Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, this is one anecdotal point of view. I can give you an anecdote of the other side. My F students are continually trying because the D is close. They are working all year, vs. before when after 1st quarter they'd be behavior issues because there was statistically no way for them to pass unless they got As the rest of the year.

This is also Jay Matthews, historically not a fan of public schools.

No offense but is the goal really to try and pass through kids with D's? I mean, I suppose that gets us to the graduation percentage we seem to want but I don't take that as a sign of a an initiative working.

Given how meaningless a high school diploma is as a mark of education, yes

Anonymous wrote:The article is about DC schools but FCPS has the same policy in place and it grossly inflates grades at all levels.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/10/23/dc-schools-grading-policy-50-percent-rule/

That's not what the article says, it basically says one teacher says that he thinks it's bad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, this is one anecdotal point of view. I can give you an anecdote of the other side. My F students are continually trying because the D is close. They are working all year, vs. before when after 1st quarter they'd be behavior issues because there was statistically no way for them to pass unless they got As the rest of the year.

This is also Jay Matthews, historically not a fan of public schools.

No offense but is the goal really to try and pass through kids with D's? I mean, I suppose that gets us to the graduation percentage we seem to want but I don't take that as a sign of a an initiative working.

As the parent of a kid with a low IQ who D’d out of high school, I can tell you that it is absolutely a service to both kids and society to do what it takes to get a kid a HS diploma. A HS diploma is the gateway to a full time job with health insurance and paid sick leave,’all of which benefits both the kid and the rest of us who will not have to support him through Medicaid, public assistance and all of those other things that come with unemployment.

Kids who D out aren’t going to compete for college seats and educational monies. But they might be driving your public transportation buses and trains, fixing your cars and stocking your grocery shelves. We need them just as much as we need those who have the capability to go to college. And for those that think you can get a job that is full time with insurance and paid leave without a HS diploma, I am betting they never tried. Every vocational counselor will tell you, lack of a HS diploma is one of the most serious impediments to securing employment.

Administrators found a way to pump up their graduation statistics and call it equity. If you think this policy is anything more than that, you have been gaslit.

Anonymous wrote:In MCPS, the rule was (though I am dated) you had to attempt an assignment to get the 50%. If the work was not done, it was still a zero.

Now the rule is that there has to be two way communication about the missing assignment before a zero may be given. I can leave countless voicemails mails and send endless emails, but if the parent doesn’t respond to say they understand the work is missing, I have to do 50%. Rather than waste hours trying to contact parents, I send one email, record 50%, and move on. Parents almost never respond. I think three parents have replied in the last two months.

Anonymous wrote:The article is about DC schools but FCPS has the same policy in place and it grossly inflates grades at all levels.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/10/23/dc-schools-grading-policy-50-percent-rule/

We’re seeing the impact in MCPS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The kids who prioritize school work and do well in school are not at all affected by the kids who are getting 50% on assignments. As another PP said, if a student can't possibly pass a class based on 0s in the first quarter, why would they even bother to do any work for the rest of the year. However, if they mess up in the first quarter, for whatever reason (often mental health struggles, learning disabilities, family issues), and they can still pass the class, they at least have an incentive to work hard the rest of the year. And guess what, if they don't do any work, they will get all 50% and fail.

FCPS is obligated to educate all students, not just the students in the Top 10% of each class. And if you want to have harsher restrictions/deadlines/grading in honors classes, that's fine because students are self-selecting those classes. But don't make life harder for the kids who are already struggling in school.

So ... you didn't read the article.

It seems like a well-intentioned idea. But it doesn't work out that way.

No...one guy at one school said it didn't work out that way. It seems to me what he was talking about "
The 50 percent rule, he said, created “an environment where students can come to school to pop their heads into the classroom to tell the teacher to mark them present, which the teacher is required to do, then proceed to socialize, wander the halls, flirt, fight, walk to the corner store for some food and come back, play games in the gym or atrium, vandalize school property, pop in on the few friends who chose to go to their class, disrupting everyone, and generally live a free and happy life without consequence" is a failure of school discipline, NOT a grading policy.

No grading policy is responsible for kids leaving in the middle of class. That is a different issue altogether.

Alexandria City had that policy and they dropped it a couple years before the Pandemic. Probably brought it back now...

Anonymous wrote:The kids who prioritize school work and do well in school are not at all affected by the kids who are getting 50% on assignments. As another PP said, if a student can't possibly pass a class based on 0s in the first quarter, why would they even bother to do any work for the rest of the year. However, if they mess up in the first quarter, for whatever reason (often mental health struggles, learning disabilities, family issues), and they can still pass the class, they at least have an incentive to work hard the rest of the year. And guess what, if they don't do any work, they will get all 50% and fail.

FCPS is obligated to educate all students, not just the students in the Top 10% of each class. And if you want to have harsher restrictions/deadlines/grading in honors classes, that's fine because students are self-selecting those classes. But don't make life harder for the kids who are already struggling in school.

So ... you didn't read the article.

It seems like a well-intentioned idea. But it doesn't work out that way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In MCPS, the rule was (though I am dated) you had to attempt an assignment to get the 50%. If the work was not done, it was still a zero.

That's not the rule in FCPS. Nothing lower than 50%.

I can assure you, my kid at Madison is definitely receiving zeros for work not turned in. Missing assignments are a constant struggle. I see the zeros and how they affect his overall grade until he completes them.

Same. I don't know if it is county wide, but my kid has zeroes...mostly in health class.

You are quoting me. I have a freshman and PE/Health is the only class he has turned in everything. Every other class is issuing zeros when he has something missing. No complaints here, just an observation. I’m glad he’s learning he does not earn any credit when he does not turn anything in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember attending our FCPS high school student's end-of-year awards ceremony. The person with the microphone asked the students with a 4.0 GPA to stand up, please. Almost the entire student audience stood up.

Probably 300 students in my kid's class stood up.

When I was in HS at that age, maybe four out of 450 students have a perfect 4.0 average. It was rarified air, for sure.

My spouse and I shook our heads at the rampant grade inflation. It is truly unreal these days. I think the 50% cushion is wrong.

Please tell me you don't actually believe that the kids with a 4.0+ Avg are the same kids that are "benefitting from" the 50% "cushion". They have a 4.0 because of the .5 weighting for honors classes and the 1.0 weighting for AP classes.

Fixed my typo.

Anonymous wrote:An "F" is an "F" is an "F"
50% is an "F"
Do you have to insist on some kind of "Super F"?
You do not need to worry - no one is getting a decent final grade when they have 50% recorded for their work

Yes, thank you!!!!!

Anonymous wrote:I remember attending our FCPS high school student's end-of-year awards ceremony. The person with the microphone asked the students with a 4.0 GPA to stand up, please. Almost the entire student audience stood up.

Probably 300 students in my kid's class stood up.

When I was in HS at that age, maybe four out of 450 students have a perfect 4.0 average. It was rarified air, for sure.

My spouse and I shook our heads at the rampant grade inflation. It is truly unreal these days. I think the 50% cushion is wrong.

Please tell me you don't actually believe that the kids with a 4.0+ Avg aren't the same kids that are "benefitting from" the 50% "cushion". They have a 4.0 because of the .5 weighting for honors classes and the 1.0 weighting for AP classes.

An "F" is an "F" is an "F"
50% is an "F"
Do you have to insist on some kind of "Super F"?
You do not need to worry - no one is getting a decent final grade when they have 50% recorded for their work

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In MCPS, the rule was (though I am dated) you had to attempt an assignment to get the 50%. If the work was not done, it was still a zero.

That's not the rule in FCPS. Nothing lower than 50%.

I can assure you, my kid at Madison is definitely receiving zeros for work not turned in. Missing assignments are a constant struggle. I see the zeros and how they affect his overall grade until he completes them.

Same. I don't know if it is county wide, but my kid has zeroes...mostly in health class.