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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I agree though I think there are some great teachers. The problem is that the great teachers are struggling to deal with the nonsense of 2.0. The changes in 2.0 really benefit the worst teachers. We have two kids and it was very interesting how two different teachers handled the assessments and grade cards. One teacher was fabulous, let is slip several times how she hates the new grading system, gave us actual feedback on our child, and showed us work from our child that illustrated what she was reporting. It was very similar from what we experienced in the past.

The other teacher was the exact opposite. She would only hold one parent teacher conference the entire year as this is what is now prescribed under 2.0. You can ask a specific question later in the year but not request any general updates. At the one conference, she had no examples of our child's work or anything to show other than her sheet which matched the grade card. Her response was that under 2.0 unit testing is not done and written work is greatly reduced. The kids simply do activities in class and she observed. The principal confirmed that this is what 2.0 calls for and there is little to show the parents. This is just sheer laziness.

I used to teach and it was a lot of work to fairly and accurately assign granular grades and meaningful comments. Doing this forces you to have a clear set of criteria that you can follow, actually pay attention to the work the students are doing, and think about what the student should do to move to the next level. This "P" system would have saved me hours and hours of work. I can see why the bad teachers love it and the good teachers think its BS.

I can see why some principals like it because everyone is proficient, job done. I can see why MCPS likes it because they can reduce resources to support any differentiation, reduce resources for special needs kids, and not deal with kids that are smart but not super gifted. It also lets MCPS artificially inflate the performance of their schools. [/quote]

I think that you are making some mistakes over what is and isn't 2.0. It is NOT 2.0 to have only one parent/teacher conference a year. As before 2.0, there is only one scheduled (over Veterans Day), but that doesn't mean you're not allowed to have more. It is also NOT 2.0 to greatly reduce written work. (In fact, my 2.0 first-grader has had much more written work than my pre-2.0 first grader.) It is also NOT 2.0 to have assessment be "the kids simply do activities in class and she observed".

What's more, I have not seen any evidence that MCPS is using the 2.0 grading system to reduce resources for differentiation, reduce resources for special needs kids, and not deal with kids that are smart but not super gifted. If you have evidence, could you please provide it?

And finally, MCPS is not reporting school performance based on percent of Ps/Is/Ns, as far as I know -- just as MCPS never reported school performance based on percent of letter grades, pre-2.0.

If your only experience with MCPS is with 2.0, then I can understand your belief, but I don't think it's an accurate assessment. In general, I think, things are pretty much the same. 2.0 hasn't made good teachers bad, or bad teachers good.

A lot (not all!) of the complaining of 2.0 is people complaining about change. In 10-15 years, when MCPS adopts a new curriculum, people will complain about the new curriculum, and yearn for the good old days of 2.0.[/quote]

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