Is St. Albans Grading Fair? I Heard NCS Isn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCS parent here. I have heard of teachers capping grades at an 86/100 for close reading assignments early on in the year and capping daily class discussion grades at 4.5/5 (unless the student made a "graduate-level" comment in which case a 4.7/5 was given on that day). I think teachers want to make sure there is room for growth. In my DD's experience, it all worked out, but she had to keep grinding all year and it definitely increased her stress. Tough grading notwithstanding, the English department at NCS is fantastic and did an incredible job of preparing my DD for college. The teachers also were readily available during office hours.

The original poster with the daughter with the 90 cap here. Thank you for posting this, makes me feel less crazy. I think it would be helpful if the teacher had communicated the policy and the reasoning for it to the class.

As for people asking why post negative things about NCS or other schools, I post positive things 98% of the time. I don’t know how you would know it’s one person posting negative things, but we are quite happy w NCS. Both can be true. You can like a school and still find fault with it or think things could improve. We aren’t new to the school and are aware it’s a rigorous place but this was not something my daughter has experienced before.

DP. I find it odd as well and feel like your negative posts just hurt your daughter’s school. Seems like things you should discuss with school or parents at the school. Posting here just makes your daughters school look bad. You seem much more invoked with your daughters grades and individual papers than I am with my highschool kids who are also at a Big 3.

For real! Teach your daughter that women should be seen, not heard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Albans has better college admissions than NCS

Boys are fairing better across all schools in regards to college. Lots of articles on this...

NCS makes it very clear. Girls get boy scraps, period. Of course the boys are doing better.

Not sure what you are talking about

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard that NCS grading is brutal. Is St. Albans grading fair for the boys? Are there teachers at STA that refuse to give A's or only give one A for the entire English/history department?

My STA kids all got As in their NCS English classes. Not sure what the fuss is about.

If you look online at the long list of English courses offered at NCS, I think you could admit that perhaps your son did not take the class/es that are being referenced by those above?

Your son must be in in 11 or 12 grade because that's when taking English classes at the other school becomes allowed. Grading by that point gets less brutal (or perhaps students become better writers). But in 9-10th grades, no matter how hard you try, hardly anyone will get above 90 for anything. For science / math, only very few select have As.

Grading is brutal. And yes, some colleges know the low grading scale but many don't, and with the test optional trend the grading is hurting college admissions. And often you need to show GPA not only for college admissions but for other competitive applications. I have one graduate and one current Upper School student, so speaking from experience.

How does NCS deal with this parent?! Soooo difficult.

I have news for you - STA students also had difficult grading in 9th and 10th grade! Guess how I know? Because my straight A student couldn’t get better than a C or B in English in ninth grade at STA. It was brutal and ruined his GPA! This is how life goes!

At a certain point, parents have to ask whether it is worth it. I'd much rather have my DS attend Gonzaga and graduate with a 4.4 GPA than attend STA and graduate with a 3.4 because of massive deflation.

Colleges don't give prep school kids a break on GPA anymore, and they don't care that your fancy school deflates grades. Schools tout their matriculation, but fail to disclose that the majority of the Top 20 admits are legacies, athletes, URMs, or Questbridge applicants. In a test-optional world, the deflation the Cathedral Schools do only hurts the kids.

Cathedral school and Sidwell kids did quite well last year in college admissions.

.

Mostly the top who are also legacies or athletic recruits. Those who weren’t didn’t do as well.

Most of the c/o 2023 grads at Walls who are attending Ivy+ colleges are legacies and URM (sometimes both). What is your point?

Walls is free?

True, and Walls’ facilities (or lack thereof) and limited resources make it very clear that students are receiving a free education.

The point is that many/most students, coming from public or private schools, aren’t getting into Ivy+ colleges without great grades, test scores AND a hook. So if your child is a talented Ivy legacy with great stats, their high school makes less of a difference than it used to (but elite privates still have an edge). It’s just a matter of how they’ll spend their 4 years of high school before arriving at their Ivy. Will it be economy class on Spirit Airlines (free, but relatively under resourced public schools), or first class on Emirates (elite private schools). If you can afford it, why not have your child travel comfortably and safely to their destination?

The Emirates version of a private school? Would that be one perpetrating human rights abuses? Limiting free speech? What kind of school is this?

You really should have gone with KLM.

Lol—my analogy is based on which company provides the safest, most consistent, and most luxurious experience. I’ve flown both KLM and Emirates—I stand by my original post. If given an option, I’m flying Emirates (elite private) over (break your) Spirit every time!

Look, I understand many people don’t have this option. You’re not getting to your destination at all if you’re not flying Spirit. Everyone should have the freedom to do their best with the tools (and options) available to them. [/quote


Sorry this is analogy is ridiculous… Have a kid at Walls who turned down a big 3 and loves the independence, being admist a college campus, his teachers, classmates. Also have a kid in private. Each would laugh at this for different reasons but the point would be the same….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Albans has better college admissions than NCS

Boys are fairing better across all schools in regards to college. Lots of articles on this...

NCS makes it very clear. Girls get boy scraps, period. Of course the boys are doing better.

Not sure what you are talking about

The boys get all the prime spots for everything, and the girls get the rest. The two tiered system is incredible. I can’t imagine a parent deciding to tell their kid they aren’t as good as if they were the other sex, which is the clear NCS message.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard that NCS grading is brutal. Is St. Albans grading fair for the boys? Are there teachers at STA that refuse to give A's or only give one A for the entire English/history department?

My STA kids all got As in their NCS English classes. Not sure what the fuss is about.

If you look online at the long list of English courses offered at NCS, I think you could admit that perhaps your son did not take the class/es that are being referenced by those above?

Your son must be in in 11 or 12 grade because that's when taking English classes at the other school becomes allowed. Grading by that point gets less brutal (or perhaps students become better writers). But in 9-10th grades, no matter how hard you try, hardly anyone will get above 90 for anything. For science / math, only very few select have As.

Grading is brutal. And yes, some colleges know the low grading scale but many don't, and with the test optional trend the grading is hurting college admissions. And often you need to show GPA not only for college admissions but for other competitive applications. I have one graduate and one current Upper School student, so speaking from experience.

How does NCS deal with this parent?! Soooo difficult.

I have news for you - STA students also had difficult grading in 9th and 10th grade! Guess how I know? Because my straight A student couldn’t get better than a C or B in English in ninth grade at STA. It was brutal and ruined his GPA! This is how life goes!

At a certain point, parents have to ask whether it is worth it. I'd much rather have my DS attend Gonzaga and graduate with a 4.4 GPA than attend STA and graduate with a 3.4 because of massive deflation.

Colleges don't give prep school kids a break on GPA anymore, and they don't care that your fancy school deflates grades. Schools tout their matriculation, but fail to disclose that the majority of the Top 20 admits are legacies, athletes, URMs, or Questbridge applicants. In a test-optional world, the deflation the Cathedral Schools do only hurts the kids.

Cathedral school and Sidwell kids did quite well last year in college admissions.

.

Mostly the top who are also legacies or athletic recruits. Those who weren’t didn’t do as well.

Most of the c/o 2023 grads at Walls who are attending Ivy+ colleges are legacies and URM (sometimes both). What is your point?

Walls is free?

True, and Walls’ facilities (or lack thereof) and limited resources make it very clear that students are receiving a free education.

The point is that many/most students, coming from public or private schools, aren’t getting into Ivy+ colleges without great grades, test scores AND a hook. So if your child is a talented Ivy legacy with great stats, their high school makes less of a difference than it used to (but elite privates still have an edge). It’s just a matter of how they’ll spend their 4 years of high school before arriving at their Ivy. Will it be economy class on Spirit Airlines (free, but relatively under resourced public schools), or first class on Emirates (elite private schools). If you can afford it, why not have your child travel comfortably and safely to their destination?

The Emirates version of a private school? Would that be one perpetrating human rights abuses? Limiting free speech? What kind of school is this?

You really should have gone with KLM.

Lol—my analogy is based on which company provides the safest, most consistent, and most luxurious experience. I’ve flown both KLM and Emirates—I stand by my original post. If given an option, I’m flying Emirates (elite private) over (break your) Spirit every time!

Look, I understand many people don’t have this option. You’re not getting to your destination at all if you’re not flying Spirit. Everyone should have the freedom to do their best with the tools (and options) available to them. [/quote


Sorry this is analogy is ridiculous… Have a kid at Walls who turned down a big 3 and loves the independence, being admist a college campus, his teachers, classmates. Also have a kid in private. Each would laugh at this for different reasons but the point would be the same….

You think that Walls is a luxury experience? Lies! My oldest child graduated from Walls—that’s why I made sure my youngest child attended a Big 3. You can get an excellent education at both, but one is going to be a much more comfortable experience (i.e., academic and athletic facilities, student support, customer service (yes, customer service), consistently high quality teaching, lunch, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Albans has better college admissions than NCS

Boys are fairing better across all schools in regards to college. Lots of articles on this...

NCS makes it very clear. Girls get boy scraps, period. Of course the boys are doing better.

Not sure what you are talking about

The boys get all the prime spots for everything, and the girls get the rest. The two tiered system is incredible. I can’t imagine a parent deciding to tell their kid they aren’t as good as if they were the other sex, which is the clear NCS message.

Lol! Have you seen NCS’s athletic center and all of their new athletic fields?! Their athletic center is as nice as most colleges!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Albans has better college admissions than NCS

Yes. And the boys have access to the teachers and the fields. This is a school dedicated to women getting the dregs. I walked out of the open house it was so disturbing.

You probably would not have gotten it anyway so no reason to get your hopes up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Albans has better college admissions than NCS

Yes. And the boys have access to the teachers and the fields. This is a school dedicated to women getting the dregs. I walked out of the open house it was so disturbing.

You probably would not have gotten it anyway so no reason to get your hopes up.

Lol! There was no doubt my child could get in. But I would never send her to a school that makes it clear that men deserve more than women. It was a non-starter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Albans has better college admissions than NCS

Yes. And the boys have access to the teachers and the fields. This is a school dedicated to women getting the dregs. I walked out of the open house it was so disturbing.

What are you even prattling on about

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Albans has better college admissions than NCS

Boys are fairing better across all schools in regards to college. Lots of articles on this...

NCS makes it very clear. Girls get boy scraps, period. Of course the boys are doing better.

Not sure what you are talking about

The boys get all the prime spots for everything, and the girls get the rest. The two tiered system is incredible. I can’t imagine a parent deciding to tell their kid they aren’t as good as if they were the other sex, which is the clear NCS message.

Ha ha They are two separate schools they’re not competing for the same spots or competing for anything. NCS has their own new beautiful athletic facility and their own new fields and their buildings and library are all beautiful and been redone. The clear message is that young women can do anything they want to do and have the confidence to pursue whatever it is they would like to do. They don’t compete with STA in anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NCS sells itself as the second rate school for girls. You failed to have a boy, so your child can go to the other school that gets second dibs on everything. I don’t get how any parent would choose that for their child. Teach your child they aren’t second class for being female. That certainly won’t happen at NCS.

This is nonsense. My girls had a wonderful time at NCS. My girls are still great friends with girls at different universities across the country.

My one daughter graduated NCS last year. As a freshman in college, she is killing it.

I am curious, where are your kids attending school?

Are you afraid to say where your daughter attends school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The grading at NCS US can be very tough, my daughter just had a writing assignment where the grade was capped at 90. You could not get a higher grade, period. Also grading is very teacher dependent and some teachers definitely have reputations for being very harsh graders.
Both schools are hard. If you have kids at both, seems like STA comes out ahead in terms of admin and day to day operations.

My daughter is at NCS and I have never heard of this happening. What class and grade? I have a hard time believing this.

in such a small school, i’m not going to out myself or my daughter. i’m not lying and we will be discussing with school. my daughter was not the only student who was told this and so i tend to believe multiple girls on this one. maybe there is a further explanation but on its face it’s crazy.

What do you mean "capped at a 90?" You mean that the highest grade in the class was a 90 on this assignment? If so, that is totally reasonable. I'm a college professor, and especially in a small class you will find on occasion that nobody in the class does a good job on an assignment. That doesn't mean I should hand out an A "just because."

When you say "capped at a 90" people think you are trying to say that the teacher won't give out an A, no matter how good your work is. I highly doubt this is true.

You have no knowledge on which to make your judgment, which makes you a pompous windbag. Yes, the grade is capped at a 90 because the teacher will not give out grades above that… just because.

And you sound delusional. No teacher does this. I'm sorry your snowflake didn't get an A just because you believe she should have.

Your statement that no teacher does this proves my point that you’re an idiot. You’d have to be pretty asinine to make a statement about a school which you very obviously know nothing about. As for my snowflake, I don’t have one at NCS so there goes your stupid theory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Albans has better college admissions than NCS

Boys are fairing better across all schools in regards to college. Lots of articles on this...

NCS makes it very clear. Girls get boy scraps, period. Of course the boys are doing better.

This is such nonsense.

Not sure what you are talking about

The boys get all the prime spots for everything, and the girls get the rest. The two tiered system is incredible. I can’t imagine a parent deciding to tell their kid they aren’t as good as if they were the other sex, which is the clear NCS message.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The grading at NCS US can be very tough, my daughter just had a writing assignment where the grade was capped at 90. You could not get a higher grade, period. Also grading is very teacher dependent and some teachers definitely have reputations for being very harsh graders.
Both schools are hard. If you have kids at both, seems like STA comes out ahead in terms of admin and day to day operations.

My daughter is at NCS and I have never heard of this happening. What class and grade? I have a hard time believing this.

in such a small school, i’m not going to out myself or my daughter. i’m not lying and we will be discussing with school. my daughter was not the only student who was told this and so i tend to believe multiple girls on this one. maybe there is a further explanation but on its face it’s crazy.

What do you mean "capped at a 90?" You mean that the highest grade in the class was a 90 on this assignment? If so, that is totally reasonable. I'm a college professor, and especially in a small class you will find on occasion that nobody in the class does a good job on an assignment. That doesn't mean I should hand out an A "just because."

When you say "capped at a 90" people think you are trying to say that the teacher won't give out an A, no matter how good your work is. I highly doubt this is true.

You have no knowledge on which to make your judgment, which makes you a pompous windbag. Yes, the grade is capped at a 90 because the teacher will not give out grades above that… just because.

And you sound delusional. No teacher does this. I'm sorry your snowflake didn't get an A just because you believe she should have.

Your statement that no teacher does this proves my point that you’re an idiot. You’d have to be pretty asinine to make a statement about a school which you very obviously know nothing about. As for my snowflake, I don’t have one at NCS so there goes your stupid theory.

Glad you clarified that you know nothing about the situation either. In fact, you know even less than someone who actually has teaching experience and can justify difficult grading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard that NCS grading is brutal. Is St. Albans grading fair for the boys? Are there teachers at STA that refuse to give A's or only give one A for the entire English/history department?

My STA kids all got As in their NCS English classes. Not sure what the fuss is about.

If you look online at the long list of English courses offered at NCS, I think you could admit that perhaps your son did not take the class/es that are being referenced by those above?

Your son must be in in 11 or 12 grade because that's when taking English classes at the other school becomes allowed. Grading by that point gets less brutal (or perhaps students become better writers). But in 9-10th grades, no matter how hard you try, hardly anyone will get above 90 for anything. For science / math, only very few select have As.

Grading is brutal. And yes, some colleges know the low grading scale but many don't, and with the test optional trend the grading is hurting college admissions. And often you need to show GPA not only for college admissions but for other competitive applications. I have one graduate and one current Upper School student, so speaking from experience.

How does NCS deal with this parent?! Soooo difficult.

I have news for you - STA students also had difficult grading in 9th and 10th grade! Guess how I know? Because my straight A student couldn’t get better than a C or B in English in ninth grade at STA. It was brutal and ruined his GPA! This is how life goes!

At a certain point, parents have to ask whether it is worth it. I'd much rather have my DS attend Gonzaga and graduate with a 4.4 GPA than attend STA and graduate with a 3.4 because of massive deflation.

Colleges don't give prep school kids a break on GPA anymore, and they don't care that your fancy school deflates grades. Schools tout their matriculation, but fail to disclose that the majority of the Top 20 admits are legacies, athletes, URMs, or Questbridge applicants. In a test-optional world, the deflation the Cathedral Schools do only hurts the kids.

Cathedral school and Sidwell kids did quite well last year in college admissions.

.

Mostly the top who are also legacies or athletic recruits. Those who weren’t didn’t do as well.

Most of the c/o 2023 grads at Walls who are attending Ivy+ colleges are legacies and URM (sometimes both). What is your point?

Walls is free?

True, and Walls’ facilities (or lack thereof) and limited resources make it very clear that students are receiving a free education.

The point is that many/most students, coming from public or private schools, aren’t getting into Ivy+ colleges without great grades, test scores AND a hook. So if your child is a talented Ivy legacy with great stats, their high school makes less of a difference than it used to (but elite privates still have an edge). It’s just a matter of how they’ll spend their 4 years of high school before arriving at their Ivy. Will it be economy class on Spirit Airlines (free, but relatively under resourced public schools), or first class on Emirates (elite private schools). If you can afford it, why not have your child travel comfortably and safely to their destination?

Have had kids at both schools. They BOTH had amazing teachers and chose the right HS that set them up to succeed in college. NCS does have intentionally tough grading b/c they have to - no weighted grades for AP so they need a way to differentiate between the students. My understanding is STA doesn’t do +/- grades. So it’s a bit disheartening to take a class and get an A- on the transcript if you are a girl and an A if you are a boy. IMHO NCS should adopt the same grading system as STA. FWIW my NCS DD knew which english teachers were the hardest graders and still took their courses. She was very happy she did even though it meant risking getting an A- instead of an A. Walls DC did the same. The tough grading teachers are usually the best. Both DCs became better writers b/c they had really great english teachers who set a very high bar for them.

As an educator, I thank you for recognizing this. It's pretty disheartening to work hard teaching students when students only care about the score, and not the learning. As has been said already, tough grading actually takes a lot more work than easy grading. As a general rule, I've noticed that the students who complain the loudest about a poor grade on a paper are usually the ones who are least able to grasp why their writing was poor and how it could be improved a lot.