APS - Standards Based Grading

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Hard to believe that a system full of overachievers expect so little of people without the same pedigree. This week on AEM was calculus is bad. People were tripping over themselves to step up and drink the koolaid.

The funny part of the article about calculus being used to weed out potential admits is that it’s happening because they went test optional. If they had SATs and ACTs to look at they wouldn’t resort to using calculus as a proxy for academic potential. Getting rid of the “racist” tests has led to a much more inequitable proxy because a student who has never taken calculus (because it’s not offered or they weren’t set on that path, etc) can still get a high SAT score.

The soft bigotry of low expectations is in full display in Arlington, that’s for sure.

Lol yes. AEM has really jumped the shark. It’s like the same 6 people saying ridiculous shit and everyone just send each side texts about the lunacy being said. The other APS Facebook groups are better.

What other groups? I find AEM isn’t my cup of tea.

Yes, please. AEM is largely ridiculous.

There are school-specific groups and APE.

APE is a 501(c)(4) lobbying group by the way

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hard to believe that a system full of overachievers expect so little of people without the same pedigree. This week on AEM was calculus is bad. People were tripping over themselves to step up and drink the koolaid.

The funny part of the article about calculus being used to weed out potential admits is that it’s happening because they went test optional. If they had SATs and ACTs to look at they wouldn’t resort to using calculus as a proxy for academic potential. Getting rid of the “racist” tests has led to a much more inequitable proxy because a student who has never taken calculus (because it’s not offered or they weren’t set on that path, etc) can still get a high SAT score.

The soft bigotry of low expectations is in full display in Arlington, that’s for sure.

Lol yes. AEM has really jumped the shark. It’s like the same 6 people saying ridiculous shit and everyone just send each side texts about the lunacy being said. The other APS Facebook groups are better.

What other groups? I find AEM isn’t my cup of tea.

Yes, please. AEM is largely ridiculous.

There are school-specific groups and APE.

APE is a 501(c)(4) lobbying group by the way

Good. We need someone lobbying on these issues. Their newsletter is the best info I get re APS.

[Anonymous]

That's a strange system then. Meets should be what you expect all kids to do, so calibrated to a C. Then a kid who exceeds get a B or A, falls short gets a D or F. This system is basically saying C, B, and A all get A. Nuts.


FYI for many people coming from abroad your system seems super strange. How can a child that has learned what he was supposed to get a "C" (one notch short of a failing grade)?! Mind-boggling if you didn't grow up in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hard to believe that a system full of overachievers expect so little of people without the same pedigree. This week on AEM was calculus is bad. People were tripping over themselves to step up and drink the koolaid.

The funny part of the article about calculus being used to weed out potential admits is that it’s happening because they went test optional. If they had SATs and ACTs to look at they wouldn’t resort to using calculus as a proxy for academic potential. Getting rid of the “racist” tests has led to a much more inequitable proxy because a student who has never taken calculus (because it’s not offered or they weren’t set on that path, etc) can still get a high SAT score.

The soft bigotry of low expectations is in full display in Arlington, that’s for sure.

Lol yes. AEM has really jumped the shark. It’s like the same 6 people saying ridiculous shit and everyone just send each side texts about the lunacy being said. The other APS Facebook groups are better.

What other groups? I find AEM isn’t my cup of tea.

Yes, please. AEM is largely ridiculous.

There are school-specific groups and APE.

APE is a 501(c)(4) lobbying group by the way

501(c)(3) organizations aren’t allowed to endorse candidates or do scorecards, so that makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
That's a strange system then. Meets should be what you expect all kids to do, so calibrated to a C. Then a kid who exceeds get a B or A, falls short gets a D or F. This system is basically saying C, B, and A all get A. Nuts.

FYI for many people coming from abroad your system seems super strange. How can a child that has learned what he was supposed to get a "C" (one notch short of a failing grade)?! Mind-boggling if you didn't grow up in the US.

It’s pretty mind-boggling if you did grow up in the US. I very much hope they don’t roll this out at all APS middle schools. It is bad enough in elementary school, but pushing it into middle school would be a dealbreaker for us.

[Anonymous]

The SBG that a prior PP described at Gunston gives an "A" for meeting the standard. An "A" here has always meant doing something exceptional, not doing what every kid is expected to do. This SBG approach doesn't incentivize kids to do more and leads to a clumping of kids with "A"s, to the point where grades become increasingly meaningless.

It sounds like Gunston's version of SBG is more like Pass/Fail -- you learn a sufficient amount and you pass. However, instead of assigning a "P", they assign an "A". That is strange.

[Anonymous]

My son at Gunston just told me he got 20/24 questions right on a test and he will still get an A. We had a talk about how that is really a B-, but come on this is no way to prep kids for high school. I really wish the NAACP would get upset about the middle school with the most students of color being the middle school using this ridiculous grading policy instead of the NAACP complaining about a game involving cotton balls. (and this is how you can tell I am old and out of touch).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The SBG that a prior PP described at Gunston gives an "A" for meeting the standard. An "A" here has always meant doing something exceptional, not doing what every kid is expected to do. This SBG approach doesn't incentivize kids to do more and leads to a clumping of kids with "A"s, to the point where grades become increasingly meaningless.

It sounds like Gunston's version of SBG is more like Pass/Fail -- you learn a sufficient amount and you pass. However, instead of assigning a "P", they assign an "A". That is strange.

I strongly dislike SBG, but it’s not like everyone gets As at Gunston because of it… only about 10% of the 8th graders have all As. Every teacher seems to convert to a letter grade in a different way.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I actually prefer standards-based grading because it gives more targeted information and feedback. Our current school does traditional letter grades and our former school did standards-based.

What I’ve read is that most SBG policies have “exceeds expectations,” but not APS. And all the comments at our school are largely a copy and paste job. I’d be fine w SBG if it had exceed expectations but middle school should have traditional A, B, C, D, F.

APS middle schools do have traditional letter grades.

Gunston has SBG and the idea is to roll it out to other schools.

Gunston report cards have letter grades

The APS version of SBG is providing no quantitative feedback during the quarter and then producing a grade at the end of the marking period. And no deadlines, so teachers have to take endless late work and write as many tests as students want for remakes.

I would probably be considered an "equity warrior on AEM," but this is garbage

I’m getting tired of “equity”. How about focusing on closing the achievement gap, and making sure nobody falls behind by staying on top of them instead of giving out fake “A”s?