grading in MOCO

[Anonymous]

I heard on the radio this morning that it is impossible for a MOCO teacher to give a student a grade of Zero, even if the assignment was never turned in!!!
What does this teach the kids?
Also, teachers called in to say the students have almost unlimited options to retake failed exams, so they take the exams very flippantly...
Any viewpoints from parents?

[Anonymous]

Maybe that one mistake hurts but doesn't doom you?

If 65 is a failing grade, then it's mighty hard to recover from a 0. Even if you manage to get 100s on the next two assignments, you've still got a D- average overall. Where's the incentive not to write-off the course?

[Anonymous]

Is this new? My daughter got a 0 on a homework assignment she forgot to turn in last year in 6th grade. Even though homework only counts for 10% of the grade, a 0 can pull that down too. In another class, she got two 0s on assignments until I went to the teacher and told her I saw my daughter do them. Turns out the teacher had them all along and didn't see them. But that's another story...

[Anonymous]

I believe the "no zero" policy comes into effect when averaging grades. For example, if a kid gets a zero, 30%, 75%, and an 80%, when the grades are averaged, the zero and the 30% would "bump up" to a 50% for averaging. So, the grades become 50%, 50 %, 75% and 80%

[Anonymous]

Visit the MCPS page: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/info/grading/

Click on Grading and Reporting, Grades 1-12.

Page 6 (grading) explains guidelines.

The county changed the guidelines to even things out. For example, there is a 10-point scale for every grade except an E (which is an F). So if a student receives a failing grade, the point spread is much wider, making it more difficult to catch up. So the 50% rule came into play. A zero is assigned if the student does NO work on the assignment. However, if an attempt has been made (and this is the gray area), but the student still fails the assignment, a 50% is assigned. Now, how do you define attempt? That's the tricky part.

Furthermore, teachers cannot make homework more than 10%. So keep in mind that not all of it "counts" toward the final grade. They've also been asked to create categories (at least at the high school level) so that there is a balance of work given across the board - for example, homework, assessments, common tasks (major assignments per unit), etc.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, my kids found that grading in general was tougher in MoCo than in the private elementary they came from.

I don't know about the "no zero" policy, though.