Message from Jack Smith about Grade Inflation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Funny, my sidwell friends high schooler neighbor was in robotics club and the school got him a $10k grant to work in the science contest robotic submarine plus found an indoor pool to work in it. He went ivy for ugrad and grad- in biochem.
That STEM kid worked his butt off but loved every second of it (high school at SFS). He turned down Blair magnet, plus other private schools.

The Blair robotics team has a budget of 40k+

[Anonymous]

His point was some private schools do have awesome STEM classes,teachers and ECs. And attract cream of the crop students.

Have you ever toured sidwell friends or GDS? It’s free to do and provides real information.

[Anonymous]

Simple math proves there is grade inflation

Marking period 1 you can get an A with the lowest score possible 89.5. Marking period 2 you can get a B with the lowest B possible 79.5 and still end up with an A for the marking period with an average of 84.5 which is a middle of the road B

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:His point was some private schools do have awesome STEM classes,teachers and ECs. And attract cream of the crop students.

Have you ever toured sidwell friends or GDS? It’s free to do and provides real information.

I am sure they do..as do some publics.

[Anonymous]

Yes, the tours are night and day different. As is the mentality of the admin and teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Simple math proves there is grade inflation

Marking period 1 you can get an A with the lowest score possible 89.5. Marking period 2 you can get a B with the lowest B possible 79.5 and still end up with an A for the marking period with an average of 84.5 which is a middle of the road B

OMG! That's so tricksy!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny, my sidwell friends high schooler neighbor was in robotics club and the school got him a $10k grant to work in the science contest robotic submarine plus found an indoor pool to work in it. He went ivy for ugrad and grad- in biochem.
That STEM kid worked his butt off but loved every second of it (high school at SFS). He turned down Blair magnet, plus other private schools.

The Blair robotics team has a budget of 40k+

Privates have never fared well when compared to public magnets, but for wealthy parents whose kids couldn't make the cut its a fine option. If a public had similar SES to a private, it would likely perform similarly.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like that kid made the Blair cut and racial profiling they prefer (ie. Not white or Asian). Maybe he got mad fin aid at sidwell. Kudos to him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Simple math proves there is grade inflation

Marking period 1 you can get an A with the lowest score possible 89.5. Marking period 2 you can get a B with the lowest B possible 79.5 and still end up with an A for the marking period with an average of 84.5 which is a middle of the road B

Yup. Not to mention that so many teachers grade so easily AND no more final exams. MCPS does its best to make sure every child thinks they are smart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, the tours are night and day different. As is the mentality of the admin and teachers.

. Of course they are..the private us doing a sales pitch. The public is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny, my sidwell friends high schooler neighbor was in robotics club and the school got him a $10k grant to work in the science contest robotic submarine plus found an indoor pool to work in it. He went ivy for ugrad and grad- in biochem.
That STEM kid worked his butt off but loved every second of it (high school at SFS). He turned down Blair magnet, plus other private schools.

The Blair robotics team has a budget of 40k+

Privates have never fared well when compared to public magnets, but for wealthy parents whose kids couldn't make the cut its a fine option. If a public had similar SES to a private, it would likely perform similarly.

Whitman, Churchill, Wootton outperform the top privates.

[Anonymous]

Failing internationally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny, my sidwell friends high schooler neighbor was in robotics club and the school got him a $10k grant to work in the science contest robotic submarine plus found an indoor pool to work in it. He went ivy for ugrad and grad- in biochem.
That STEM kid worked his butt off but loved every second of it (high school at SFS). He turned down Blair magnet, plus other private schools.

The Blair robotics team has a budget of 40k+

Privates have never fared well when compared to public magnets, but for wealthy parents whose kids couldn't make the cut its a fine option. If a public had similar SES to a private, it would likely perform similarly.

Holton Arms won the Maryland State Chemathon last year at UMD. I think they have maybe 300 upper school girls only and one AP Chem class of 15 girls a year. Beat out all the MCPS magnet schools that recruit from a pool of 48,000 students.

So it isn’t like these private schools are rich idiots. Most have 30% of their kids on financial aid and most thoroughly teach these kids with zero grade inflation, small class sizes with lecture grades, graded projects, oral assignments, and absolutely no grading curves or retakes on tests. They also show actual number grades on reports cards and only give a 0.5 boost with AP’s that will only be shown on a final GPA. Never on a report card. There are minimal honors classes as most classes are just known to be rigorous.

MCPS grading system is a joke. No finals, curved tests, retakes allowed, no oral or lecture assignments, almost every class that is not remedial is honors or AP which means an additional 1.0 boost on every class. A grade that shows a semester grade of 84.5 as an A BEFORE the 1.0 boost. So you can sit here and say public magnets are the cream of the crop. That is fine. I had two kids go thru high school. One at a private and another IB. You truly need to work for your A’s at private. And if you are truly smart, your report card will stand out. You don’t stand out in public. Everyone has A’s and there are too many of them.

So take your magnets. My 3rd is going private for a complete education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny, my sidwell friends high schooler neighbor was in robotics club and the school got him a $10k grant to work in the science contest robotic submarine plus found an indoor pool to work in it. He went ivy for ugrad and grad- in biochem.
That STEM kid worked his butt off but loved every second of it (high school at SFS). He turned down Blair magnet, plus other private schools.

The Blair robotics team has a budget of 40k+

Privates have never fared well when compared to public magnets, but for wealthy parents whose kids couldn't make the cut its a fine option. If a public had similar SES to a private, it would likely perform similarly.

Holton Arms won the Maryland State Chemathon last year at UMD. I think they have maybe 300 upper school girls only and one AP Chem class of 15 girls a year. Beat out all the MCPS magnet schools that recruit from a pool of 48,000 students.

So it isn’t like these private schools are rich idiots. Most have 30% of their kids on financial aid and most thoroughly teach these kids with zero grade inflation, small class sizes with lecture grades, graded projects, oral assignments, and absolutely no grading curves or retakes on tests. They also show actual number grades on reports cards and only give a 0.5 boost with AP’s that will only be shown on a final GPA. Never on a report card. There are minimal honors classes as most classes are just known to be rigorous.

MCPS grading system is a joke. No finals, curved tests, retakes allowed, no oral or lecture assignments, almost every class that is not remedial is honors or AP which means an additional 1.0 boost on every class. A grade that shows a semester grade of 84.5 as an A BEFORE the 1.0 boost. So you can sit here and say public magnets are the cream of the crop. That is fine. I had two kids go thru high school. One at a private and another IB. You truly need to work for your A’s at private. And if you are truly smart, your report card will stand out. You don’t stand out in public. Everyone has A’s and there are too many of them.

So take your magnets. My 3rd is going private for a complete education.

I never said they didn't win a contest once in a while but their record pales to insignificance when compared to Blair.

[Anonymous]

I alum interview and get the Blair kids plus others that live in 20817. The kids that stand out have real leadership and rice qualities. I’ve had some value kids confess they “are doing this all because their parents want them to.” Good luck with that.