Reply to Madison H.S. Parents - Principal Survey and Skills-Based Grading

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Is this going to be at all schools in the future or just this one? [/quote]

This has been used at schools in the past in places like DC and Baltimore and doesn't look like it was successful. Some DC schools were trying this over a decade ago. ACPS is using this in all schools in the Fall. FCPS is not being transparent about what the plan is.

When I asked Reid's office about the plan, I was told FCPS has focus groups of teachers, parents, students, administrators, and central office staff meeting to discuss the current system in part to deal with the lack of consistency.

But based on what I've seen from looking into where this has been implemented elsewhere, the focus groups are just going to be used to further whatever FPCS's plan is and have nothing to do with shaping the plan. I found an interesting article from 2016 about SBG implementation in Baltimore. The beginning of this article (which I didn't post) is more about following the money - which corporations are lobbying and profiting from all this but I just posted the part about focus groups. http://towsonflyer.com/2016/10/21/op-ed-whats-behind-bcps-new-grading-policy/

"Here, for comparison, is language about the origins of BCPS’s policy, from Superintendent Dance in his Sept. Baltimore Sun op-ed:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-dance-grades-20160903-story.html

“This approach to grading achievement and using a rubric to grade conduct is the result of two years of study, preparation and feedback involving all facets of Team BCPS — teachers, school and system leaders, students, advisory councils, and members of the teachers’ and administrators’ bargaining units. In 2014, BCPS convened the District Grading Committee to review Board Policy 5210 on Grading and Reporting, which had not been updated since 1997. The committee recommended updates based on their analysis of current research and practices.”

https://www.bcps.org/system/policies_rules/rules/5000Series/RULE5210a.pdf

Here are just a few of many district descriptions about how internal focus groups arrived at — voila — the same new grading policy! (I’m sure the participants worked very hard of course. Yet outside influences are also indicated by the time it gets to the district level.)

In Prince George’s County, MD, which considered the no-lower-than-50 points this past summer, an administrator told the board “that the recommendations come after a year of “robust” discussions between parents, administrators and educators, and that the proposals are aligned with national best practices and supported by educational research.”

http://wtop.com/prince-georges-county/2016/06/prince-georges-mulls-major-changes-to-grading-policy/

The same goes for Orange County, Florida, and districts in Maine, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and other states. In Boise, Idaho, schools adopted a similar grading policy in July, with the following words: “Focus groups from each of the schools in the Boise School District consisting of students and their parents have been used to see how beneficial this policy change would be.” http://www.ktvb.com/news/education/boise-school-district-makes-changes-to-its-grading-policy/277181845

Do these district focus groups–mostly made up of teachers, parents, principals, and other stakeholders–get together for a national conference that offers such phraseology? Especially those gigs that feature all those cocktail parties like the Digital Promise-BCPS (a co-sponsor!) summit coming up in early November in Baltimore. I’m thinking not. "[/quote]

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