WaPo story on math finals
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Anonymous
Wrong! It does NOT show a failure in teaching. It shows that the students know how to game the system. Apparently you're not aware how final course grades are calculated or you wouldn't have written the above. |
Anonymous
I think both the posters are correct. It is a failure of teaching and quality control at the local and county level, as well as the fact that students know how to game the system. Unfortunately the ridiculous grading system rewards poorer students over better students. This is how a final grade is earned in a semester (which is 2 quarters + 1 final exam). The 2 quarters are worth 37.5 % each (for a combined total of 75%) and the final is worth 25%. So 37.5%+37.5%+25% = 100% of the semester grade. Let's look at Student A and Student B STUDENT A QUARTER 1 (37.5 % of overall Semester grade) In a quarter, 10% of the grade is for homework completion (not correctness, just completion). So if you are quite good in math and get 90% in all your quizzes and tests which are worth 90% of the quarter grade but do not ever do your homework and get 0% out of the 10% on homework, you will get an overall score of 81% (B) in that quarter. So homework is worth 10 points out of 100 and not doing that means a difference between an A or B. Now Student A got 90% in all quizzes (90% of quarter grade) and so earned 81/90 + submitted 100% of homework to get 10/10 . Add 81/90 and 10/10 and you get 91/ 100, or an A. Easy and simple, right? But wait... getting an 91% in quarter did not only get this student an A in the quarter, but according to the fuzzy logic of MCPS got him 100% of the 37.5% so as for as MCPS is concerned, student A got 100% in quarter 1. Real score - 91%. Student A should have got 34.12 out of 37.5 BUT MCPS awarded him 100% or 37.5 / 37.5 QUARTER 2 (37.5 % of overall Semester grade) Repeat of quarter 1 Real score 91% should have got 34.12 out of 37.5 BUT MCPS awarded 100% or 37.5 / 37.5 The combined total of both quarters should have been 68.25 / 75 ( or 91% for both the quarters) but MCPS gave 75/75 (or 100% for both the quarters). FINAL EXAM (25% of overall Semester grade) If student A had got his real grade of 68.25 / 75 to get an A in the semester, he would need 21.75/25 in his final exam or an 87% (a very solid B). However because MCPS has been so generous and given a 100% in the first two quarters, all he needed to get an A in the semester is to get 15/25 or a 60% ( a D). SO IN SUMMARY - The student got 34.12/37.5 + 34.12/ 37.5 + 15/25 = 83.5 / 100 which is 83.5 % a B, but MCPS recognizes this as an A (even though in Finals it was a D) STUDENT B QUARTER 1 (37.5 % of overall Semester grade) In quarter 1 , student B gets 88% in all quizzes (worth 90% of quarter grade) and thus got 79.2/90 + submitted 100% of your homework to get 10/10 . Add 79.2/90 and 10/10 and you get 89.2/ 100, or a B. OK, so he got what he deserved, but wait getting an 89.2% in quarter means not only a B in that quarter, but according to the fuzzy logic of MCPS you only got 80% of the 37.5% so as for as MCPS is concerned you got 80% in quarter 1. Real score 89.2 % you should have got 33.45 out of 37.5 BUT MCPS awarded you 80% or 30 / 37.5 MCPS DEDUCTED 3.45 out of 37.5 or 9.2% of the total marks. QUARTER 2 (37.5 % of overall Semester grade) Repeat of quarter 1 Real score 89.2 % you should have got 33.45 out of 37.5 BUT MCPS awarded 80% or 30 / 37.5 MCPS DEDUCTED 3.45 out of 37.5 or 9.2% of the total marks. The combined total of both quarters should have been 66.9 / 75 ( or 89.2 % for both the quarters) but MCPS gave 60/75 (or 80% for both the quarters). FINAL EXAM (25% of overall Semester grade) If he had got his real grade of 66.9 / 75 to get an A in the semester, he would need 23.1/25 in his final exam or 92.4% (a low A). However because MCPS has been so idiotic in giving only 60/75 that he cannot get an overall A in the semester even if he got 25/25 or 100% in Final exam. SO IN SUMMARY - The student should have got 33.45/37.5 + 33.45/ 37.5 + 25/25 = 91.9/ 100 which is 92 % or an A, but MCPS recognizes this as an B because it gave the student 60/75 + 25/25 = 85% or a B So the better student gets penalized and the worse student does better. Students can game the system mainly in the quarter grades because of the following reasons - 1) Some schools have lower standards and will give easier tests and quizzes than others 2) Some schools will have easier scores for projects that also get counted towards 90% of the grades. Many give these projects which are worth great deal of marks, except the effort and quality required to them is quite low. 3) Schools may allow plenty of retakes to let students bring their scores up 4) Teachers may tell students what to expect in class tests and quizzes 5) Some teachers are more lenient in their grading as they don't want the students GPA to be affected. So, a very simple solution to fix this problem is flip how the quarters and finals are weighed. Final should weigh far more than the two quarters combined, since it is the same test administered by the county for every school[/u]. And furthermore, the real scores should not be rounded up or down. The raw scores from the two quarters and one final should be added up and then weighed as such - 10% for all homework, 50% for the finals, 40% for the tests and quizzes. This would be far equitable, but then it will also show clearly how the schools and students are really doing - something neither the school administration nor the parents want to face.. This bogus grading system can be found in www.mccpta.com/resolutions/GradeConfigurationTable.pdf? ps - I can't believe I spent so much time on this post, but I needed to get it off my chest. This felt like therapy!! |