Grading Systems

[Anonymous]

I've been reading a lot about the Fairfax schools switching to the 10pt. grading scale and was wondering what the other public/private schools do. I get the impression from the media that most must use the 10 pt. scale, but what about the privates?

My only basis of comparison is the Catholic schools which I know use the 93-100 A, 85-92 B, 77-84 C, 70-76 D, below 70 F scale. I'm not sure if others use +/- (as in B+, C-, etc.) but I know ours doesn't-just round letters.

[Anonymous]

OP - I don't know what area school systems use, either. But I had a related question.

I can understand why the Fairfax County teachers/administrators might have wanted to hold the line and buck grade inflation (or whatever thae rationale was.) But can anyone tell me this: why can't teachers just design harder tests if they want to buck grade inflation?

If an A used to require a "93%" score or higher on a test, and now it requires a "90%" score -- can't teachers just make the tests harder to compensate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - I don't know what area school systems use, either. But I had a related question.

I can understand why the Fairfax County teachers/administrators might have wanted to hold the line and buck grade inflation (or whatever thae rationale was.) But can anyone tell me this: why can't teachers just design harder tests if they want to buck grade inflation?

If an A used to require a "93%" score or higher on a test, and now it requires a "90%" score -- can't teachers just make the tests harder to compensate?

Teachers are under scrutiny these days. So when the grades come out (quarter, semester or final), administrators look at trends. For example, if three teachers have 10th grade English classes, their grades will be compared. So for Teacher A, 80% of her students have Bs, 5% have As, 10% have Cs and 5% have Ds. For Teacher B, 75% of her students have Bs and 25% have Ds. For Teacher C, 25% of her students have Bs, 25% have Cs, and 50% have As. (Did I do the math correctly?)

When an administrator examines the break down, s/he will have questions regarding consistency across the board. If there are too many Ds, for example, an administrator may ask for evidence of lesson planning and assessments given. Furthermore, if there is inconsistency among the three 10th grade English teachers, the administrator may insist that the three plan collaboratively to create similar plans and assessments.

Get it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

When an administrator examines the break down, s/he will have questions regarding consistency across the board. If there are too many Ds, for example, an administrator may ask for evidence of lesson planning and assessments given. Furthermore, if there is inconsistency among the three 10th grade English teachers, the administrator may insist that the three plan collaboratively to create similar plans and assessments.

Get it?

I guess I get it. But I'm surprised.

When I taught 5th grade (in Fairfax County) several years ago, all the fifth greade teachers were required to plan collaboratively and in fact use the same assessments if they were teaching the same objectives. The only allowance for a different assessment was if the teacher was teaching above or below grade level content. In that case, the teacher was essentially teaching a different class, with different objectives -- and so, the child was administered a different assessment. (And it was so noted on their report cards.)

Except for this exception, every child in the fifth grade took the exact same math test, science test, social studies tests, spelling tests and so on -- regardless of the teacher. It was uniform across the classrooms.

I had assumed that at high school there was the same system. All 10th graders ostensibly taking the same course don't actually all take the same tests? That hardly sounds fair!

I think all 10th graders taking 10th grade Math in an entire school district should take the same unit tests. And that way, if teachers are concerned about succumining to grade inflation, they can basically make the tests more difficult -- by including more questions that assess higher order thinking skills, and fewer that asses lower order ones, such as recall of facts.

[Anonymous]

ah! i have question to you mat i know the related study of grading if you don't mind please help me because this my project..now is the deadline......

[Anonymous]

ok