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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Author of last post, thank you for your reply and you sharing your thoughts![/quote]

Th author of the last post ranted about "equity". Any teacher worth her beans knows that it's not "equity" that's causing grade inflation. [/quote]

I think I am the parent and PP being referred to.  My point about equity was mainly related to detracking.  I'm not sure I understand you, PP above, can you clarify?

I wasn't ranting.  I know my children are worse off because honors and gifted tracks don't exist in my school district (K-8).  Although it wasn't openly shared and therefore kind of hidden, the only kids who get enrichment have to be working two grades above level.  And in elementary school, the parent basically has to insist the school do an IEP or accommodation.  Because the school district has bigger fires to fight than worrying about kids that are doing just fine. Cynically, if I'd known that there was a rule behind the scenes, I would have put my kids in math tutoring until they qualified.   Because they were bored and undereducated in their regular homeroom classes with multiple ability groups.  I understand why that is and I'm sympathetic.  I don't think most elementary teachers can handle keeping 3 or more ability groupings in one room gaining a year of growth in math for a year of school.  Because there's just not enough time in the school day and that's a huge amount of in-class juggling.

Regarding equity at the high school level, I like that people can sample harder classes without being told by authority figures where they belong.  And I hate the idea of authority figures making crappy calls on who should go to college.  My point was that the detracking that was supposed to fix that isn't working well at all.  Is that a rant?  I want things to be better, and I've sacrificed some  of my kids' happiness with school by accepting the educational profession's latest verdict on detracking.  The problem is, it doesn't seem to be working.  Like in my kid's mandatory general enrollment science class where two-thirds of the kids have test-taking accommodations.  He gets to watch the parapros structuring assignments for other kids right in front of him.  And the pace is slower so everyone can keep up.  With situations like this, I feel like the old way was definitely better for the top students.  I genuinely would like it to be better for everyone, so I accepted the social experiment. We are just not getting there now either.

Regarding equity in AP grades, I'm not sure if my previous points are being criticized here.  I think I was clear I prefer them to be linked to local high school conditions and not to the test score.  Which usually would be more lenient?  I find it fascinating that any school links report card grades to AP tests such that you can get your class grade lifted up if you do well on the test.  I think that would be great but tons of work for the administration and AP teachers.

Tracking and APs are really on my mind right now because, since my senior just got into his choice of college, now I'm on to what I can do to re-interest my 9th grader in school.  He's so much more cheerful this year now that he's taking more harder classes with better students. And he has more friends he can relate to. I just hope he can figure out how to improve his APUSH grade and maybe get a 4.

I value this conversation a lot.[/quote]

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