Grading at Walls
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Anonymous
You mean yell at you about YOUR kid cheating. |
Anonymous
No, I assume the PP is a teacher and is saying that parents yelled and them (the teacher) about their (the parents') kid cheating. |
Anonymous
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Not every one at Walls is straight As but the median GPA is well OVER 4.0.
The vast majority of Walls students are in the National Honor Society and graduate summa cum laude. That is out-of-control grade inflation. And it only hurts Walls’ college admissions and the performance of students once they enter college. Here is an article about this from the Walls newspaper: https://www.swwrookery.com/post/hugely-inflated-are-pandemic-era-grading-policies-doing-more-harm-than-good Some excerpts: The junior class at Walls has an average GPA of 3.93, a number school counselor Kathryn Moore called “very high.” She also noted that the median GPA was over a 4.0. That means that well over half the class had a GPA above 4.0 at the start of the 2022-23 school year. This number will likely only increase, as juniors take on more AP classes, which are graded on a 5.0 scale. Grade inflation makes it difficult to stand out, especially at a school like Walls where many students are already inclined toward high academic achievement. Ms. Moore cited the honors distinctions that appear on Walls transcripts in place of rankings as an example: Anyone with above a 3.8 GPA — below the junior-class average — graduates summa cum laude, the highest distinction. In a similar vein, the National Honor Society’s minimum GPA for eligibility is 3.5, a standard the vast majority of Walls students meet. “How much of an honor is it then?” Ms. Moore asked. She clarified that the criteria for honors distinctions and the National Honor Society “were set with a different grading process” before the pandemic. Mr. Jordan said that the pandemic-era grading policy “does not push students to excel,” and that students will face a “rude awakening” when they get to college. “It gives them a cushion and a false sense of their performance,” he said. “Colleges do not have a WS or [a] 63 percent [minimum].” Some students do understand this. “It’s definitely hurt my work ethic,” Douglas said. “When I go to college, it’s going to hurt me because I’m not actively putting in as much effort as I should or as I could because of those policies. So when I go to college, I won’t be as prepared. I won’t have the strong work ethic that I probably could have [had] if those policies weren’t in place.” |
Anonymous
it's really bad...I bet it's even higher for this year's juniors (i.e., rising seniors).... |
Anonymous
| The whole grade inflation fiasco just disguises how little kids learn (or want to learn) and how much is effectively taught in DCPS schools. |
Anonymous
yes, it's crazy. I recently went down a rabbit trail to look at AP scores in MCPS vs. DCPS and it's night and day. DCPS basically sucks. Don't jump on me: I'm a long-term DCPS advocate but the AP results are pathetic |
Anonymous
Example: Calculus BC: 15% got a 3-5 in DCPS, 85% got a 3-5 in MCPS. The grade inflation in DCPS helps no one. i'm sure almost all of the 85% of DCPS students who failed the calculus BC AP exam did well in the class. You don't just randomly end up in this class so if you're in it, you're probably doing the work. They're basically getting As but learning nothing. 
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Anonymous
But how many of these kids got As? This year's BC class at JR was quite small (60 kids across two sections, I think). I'm pretty sure they didn't all get As. I suppose Banneker, McKinley and Walls make up the bulk of the remainder. But 15% passing in the AP exam is quite dismal. However, if you take another somewhat difficult AP, like Physics C (Mech or E&M), 56 and 78% of the kids get 3 or above, which is not that dissimilar to Walter Johnson. I think only JR and maybe Walls offer AP Physics C (Mechanics), and JR's student profile is somewhat similar to WJ, save for a lot fewer Asians. I wish DCPS would provide a school by school breakdown just like MCPS does. But that would be too much to ask. |
Anonymous
| AP physics 1 was abysmal this year—lots of kids with As in the class but 1s on the test. I think the teacher only taught 1/2 the units… |
Anonymous
Which school? Don't they give a mock test (a past AP exam) to assess where the gaps are? I know that JR did for Calc BC. |
Anonymous
I wonder why DCPS doesn't give a breakdown of scores by school like MCPS does (link https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/data/LAR-charts/AP-Exam-by-Subject.html). I suspect the number of 5s and 4s are pretty low across the board. |
Anonymous
| Walls has pretty high passing rates on most AP exams. DCPS is not equal in its teaching of classes across schools. |
Anonymous
Did you get the DCPS data from the 2022-23 school year data set? Because those number of test takers in each column seem wrong in some classes. Not to say only 15% in DCPS passed, but there is not way more kids in DCPS took BC than AB. |
Anonymous
| Yeah I’m PP and that data is wrong unless I’m misreading it. More than 39 kids in DCPS passed the BC exam, and way more than 50 kids took AP Lang. |
Anonymous
The data for BC clearly looks wrong (for 2022-2023). Looking at 2021-2022, the pass rates are about 72% for BC, which is not that far off from MCPS schools. The AP Lang data is clearly off. DCPS can't even get this right? |