How does new semester grading work?

[Anonymous]

My high school currently has 1,000 E grades with 50% or lower.

We are hoping this is a wake up call / FAFO moment for the students. We’ll see. So many students just put the bare minimum in and it has been a lifelong habit enabled by MCPS and parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My high school currently has 1,000 E grades with 50% or lower.

We are hoping this is a wake up call / FAFO moment for the students. We’ll see. So many students just put the bare minimum in and it has been a lifelong habit enabled by MCPS and parents.

Students may have a poor work ethic, but to the best of my knowledge MCPS has never provided direct instruction on study/executive functioning skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My high school currently has 1,000 E grades with 50% or lower.

We are hoping this is a wake up call / FAFO moment for the students. We’ll see. So many students just put the bare minimum in and it has been a lifelong habit enabled by MCPS and parents.

My HS is probably in that same boat. Last I heard like 500-600 were below a 20% which means they might as well not show up until 2nd semester.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My high school currently has 1,000 E grades with 50% or lower.

We are hoping this is a wake up call / FAFO moment for the students. We’ll see. So many students just put the bare minimum in and it has been a lifelong habit enabled by MCPS and parents.

1000 Es total ~= 250 Es per grade level.
Usually Es are concentrated with some students failing multiple classes, so 250 Es is probably 60-80 kids per grade, which is pretty typical in my experience. About half those will be in the 45-60% range and kids will discover they have to actually hustle 2nd quarter in order to pass. Many will try, some will be successful, and some will take the lesson and be more on top of things 3rd quarter. The other 30-40 kids were going to fail both quarters regardless, most likely because they aren’t coming to school.

3rd quarter is where the first improvements should show up. Hopefully PP can report back on how many Es and it’s substantially less than 1000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My high school currently has 1,000 E grades with 50% or lower.

We are hoping this is a wake up call / FAFO moment for the students. We’ll see. So many students just put the bare minimum in and it has been a lifelong habit enabled by MCPS and parents.

My HS is probably in that same boat. Last I heard like 500-600 were below a 20% which means they might as well not show up until 2nd semester.

This is where I wish schools would be proactive and put students in credit recovery for second quarter. Kids below 20% typically failed previously because the issue is most likely attendance. Yet the teacher was expects to jump through hoops to try to get them to pass because “there was a chance”. Maybe now there could be acknowledgment to kids and parents sooner that the student needs to get it together and redo that quarter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My high school currently has 1,000 E grades with 50% or lower.

We are hoping this is a wake up call / FAFO moment for the students. We’ll see. So many students just put the bare minimum in and it has been a lifelong habit enabled by MCPS and parents.

My HS is probably in that same boat. Last I heard like 500-600 were below a 20% which means they might as well not show up until 2nd semester.

This is where I wish schools would be proactive and put students in credit recovery for second quarter. Kids below 20% typically failed previously because the issue is most likely attendance. Yet the teacher was expects to jump through hoops to try to get them to pass because “there was a chance”. Maybe now there could be acknowledgment to kids and parents sooner that the student needs to get it together and redo that quarter.

In defense of our school, the Asst. Principal sent letters and emails to every student that was in that scenario at Interims time and informed them of the consequences. It wasn't like we waited until report cards were due to tell kids they had 0 chance at passing.

Credit recovery would be nice but the way it's set up, I fear kids would fail on purpose just to do the credit recovery during quarter 2 because it's typically a much easier and less involved process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My high school currently has 1,000 E grades with 50% or lower.

We are hoping this is a wake up call / FAFO moment for the students. We’ll see. So many students just put the bare minimum in and it has been a lifelong habit enabled by MCPS and parents.

My HS is probably in that same boat. Last I heard like 500-600 were below a 20% which means they might as well not show up until 2nd semester.

This is where I wish schools would be proactive and put students in credit recovery for second quarter. Kids below 20% typically failed previously because the issue is most likely attendance. Yet the teacher was expects to jump through hoops to try to get them to pass because “there was a chance”. Maybe now there could be acknowledgment to kids and parents sooner that the student needs to get it together and redo that quarter.

In defense of our school, the Asst. Principal sent letters and emails to every student that was in that scenario at Interims time and informed them of the consequences. It wasn't like we waited until report cards were due to tell kids they had 0 chance at passing.

Credit recovery would be nice but the way it's set up, I fear kids would fail on purpose just to do the credit recovery during quarter 2 because it's typically a much easier and less involved process.

Seems like there needs to be a new 'system' for credit recovery, at least at schools where there are a lot of kids in this boat. Such as selecting a few of the courses with a lot of Q1 failures (probably math and english) and starting the kids back at the beginning of Q1-- i.e., redoing the full Q1 course concurrently with the Q2 course. (Could be a double-period class that teaches both Q1 and Q2 content or just an add-on Q1 course). Though the devil is in the details-- impossible in terms of teaching loads this year. Though in the future they could anticipate such a thing and arrange teaching schedules in a way that could have someone move into teaching this course at the beginning of Q2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t read the whole thread, but shouldn’t quarter grades be numeric not letter grades under the new policy?

They are both. We will find out in like 2 weeks if the report cards will display both the letter and the percentage

That hasn’t been communicated already?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My high school currently has 1,000 E grades with 50% or lower.

We are hoping this is a wake up call / FAFO moment for the students. We’ll see. So many students just put the bare minimum in and it has been a lifelong habit enabled by MCPS and parents.

My HS is probably in that same boat. Last I heard like 500-600 were below a 20% which means they might as well not show up until 2nd semester.

This is where I wish schools would be proactive and put students in credit recovery for second quarter. Kids below 20% typically failed previously because the issue is most likely attendance. Yet the teacher was expects to jump through hoops to try to get them to pass because “there was a chance”. Maybe now there could be acknowledgment to kids and parents sooner that the student needs to get it together and redo that quarter.

In defense of our school, the Asst. Principal sent letters and emails to every student that was in that scenario at Interims time and informed them of the consequences. It wasn't like we waited until report cards were due to tell kids they had 0 chance at passing.

Credit recovery would be nice but the way it's set up, I fear kids would fail on purpose just to do the credit recovery during quarter 2 because it's typically a much easier and less involved process.

I cannot believe that there are kids who don't care about passing classes but do care about getting a diploma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t read the whole thread, but shouldn’t quarter grades be numeric not letter grades under the new policy?

They are both. We will find out in like 2 weeks if the report cards will display both the letter and the percentage

That hasn’t been communicated already?

If it has, I haven't paid attention to it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My high school currently has 1,000 E grades with 50% or lower.

We are hoping this is a wake up call / FAFO moment for the students. We’ll see. So many students just put the bare minimum in and it has been a lifelong habit enabled by MCPS and parents.

My HS is probably in that same boat. Last I heard like 500-600 were below a 20% which means they might as well not show up until 2nd semester.

This is where I wish schools would be proactive and put students in credit recovery for second quarter. Kids below 20% typically failed previously because the issue is most likely attendance. Yet the teacher was expects to jump through hoops to try to get them to pass because “there was a chance”. Maybe now there could be acknowledgment to kids and parents sooner that the student needs to get it together and redo that quarter.

In defense of our school, the Asst. Principal sent letters and emails to every student that was in that scenario at Interims time and informed them of the consequences. It wasn't like we waited until report cards were due to tell kids they had 0 chance at passing.

Credit recovery would be nice but the way it's set up, I fear kids would fail on purpose just to do the credit recovery during quarter 2 because it's typically a much easier and less involved process.

I cannot believe that there are kids who don't care about passing classes but do care about getting a diploma.

The seniors who are failing I would agree with you. However there are 100s of freshmen who are failing because they are culture shocked by the idea that they can't just get passed along anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My high school currently has 1,000 E grades with 50% or lower.

We are hoping this is a wake up call / FAFO moment for the students. We’ll see. So many students just put the bare minimum in and it has been a lifelong habit enabled by MCPS and parents.

My HS is probably in that same boat. Last I heard like 500-600 were below a 20% which means they might as well not show up until 2nd semester.

They weren't showing up first quarter either.

Those kids need to be in specialized programs or job training.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My high school currently has 1,000 E grades with 50% or lower.

We are hoping this is a wake up call / FAFO moment for the students. We’ll see. So many students just put the bare minimum in and it has been a lifelong habit enabled by MCPS and parents.

My HS is probably in that same boat. Last I heard like 500-600 were below a 20% which means they might as well not show up until 2nd semester.

This is where I wish schools would be proactive and put students in credit recovery for second quarter. Kids below 20% typically failed previously because the issue is most likely attendance. Yet the teacher was expects to jump through hoops to try to get them to pass because “there was a chance”. Maybe now there could be acknowledgment to kids and parents sooner that the student needs to get it together and redo that quarter.

In defense of our school, the Asst. Principal sent letters and emails to every student that was in that scenario at Interims time and informed them of the consequences. It wasn't like we waited until report cards were due to tell kids they had 0 chance at passing.

Credit recovery would be nice but the way it's set up, I fear kids would fail on purpose just to do the credit recovery during quarter 2 because it's typically a much easier and less involved process.

Seems like there needs to be a new 'system' for credit recovery, at least at schools where there are a lot of kids in this boat. Such as selecting a few of the courses with a lot of Q1 failures (probably math and english) and starting the kids back at the beginning of Q1-- i.e., redoing the full Q1 course concurrently with the Q2 course. (Could be a double-period class that teaches both Q1 and Q2 content or just an add-on Q1 course). Though the devil is in the details-- impossible in terms of teaching loads this year. Though in the future they could anticipate such a thing and arrange teaching schedules in a way that could have someone move into teaching this course at the beginning of Q2.

Or — here’s a crazy idea — kids could be put into different class levels based on ability and interest at the start of the semester.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My high school currently has 1,000 E grades with 50% or lower.

We are hoping this is a wake up call / FAFO moment for the students. We’ll see. So many students just put the bare minimum in and it has been a lifelong habit enabled by MCPS and parents.

I heard the same thing at my high school. I wonder if we are at the same school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My high school currently has 1,000 E grades with 50% or lower.

We are hoping this is a wake up call / FAFO moment for the students. We’ll see. So many students just put the bare minimum in and it has been a lifelong habit enabled by MCPS and parents.

Students may have a poor work ethic, but to the best of my knowledge MCPS has never provided direct instruction on study/executive functioning skills.

Exactly. Some kids need to be explicitly taught study skills. IN fact all kids should be explicitly taught study skills and executive functioning skills and given ample opportunity to practice them throughout middle school. They should be taught different study and note taking methods both hand and digital. It should be a required class in 6th grade.