I happened upon your title in Recent Topics, despite not having a kid in VA (we're in MD), but this resonated. Last year in 11th grade, DS had an AP teacher who must have failed about half the class. It was rough. DS worked day and night and clawed his way to an A, and a 5 at the exam, but it took way too much out of him and I nearly complained to the Principal.

Anonymous wrote:Nope. 67% are doing well so the kids who are failing need to work harder.

No one said the others are doing well. They could face have Cs & Ds. If that many kids are failing, that is on the teacher. Truly.

Maybe there is a significant number of students who are unprepared and/or not willing to go above and beyond? I don’t think it’s uncommon for kids who have breezed through school to suddenly get an old-school teacher.

Anonymous wrote:Why in the world would there be a limit? You have no idea if the kids failing aren't turning in homework and/or not studying at all. Worry about your kid and why she's failing, make an appointment and don't mention a word about other students.

Mostly this, OP. Figure out why your kid is failing and go from there.

Why in the world would there be a limit? You have no idea if the kids failing aren't turning in homework and/or not studying at all. Worry about your kid and why she's failing, make an appointment and don't mention a word about other students.

Then she is not teaching material that is presented on the exams AND she is giving out homework and quizzes that are too easy, don't really offer any review, and don't adequately prepare the student for the test. It might be that the biology test is standard across all APS schools. You have to ask the teacher about it.

I saw this with my kid many times. The teacher dumbed down the classwork and homework so much that when the test was given students did poorly bc they weren't adequately prepared.

If they hand nothing in. There is nothing to grade.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is she grading on a curve? That's common in the sciences.

No it's not. It hasn't been common for 50 years.

It is extremely common in math and science at the university level. Some teachers bring that with them when they teach high school.

Anonymous wrote:Is she grading on a curve? That's common in the sciences.

No it's not. It hasn't been common for 50 years.

Not at ours. No grading on the curve, at least in math and sciences.

Nope. 67% are doing well so the kids who are failing need to work harder.

The student is failing the class. The teacher isn’t teaching well.

If you fail a couple of students, they are probably bad students. If you fail over half the class, you are probably a bad teacher

Is she grading on a curve? That's common in the sciences.

Is a teacher allowed to fail about 25-33% of the students in a class? My DD is in biology class and she has a 57% and a lot of her classmates are also failing. Does a teacher have a limit on the number of Fs they can give ?