MCPS Giving out As?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a student can get a 79 in one quarter and 89 in the other and still get an A, that is 100% grade inflation. You all should be worried because if your kid gets a B, it looks really really bad to the college admissions officer who is evaluating their transcript. A B in an MCPS school is like a C in the nearby private schools. Just sayin.

Sorry that would be a B and this is an extreme and unlikely example.

As a teacher, it is very common for a student to get an 89.5 (or just above) one quarter and therefore earn an A, and then get a very low B, sometimes even a 79.5 and therefore have an A on the transcript.

I don't know what colleges think about Bs on transcripts from MCPS schools, but students earning As on transcripts that mathematically were not As, is very common.

+1. All you have to do is look at the profiles mcps high schools send colleges to see how rampant grade inflation has become. Over 50% of students have a 4.0 or better. If you have any Bs you are literally in the bottom half of the class.

Share a link, not of a magnet program but an entire high school that has 50 percent with 4.0.

As requested
https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/woottonhs/uploadedfiles/counseling/school_profile__wootton_high_2017-2018.pdf

Um, that shows 45% have an unweighted GPA between 3.51 and 4.0. Far cry from 50% at 4.0.

Doesn't know how to read a chart...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a student can get a 79 in one quarter and 89 in the other and still get an A, that is 100% grade inflation. You all should be worried because if your kid gets a B, it looks really really bad to the college admissions officer who is evaluating their transcript. A B in an MCPS school is like a C in the nearby private schools. Just sayin.

Sorry that would be a B and this is an extreme and unlikely example.

As a teacher, it is very common for a student to get an 89.5 (or just above) one quarter and therefore earn an A, and then get a very low B, sometimes even a 79.5 and therefore have an A on the transcript.

I don't know what colleges think about Bs on transcripts from MCPS schools, but students earning As on transcripts that mathematically were not As, is very common.

+1. All you have to do is look at the profiles mcps high schools send colleges to see how rampant grade inflation has become. Over 50% of students have a 4.0 or better. If you have any Bs you are literally in the bottom half of the class.

Share a link, not of a magnet program but an entire high school that has 50 percent with 4.0.

As requested
https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/woottonhs/uploadedfiles/counseling/school_profile__wootton_high_2017-2018.pdf

Um, that shows 45% have an unweighted GPA between 3.51 and 4.0. Far cry from 50% at 4.0.

16% 4.51 and above; 34% 4.01-4.5

16+34= 50% at 4.01 and above

You’re looking at the wrong numbers. The claim was about unweighted GPA.

The claim was 50% have a 4.0 or better. You can’t have better with an unweighted GPA. Unless I’m missing the part where they claim unweighted

Unless they specified, which they didn’t, the default is unweighted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a student can get a 79 in one quarter and 89 in the other and still get an A, that is 100% grade inflation. You all should be worried because if your kid gets a B, it looks really really bad to the college admissions officer who is evaluating their transcript. A B in an MCPS school is like a C in the nearby private schools. Just sayin.

Sorry that would be a B and this is an extreme and unlikely example.

As a teacher, it is very common for a student to get an 89.5 (or just above) one quarter and therefore earn an A, and then get a very low B, sometimes even a 79.5 and therefore have an A on the transcript.

I don't know what colleges think about Bs on transcripts from MCPS schools, but students earning As on transcripts that mathematically were not As, is very common.

+1. All you have to do is look at the profiles mcps high schools send colleges to see how rampant grade inflation has become. Over 50% of students have a 4.0 or better. If you have any Bs you are literally in the bottom half of the class.

Share a link, not of a magnet program but an entire high school that has 50 percent with 4.0.

As requested
https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/woottonhs/uploadedfiles/counseling/school_profile__wootton_high_2017-2018.pdf

Um, that shows 45% have an unweighted GPA between 3.51 and 4.0. Far cry from 50% at 4.0.

Doesn't know how to read a chart...

PP read the chart perfectly. If you can’t understand that then you are the one with the problem reading charts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a student can get a 79 in one quarter and 89 in the other and still get an A, that is 100% grade inflation. You all should be worried because if your kid gets a B, it looks really really bad to the college admissions officer who is evaluating their transcript. A B in an MCPS school is like a C in the nearby private schools. Just sayin.

Sorry that would be a B and this is an extreme and unlikely example.

As a teacher, it is very common for a student to get an 89.5 (or just above) one quarter and therefore earn an A, and then get a very low B, sometimes even a 79.5 and therefore have an A on the transcript.

I don't know what colleges think about Bs on transcripts from MCPS schools, but students earning As on transcripts that mathematically were not As, is very common.

+1. All you have to do is look at the profiles mcps high schools send colleges to see how rampant grade inflation has become. Over 50% of students have a 4.0 or better. If you have any Bs you are literally in the bottom half of the class.

Share a link, not of a magnet program but an entire high school that has 50 percent with 4.0.

As requested
https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/woottonhs/uploadedfiles/counseling/school_profile__wootton_high_2017-2018.pdf

Um, that shows 45% have an unweighted GPA between 3.51 and 4.0. Far cry from 50% at 4.0.

16% 4.51 and above; 34% 4.01-4.5

16+34= 50% at 4.01 and above

You’re looking at the wrong numbers. The claim was about unweighted GPA.

The claim was 50% have a 4.0 or better. You can’t have better with an unweighted GPA. Unless I’m missing the part where they claim unweighted

Unless they specified, which they didn’t, the default is unweighted.

So how do you get better than a 4.0 unweighted?

[Anonymous]

I am the person who made the claim and of course I am referring to weighted GPA. It is impossible to have higher than a 4.0 unweighted GPA in MCPS.

Some of you...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the person who made the claim and of course I am referring to weighted GPA. It is impossible to have higher than a 4.0 unweighted GPA in MCPS.

Some of you...

Then you should have said so, upfront.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the person who made the claim and of course I am referring to weighted GPA. It is impossible to have higher than a 4.0 unweighted GPA in MCPS.

Some of you...

Then you should have said so, upfront.

She said 4.0 or higher. You can’t go higher unweighted. It was pretty obvious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Blair is not giving out As easily! But it could be different depending on the teacher. My kids are in honors classes so teachers expect a lot (which I'm fine with).

Sorry to burst your bubble.. but Blair is giving out As easily. And everyone is in honors now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blair is not giving out As easily! But it could be different depending on the teacher. My kids are in honors classes so teachers expect a lot (which I'm fine with).

Sorry to burst your bubble.. but Blair is giving out As easily. And everyone is in honors now.

My Blair kids aren’t getting all A’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC attends MCPS high school and we feel they are not learning much, but get excellent grades. Do others have the impression schools are extremely lenient with grading? I am worried MCPS students will not be prepared for college if teachers are forced to give students the grades admin thinks parents expect. Am I off base here?

FTFY

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We tell the students to put your name on the paper for 50 percent. This teaches the kids 1/100th of an assignment equals 50%. That's called mcps math. And no it does not make sense and is part of the forever lowering the bar game

How often are you giving students a single assignment with 100 things to do? That sounds inappropriate even for math.

Look, I dislike the 50% rule. However, the 50% rule isn’t why students are not attempting assignments. Students don’t attempt when they lack the skills to do the work and/or they don’t see the value in the assignment. This is true across all racial and economic groups I see as a teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:However, the 50% rule isn’t why students are not attempting assignments. Students don’t attempt when they lack the skills to do the work and/or they don’t see the value in the assignment.

Quite true, but also because they have calculated that they can get the grade they want without putting in their best effort.

In the days of final exams, a student with an A first quarter would continue working hard in the second quarter. Dropping to a B would necessitate an A on the final exam to get an A in the course. Many of those students would not be up to the task of eaning an A on the exam and would end up with a B for the course.

Now, every student who drops from an A to a B in the second quarter gets an A for the course.

MCPS is not giving away A's for course grades, but it is certainly easier to earn them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blair is not giving out As easily! But it could be different depending on the teacher. My kids are in honors classes so teachers expect a lot (which I'm fine with).

Sorry to burst your bubble.. but Blair is giving out As easily. And everyone is in honors now.

My Blair kids aren’t getting all A’s.

There’s a 9th grade English teacher who is grading most kids Bs and Cs. Kids who are strong students. Many magnet kids are struggling in precalc with a tough teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blair is not giving out As easily! But it could be different depending on the teacher. My kids are in honors classes so teachers expect a lot (which I'm fine with).

Sorry to burst your bubble.. but Blair is giving out As easily. And everyone is in honors now.

My Blair kids aren’t getting all A’s.

There’s a 9th grade English teacher who is grading most kids Bs and Cs. Kids who are strong students. Many magnet kids are struggling in precalc with a tough teacher.

My kid is at Blair. Some teachers for honors classes do seem to give out A’s easily. However, there are many teachers that have reputations for being difficult graders and my son has had quite a few of them. I don’t think they are difficult, just fair graders. Some teachers provide retakes, others don’t. Some cap the retake grade so that you can’t get an A or cap the number of retakes. One of my kid’s AP teachers never applies the 50% rule.

Also, kids are getting B’s and much lower in honors classes. Some kids barely attend class or submit work. Their parents aren’t contacting teachers and the school demanding higher grades. All the magnet/ CAP kids are not getting all A’s. This is also true in AP classes. Many kids struggle and teachers aren’t giving A’s.

Finally, there are plenty of kids that are doing well and deserve A’s at Blair, especially in the Magnet and CAP program.

If you look at the school profiles pre-pandemic about 25% of the graduating class had a 4.0 or higher. This increased significantly during the pandemic, because of MCPS’s grading policy. I suspect for the class of 2025 and beyond, the GPA distribution will return to pre-pandemic averages as teachers are going back to normal grading.

Making blanket statements is ridiculous. Grade inflation is real. A 79.5 and a 89.5 does equal an A. But it doesn’t happen as often as people like to believe. MCPS is a massive school system and grading policies and school culture varies from school to school and within schools.