Grade equity at MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find the phone issue is universal. Most of the boys are completely addicted. It is also a way for frustrated learners to avoid work so I feel it more impacts boys of color.

Spend any real time in schools? Phone use is everywhere, not just boys, black or other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find the phone issue is universal. Most of the boys are completely addicted. It is also a way for frustrated learners to avoid work so I feel it more impacts boys of color.

Spend any real time in schools? Phone use is everywhere, not just boys, black or other.

I am in the schools daily. All students are impacted, but it you asked me one intervention to focus on for young men of color it is to get the phones away. Reading levels, MAP scores, ability for sustained tasks are being heavily impacted and that group is often the most affected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find the phone issue is universal. Most of the boys are completely addicted. It is also a way for frustrated learners to avoid work so I feel it more impacts boys of color.

Spend any real time in schools? Phone use is everywhere, not just boys, black or other.

I am in the schools daily. All students are impacted, but it you asked me one intervention to focus on for young men of color it is to get the phones away. Reading levels, MAP scores, ability for sustained tasks are being heavily impacted and that group is often the most affected.

Technology is the root of all our problems! If only we could go back to living in caves!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find the phone issue is universal. Most of the boys are completely addicted. It is also a way for frustrated learners to avoid work so I feel it more impacts boys of color.

Spend any real time in schools? Phone use is everywhere, not just boys, black or other.

I am in the schools daily. All students are impacted, but it you asked me one intervention to focus on for young men of color it is to get the phones away. Reading levels, MAP scores, ability for sustained tasks are being heavily impacted and that group is often the most affected.

I am a teacher and I agree. My students are on their phones way too much (the school JUST implemented a phone-away all-day policy this year) it's been a daily struggle. It is impacting so much now. Not just their grades, but their executive functioning, emotional reactivity to requests, etc. Their attention spans are nil. This is beyond me. I can mitigate as much risk as I can during class, but I am one person vs 33 thirteen-year-olds. It's a literal nightmare. There needs to be a significant intervention to help this generation learn how to manage their time more effectively with such fast technological advances. These humans will be taking care of us as we age. We need to figure this out not only for their own success, but everyone's, to be honest!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find the phone issue is universal. Most of the boys are completely addicted. It is also a way for frustrated learners to avoid work so I feel it more impacts boys of color.

Spend any real time in schools? Phone use is everywhere, not just boys, black or other.

I am in the schools daily. All students are impacted, but it you asked me one intervention to focus on for young men of color it is to get the phones away. Reading levels, MAP scores, ability for sustained tasks are being heavily impacted and that group is often the most affected.

I don't understand how you think young boys are the most affected? I see my own neighbors kids (their daughters) posing / performing for their TikToks every week. And the outfits! But I never see the sons doing this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just don't see it. Most questions are right or wrong. It's not up for debate. 2+2 = 4 bias won't change that.

OP said "subjects like English and History or anything else that requires writing and where the grading is highly subjective."

I just gave a reading and writing assignment to my students yesterday. I was very disappointed by the results. Most of my AA students did not submit and were really struggling with the reading. I want to become a better teacher, but the reality is that many students from low SES backgrounds have been passed ahead without gaining enough skills. I know I can do better, but I am not even sure where to start. It's clearly an attendance/curriculum issue. Not just an equity issue.

On the question of being promoted from grade to grade without the skills: I work in an elementary and in my 10 years here I have never seen a child repeat a grade. I didn’t think it was allowed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just don't see it. Most questions are right or wrong. It's not up for debate. 2+2 = 4 bias won't change that.

OP said "subjects like English and History or anything else that requires writing and where the grading is highly subjective."

I just gave a reading and writing assignment to my students yesterday. I was very disappointed by the results. Most of my AA students did not submit and were really struggling with the reading. I want to become a better teacher, but the reality is that many students from low SES backgrounds have been passed ahead without gaining enough skills. I know I can do better, but I am not even sure where to start. It's clearly an attendance/curriculum issue. Not just an equity issue.

On the question of being promoted from grade to grade without the skills: I work in an elementary and in my 10 years here I have never seen a child repeat a grade. I didn’t think it was allowed.

It is also nearly impossible to skip a grade. Parents have to really work the system. It may be the same way for repeating?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But what happens when the blind submissions reveal poor grades for certain demographics?

Academic performance has more to do with home life and family unit than it has to do with bias in teachers. All this would do is confirm what everyone knows and doesn't want to discuss.

Then the tests themselves are racist. We need culturally sensitive test material!!!

Agree with you on the latter point. Just look at disparities in attendance metrics by race.

I'm all for eliminating identifiers on papers to limit bias in grading. As to culturally sensitive material, I don't see how most classes like Algebra or Physics are biased. That seems like a fool's errand.

Algebra ae Physics aren't biased. What's biased is the emphasis on the more abstract aspects of these academic topics, which are more intellectual peacocking than comprehensive skills for life. When so many UMC adults can show off their sheets of straight As in advanced classes that they remember nothing about, it starts to look like access to elite colleges and jobs is gated on being wealthy and stable enough to become an expert in arcane trivia, year after year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find the phone issue is universal. Most of the boys are completely addicted. It is also a way for frustrated learners to avoid work so I feel it more impacts boys of color.

Spend any real time in schools? Phone use is everywhere, not just boys, black or other.

I am in the schools daily. All students are impacted, but it you asked me one intervention to focus on for young men of color it is to get the phones away. Reading levels, MAP scores, ability for sustained tasks are being heavily impacted and that group is often the most affected.

I don't understand how you think young boys are the most affected? I see my own neighbors kids (their daughters) posing / performing for their TikToks every week. And the outfits! But I never see the sons doing this.

But they're cute when they do it!

[Anonymous]

[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But what happens when the blind submissions reveal poor grades for certain demographics?

Academic performance has more to do with home life and family unit than it has to do with bias in teachers. All this would do is confirm what everyone knows and doesn't want to discuss.

Then the tests themselves are racist. We need culturally sensitive test material!!!

Agree with you on the latter point. Just look at disparities in attendance metrics by race.

I'm all for eliminating identifiers on papers to limit bias in grading. As to culturally sensitive material, I don't see how most classes like Algebra or Physics are biased. That seems like a fool's errand.

Algebra ae Physics aren't biased. What's biased is the emphasis on the more abstract aspects of these academic topics, which are more intellectual peacocking than comprehensive skills for life. When so many UMC adults can show off their sheets of straight As in advanced classes that they remember nothing about, it starts to look like access to elite colleges and jobs is gated on being wealthy and stable enough to become an expert in arcane trivia, year after year.

This is unintelligible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But what happens when the blind submissions reveal poor grades for certain demographics?

Academic performance has more to do with home life and family unit than it has to do with bias in teachers. All this would do is confirm what everyone knows and doesn't want to discuss.

Then the tests themselves are racist. We need culturally sensitive test material!!!

Agree with you on the latter point. Just look at disparities in attendance metrics by race.

I'm all for eliminating identifiers on papers to limit bias in grading. As to culturally sensitive material, I don't see how most classes like Algebra or Physics are biased. That seems like a fool's errand.

Algebra ae Physics aren't biased. What's biased is the emphasis on the more abstract aspects of these academic topics, which are more intellectual peacocking than comprehensive skills for life. When so many UMC adults can show off their sheets of straight As in advanced classes that they remember nothing about, it starts to look like access to elite colleges and jobs is gated on being wealthy and stable enough to become an expert in arcane trivia, year after year.

This is unintelligible.

It basically says that minority students (not Asians of course) are incapable of abstract thought.

[Anonymous]

Based on MCPS understand, Sorry, your "reading and writing assignment" is biased and probably not fulfilling the MCPS core values of "Equity"

Noted that "outcomes should not be predictable by race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status" means your assessment is the problem, not the students who struggle.

Noted that "eliminate any institutional barriers to students’ success" means your assessment is one of the institutional barriers

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just don't see it. Most questions are right or wrong. It's not up for debate. 2+2 = 4 bias won't change that.

OP said "subjects like English and History or anything else that requires writing and where the grading is highly subjective."

I just gave a reading and writing assignment to my students yesterday. I was very disappointed by the results. Most of my AA students did not submit and were really struggling with the reading. I want to become a better teacher, but the reality is that many students from low SES backgrounds have been passed ahead without gaining enough skills. I know I can do better, but I am not even sure where to start. It's clearly a attendance/curriculum issue. Not just an equity issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Based on MCPS understand, Sorry, your "reading and writing assignment" is biased and probably not fulfilling the MCPS core values of "Equity"

Noted that "outcomes should not be predictable by race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status" means your assessment is the problem, not the students who struggle.

Noted that "eliminate any institutional barriers to students’ success" means your assessment is one of the institutional barriers

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just don't see it. Most questions are right or wrong. It's not up for debate. 2+2 = 4 bias won't change that.

OP said "subjects like English and History or anything else that requires writing and where the grading is highly subjective."

I just gave a reading and writing assignment to my students yesterday. I was very disappointed by the results. Most of my AA students did not submit and were really struggling with the reading. I want to become a better teacher, but the reality is that many students from low SES backgrounds have been passed ahead without gaining enough skills. I know I can do better, but I am not even sure where to start. It's clearly a attendance/curriculum issue. Not just an equity issue.

If they are behind on reading skills how is that the fault of one teacher or the assignment? Teachers are fed up with getting blamed for things that are beyond their control.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find the phone issue is universal. Most of the boys are completely addicted. It is also a way for frustrated learners to avoid work so I feel it more impacts boys of color.

Spend any real time in schools? Phone use is everywhere, not just boys, black or other.

+100. I don’t understand why anyone gives kids phones before 8th/9th grade. It certainly doesn’t keep them safer because they are the most distracted zombies waking around with no situational awareness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find the phone issue is universal. Most of the boys are completely addicted. It is also a way for frustrated learners to avoid work so I feel it more impacts boys of color.

Spend any real time in schools? Phone use is everywhere, not just boys, black or other.

I am in the schools daily. All students are impacted, but it you asked me one intervention to focus on for young men of color it is to get the phones away. Reading levels, MAP scores, ability for sustained tasks are being heavily impacted and that group is often the most affected.

I’m a MS teacher. The most phone addicted group I see are Latino males. I can get every other group to put the phone away or place it on my desk if they can’t restrain themselves for 45 min.