th quarter? I also imagine she is less motivated because it isn't obvious if she isn't doing well unless she is really behind.

Anyway, I feel like the parent that doesn't know if their kid will walk for graduation right up to the day of the ceremony. If I had something like she is getting 80%, I could tell more easily if she is improving, I could look at the 20% and make sure fundamentals aren't being missed. With in-progress right up until the end, I worry we won't know there is a problem until it is too late.

[Anonymous]

Though my kids are in private, we may switch to public at some point if they bring back tracking. Competition is healthy.