Changes to grading for all MCPS high school students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By the way, I find all the hemming and hawing about FARMS and EML students pretty offensive. Grade inflation is not a solution to racism. It is an excuse to fail to educate students and then graduate them anyway and kids of color bear the brunt of it.

100%

[Anonymous]

Some of the responses on here are very harsh toward students. Do you really think final semester tests or projects are going to encourage better school attendance? What evidence based foundation is that hypothesis resting on?

Bs at High performing MCPS high schools knock kids out of UMD. We're not just talking about Princeton here. Kids who have to work rather than spend time with Tutors are going to suffer most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of the responses on here are very harsh toward students. Do you really think final semester tests or projects are going to encourage better school attendance? What evidence based foundation is that hypothesis resting on?

Bs at High performing MCPS high schools knock kids out of UMD. We're not just talking about Princeton here. Kids who have to work rather than spend time with Tutors are going to suffer most.

UMD has an acceptance rate of 44% which is well below the national average acceptance rate. Many other state schools in Maryland are perfectly fine. Or save money and go to Montgomery College for two years and transfer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the responses on here are very harsh toward students. Do you really think final semester tests or projects are going to encourage better school attendance? What evidence based foundation is that hypothesis resting on?

Bs at High performing MCPS high schools knock kids out of UMD. We're not just talking about Princeton here. Kids who have to work rather than spend time with Tutors are going to suffer most.

UMD has an acceptance rate of 44% which is well below the national average acceptance rate. Many other state schools in Maryland are perfectly fine. Or save money and go to Montgomery College for two years and transfer.

Montgomery College is really horrible. This isn’t a viable option. It’s not like VA, NY or CA where the CC are pretty good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the responses on here are very harsh toward students. Do you really think final semester tests or projects are going to encourage better school attendance? What evidence based foundation is that hypothesis resting on?

Bs at High performing MCPS high schools knock kids out of UMD. We're not just talking about Princeton here. Kids who have to work rather than spend time with Tutors are going to suffer most.

UMD has an acceptance rate of 44% which is well below the national average acceptance rate. Many other state schools in Maryland are perfectly fine. Or save money and go to Montgomery College for two years and transfer.

As the PP said, harsh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the responses on here are very harsh toward students. Do you really think final semester tests or projects are going to encourage better school attendance? What evidence based foundation is that hypothesis resting on?

Bs at High performing MCPS high schools knock kids out of UMD. We're not just talking about Princeton here. Kids who have to work rather than spend time with Tutors are going to suffer most.

UMD has an acceptance rate of 44% which is well below the national average acceptance rate. Many other state schools in Maryland are perfectly fine. Or save money and go to Montgomery College for two years and transfer.

As the PP said, harsh.

I mean this speaks to who is really angry about this. Y'all are co-opting low income and EML populations because you want your kids to have a leg up in getting into the most desirable schools. You look down on the schools these kids will actually be able to attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the responses on here are very harsh toward students. Do you really think final semester tests or projects are going to encourage better school attendance? What evidence based foundation is that hypothesis resting on?

Bs at High performing MCPS high schools knock kids out of UMD. We're not just talking about Princeton here. Kids who have to work rather than spend time with Tutors are going to suffer most.

UMD has an acceptance rate of 44% which is well below the national average acceptance rate. Many other state schools in Maryland are perfectly fine. Or save money and go to Montgomery College for two years and transfer.

Montgomery College is really horrible. This isn’t a viable option. It’s not like VA, NY or CA where the CC are pretty good.

How is it horrible? One of the best college classes I took was a summer course taught by a Montgomery College professor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All teachers want this. Almost all parents want this. I don’t see a reason to stop this from moving forward for all students next year.

One concern expressed at the board meeting was this having a negative effect on college admissions outcomes for the classes of 2026 and 2027.

Colleges take the information keys provided with transcripts and re-sort or recalculate the information to their own uniform scales and standards.

But they would have the underlying quarter grades. All they see is the final semester grade. It’s not like colleges take all the raw grades and come up with their own system.

Actually, they do. My institution used to rate rigor on a scale of 1 to 10 after a transcript read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems that OP is the only one opposed, lol. I’m strongly for these immediate changes.

What grade is your kid in? I’m fine with this for my 7th grader when she starts HS, but not okay with it for my 10th grader. It’s just not fair to these kids to change the rule on how semester grades are calculated halfway through HS.

You mean to take away their grade inflation? Relax. It will probably positively impact college admissions since the college profile sheet for your high school will indicate the new grading system (making it look like the school doesn’t have massive grade inflation). Meanwhile your kid gets to keep their massively inflated grades for the first two years.

PS the MCPS is probably realizing that colleges are over their massively inflated grading system and it’s hurting smart kids’ admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the responses on here are very harsh toward students. Do you really think final semester tests or projects are going to encourage better school attendance? What evidence based foundation is that hypothesis resting on?

Bs at High performing MCPS high schools knock kids out of UMD. We're not just talking about Princeton here. Kids who have to work rather than spend time with Tutors are going to suffer most.

UMD has an acceptance rate of 44% which is well below the national average acceptance rate. Many other state schools in Maryland are perfectly fine. Or save money and go to Montgomery College for two years and transfer.

As the PP said, harsh.

I mean this speaks to who is really angry about this. Y'all are co-opting low income and EML populations because you want your kids to have a leg up in getting into the most desirable schools. You look down on the schools these kids will actually be able to attend.

Not co-opting anyone. Why are we not in favor of actual evidence based decision making? Why do we want to make a difficult transition by burdening the in-progress students in high school with every change all at once?

The people on this board most in favor of "fixing" the grading system seem to think their student will prove themselves on the field of battle and relish the grading competition. How about we support all students' goals?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op is right that it’s weird to average the two quarters instead of skit giving a semester grade. For the AP classes there are almost no assignments 4th quarter so it’s weird to weigh it as heavily as third quarter.

I have a rising junior and somehow missed the earlier thread about this. Amy change is incredibly nerve wracking at this point. We are already so stressed out aboit the whole thing. And I feel like the first year always has tough adjustments as the teachers figure it out. I really hate for the experimentation heat to be his junior year when we’re already sort of mentally hanging on by a thread. Teachers will neeec to develop new finals that they’ve never given before and it won’t necessarily all work immediately for all teachers. It might be helpful if they all bring back curved grading — my oldest is at a challenging college and often the teacher overshoots on the final, everyone gets a D and so the teacher says “sorry, I wrote a bad test — don’t worrry I’ve curve it.” Currently McPS teachers don’t have that ability. I just think there are gojng to be unanticipated wrinkles that will take a year or two to iron out.

What are you talking about no assignments 4th quarter for AP classes. There are plenty of assignments. There has to be because all the students who are not seniors need grades. It’s one of the reasons why I and others absolutely hate when school starts and how classes are setup because for AP students they have to take exams early May at almost the start of 4th qtr but then have like 6wks remaining for class. My kid has had whole projects and papers that had to be done post exams.

Are you aware of what those assignments actually are? As a mother of current junior, I found the multiple assignments requiring students to plan trips interesting but not exactly reflective of the subject.

Yes I’m acutely aware of the assignments are and can see the grades. And while even my kids will admit these assignments are more interesting and enjoyable, the absolutely are still requiring time and focus. They are just more project based assignments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with not rounding X9.5 ti 10. Isn’t it a very basic rule of math?

I also do not get why all four grading periods are equal. This is still screwy as was the previous way. Why not simply count all grades earned within the semester toward the final grade?

NP here.

If someone wishes to have a strict view of "at least X%", then "at least X%" means you have to be at X.0, Not (X-0.5). For example, an A is at least 90% would mean an A is at least 90.0, not 89.5.

I am fine with that, quite honestly. Not all college profs allow 0.5 bump.

At our private school an A is a 93 or higher, however a 92.5 rounds up to a 93. I think this is fair considering for final grades (the grades shown on official transcripts), the two semester numerical grades are averaged. That means if you have a low A and a mid B, you could end up with a B for the year, unlike MCPS which goes strictly by grade (A plus B equals A). So even though you may get a nice advantage with GPA when a grade rounds up, you still pay the consequences when you get a very realistic final grade on the official transcript sent to colleges.

Why are folks with kids in private schools that have waaay less kids and way more supports and hand holding constantly trying to compare what is going on in private schools with what is going on in public. They are two different worlds.

[Anonymous]

I do think it’s gojng to be harsh for the current rising junior. I have one that has really struggled with some SN and it is breaking my heart a little to throw this at them too. We are not looking at ivies — I would throw a huge happy dance to get them into UMD which is really hard from McPS.

One problem is that colleges really look for grade improvement from 9th to 11th grade. These kids are all likely to see a grade slide….and not every college is going to be up to speed on the fact that McPS totally changed their grading system.

I think the kids most affected are going to be those in the academic donut hole — not the top students gunning for the ivies but the average kids that are hoping to get into UMD or a decent state school. Some of those lower tier out of state schools basically do admits exclusively on sat and gpa so a gpa hit knocks you out of the running for what was previously an out of state safety school.

I’m also worried about the teachers coming up with end of year exams when they’ve never done this before. They won’t have a chance to norm those exams — next year’s kids will be basically guinea pigs. I wonder if the AP teachers will basically just use a prior AP as the final. That way at least it’s been vetted as a fair measure.

A lot of this is not necessarily a bad idea but I just totally do not trust MCPS to implement in a fair sensible way, or give the teachers the time and resources to figure it out. These kids have already been through how many curricula changes? All implemented badly and each time they lose ground as the teachers struggle to make sense of the central office changes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All teachers want this. Almost all parents want this. I don’t see a reason to stop this from moving forward for all students next year.

One concern expressed at the board meeting was this having a negative effect on college admissions outcomes for the classes of 2026 and 2027.

Good. These kids have been having it too easy with their grades being artificially bloated and getting into top schools only to find that they aren't adequately prepared. If these kids want to get into good schools, they should work for it, just like my kids in private school are. They've been having final exams that are worth 33% of the semester grade. That's what I call hard work and good preparation. Finally, my kids won't have to compete against schools with artificially inflated grades!!

A) Kids are compared against others in their own HS, and B)why do you assume this will make things easier for your kid. I fully expect that most kids will adapt. Kids always figure out the best way to game the system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op is right that it’s weird to average the two quarters instead of skit giving a semester grade. For the AP classes there are almost no assignments 4th quarter so it’s weird to weigh it as heavily as third quarter.

I have a rising junior and somehow missed the earlier thread about this. Amy change is incredibly nerve wracking at this point. We are already so stressed out aboit the whole thing. And I feel like the first year always has tough adjustments as the teachers figure it out. I really hate for the experimentation heat to be his junior year when we’re already sort of mentally hanging on by a thread. Teachers will neeec to develop new finals that they’ve never given before and it won’t necessarily all work immediately for all teachers. It might be helpful if they all bring back curved grading — my oldest is at a challenging college and often the teacher overshoots on the final, everyone gets a D and so the teacher says “sorry, I wrote a bad test — don’t worrry I’ve curve it.” Currently McPS teachers don’t have that ability. I just think there are gojng to be unanticipated wrinkles that will take a year or two to iron out.

What are you talking about no assignments 4th quarter for AP classes. There are plenty of assignments. There has to be because all the students who are not seniors need grades. It’s one of the reasons why I and others absolutely hate when school starts and how classes are setup because for AP students they have to take exams early May at almost the start of 4th qtr but then have like 6wks remaining for class. My kid has had whole projects and papers that had to be done post exams.

Are you aware of what those assignments actually are? As a mother of current junior, I found the multiple assignments requiring students to plan trips interesting but not exactly reflective of the subject.

Yes I’m acutely aware of the assignments are and can see the grades. And while even my kids will admit these assignments are more interesting and enjoyable, the absolutely are still requiring time and focus. They are just more project based assignments.

My kid has 3 AP classes this year and it really varies a lot. Anyway, it just seems artificial to average the two quarters when the work may not be evenly distributed across the two quarters. Gojng from one dumb system to another dumb system.