Anonymous
Post 03/11/2024 21:08     Subject: Colleges Flagging MCPS?

Anonymous wrote:It starts in K when kids who do not know their letters, count to 30 or are able to read any heart words get A's.


Kids don’t receive letter grades with A, B etc in K. But nice try
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2024 21:05     Subject: Colleges Flagging MCPS?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My DD came home today and told me that her teacher told her that grade inflation is really rampant in MCPS and that he is told to grade really leniently and that it is really hard for someone to fail. He says that it is so bad that colleges will flag an application once they see it is from MCPS and make sure to look deeper into what classes they took to see how rigorous it is to make sure they really deserved that 4.0 gpa. Not sure how true this is, has anyone else heard about this?

I have been told that we need to do more to set our students apart when we write a rec letter. That is because so many of our kids are graduating with extremely high (above 4.5) weighted GPAs. This makes he GPA meaningless. Colleges cannot tell between the solid all As student and the student who routinely has mix of As and Bs but in the right sequence to be all As at semester break.

I have also been told by a friend who works with freshman at UMD that advisors need to tell students that the 50% rule does not exist in college, they do not have retakes, and the due date is the deadline period.

The other thing students will need to adjust to is how to study for semester-based exams, since many MCPS classes don't use these any longer so students might not know how to prepare.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2024 21:00     Subject: Colleges Flagging MCPS?

It starts in K when kids who do not know their letters, count to 30 or are able to read any heart words get A's.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2024 19:35     Subject: Re:Colleges Flagging MCPS?

Anonymous wrote:If we were looking for solutions, what do we think MCPS should do when it comes to grading?


Create year-long courses, add pluses and minuses to the grading, and have the final grade be the average of the four marking period percentage.

Offer on level and honors for all core classes. None of this honors for all in English, social studies, and science.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2024 19:33     Subject: Colleges Flagging MCPS?

Anonymous wrote:This is so frustrating because each of my kids has at least one teacher who regularly give out Cs and Ds and do not care. What is admin going to do? They can’t fire them because there is no one else to teach the class. They are letting kids drop the class but my kids would actually like to take the classes so they are sticking it out but it’s ruining their GPA. It’s the inconsistency that drives me nuts.


teachers do not 'give out' grades.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2024 19:27     Subject: Colleges Flagging MCPS?

This is so frustrating because each of my kids has at least one teacher who regularly give out Cs and Ds and do not care. What is admin going to do? They can’t fire them because there is no one else to teach the class. They are letting kids drop the class but my kids would actually like to take the classes so they are sticking it out but it’s ruining their GPA. It’s the inconsistency that drives me nuts.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2024 18:43     Subject: Colleges Flagging MCPS?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My DD came home today and told me that her teacher told her that grade inflation is really rampant in MCPS and that he is told to grade really leniently and that it is really hard for someone to fail. He says that it is so bad that colleges will flag an application once they see it is from MCPS and make sure to look deeper into what classes they took to see how rigorous it is to make sure they really deserved that 4.0 gpa. Not sure how true this is, has anyone else heard about this?



I have been told that we need to do more to set our students apart when we write a rec letter. That is because so many of our kids are graduating with extremely high (above 4.5) weighted GPAs. This makes he GPA meaningless. Colleges cannot tell between the solid all As student and the student who routinely has mix of As and Bs but in the right sequence to be all As at semester break.

I have also been told by a friend who works with freshman at UMD that advisors need to tell students that the 50% rule does not exist in college, they do not have retakes, and the due date is the deadline period.



My former MCPS kid is at UMD right now, and based on my kid's experience, it's not at all true that "the due date is the deadline period". Also, there are a lot of former MCPS kids at UMD.


Yeah that stuck out as untrue to my college experience, but then my fourth grade teacher told me we'd have to write in cursive in middle school; exaggerating to kids about what the next level is like it's an age old tradition.


I am curious how my son will learn to sign his name. I didn’t even think that far ahead. I guess just scribbles will suffice.


I haven't signed my name in cursive since before I turned 18, and I turned 18 sometime in the mid-Pliocene. So I think your son will be ok.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2024 18:43     Subject: Colleges Flagging MCPS?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My DD came home today and told me that her teacher told her that grade inflation is really rampant in MCPS and that he is told to grade really leniently and that it is really hard for someone to fail. He says that it is so bad that colleges will flag an application once they see it is from MCPS and make sure to look deeper into what classes they took to see how rigorous it is to make sure they really deserved that 4.0 gpa. Not sure how true this is, has anyone else heard about this?



I have been told that we need to do more to set our students apart when we write a rec letter. That is because so many of our kids are graduating with extremely high (above 4.5) weighted GPAs. This makes he GPA meaningless. Colleges cannot tell between the solid all As student and the student who routinely has mix of As and Bs but in the right sequence to be all As at semester break.

I have also been told by a friend who works with freshman at UMD that advisors need to tell students that the 50% rule does not exist in college, they do not have retakes, and the due date is the deadline period.



My former MCPS kid is at UMD right now, and based on my kid's experience, it's not at all true that "the due date is the deadline period". Also, there are a lot of former MCPS kids at UMD.



I don't know about UMD, but I have had some kids shocked that their MC professor for dual enrollment would not take late work.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2024 18:42     Subject: Colleges Flagging MCPS?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My DD came home today and told me that her teacher told her that grade inflation is really rampant in MCPS and that he is told to grade really leniently and that it is really hard for someone to fail. He says that it is so bad that colleges will flag an application once they see it is from MCPS and make sure to look deeper into what classes they took to see how rigorous it is to make sure they really deserved that 4.0 gpa. Not sure how true this is, has anyone else heard about this?



I have been told that we need to do more to set our students apart when we write a rec letter. That is because so many of our kids are graduating with extremely high (above 4.5) weighted GPAs. This makes he GPA meaningless. Colleges cannot tell between the solid all As student and the student who routinely has mix of As and Bs but in the right sequence to be all As at semester break.

I have also been told by a friend who works with freshman at UMD that advisors need to tell students that the 50% rule does not exist in college, they do not have retakes, and the due date is the deadline period.



My former MCPS kid is at UMD right now, and based on my kid's experience, it's not at all true that "the due date is the deadline period". Also, there are a lot of former MCPS kids at UMD.


Yeah that stuck out as untrue to my college experience, but then my fourth grade teacher told me we'd have to write in cursive in middle school; exaggerating to kids about what the next level is like it's an age old tradition.


I am curious how my son will learn to sign his name. I didn’t even think that far ahead. I guess just scribbles will suffice.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2024 18:30     Subject: Colleges Flagging MCPS?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My DD came home today and told me that her teacher told her that grade inflation is really rampant in MCPS and that he is told to grade really leniently and that it is really hard for someone to fail. He says that it is so bad that colleges will flag an application once they see it is from MCPS and make sure to look deeper into what classes they took to see how rigorous it is to make sure they really deserved that 4.0 gpa. Not sure how true this is, has anyone else heard about this?



I have been told that we need to do more to set our students apart when we write a rec letter. That is because so many of our kids are graduating with extremely high (above 4.5) weighted GPAs. This makes he GPA meaningless. Colleges cannot tell between the solid all As student and the student who routinely has mix of As and Bs but in the right sequence to be all As at semester break.

I have also been told by a friend who works with freshman at UMD that advisors need to tell students that the 50% rule does not exist in college, they do not have retakes, and the due date is the deadline period.



My former MCPS kid is at UMD right now, and based on my kid's experience, it's not at all true that "the due date is the deadline period". Also, there are a lot of former MCPS kids at UMD.


Yeah that stuck out as untrue to my college experience, but then my fourth grade teacher told me we'd have to write in cursive in middle school; exaggerating to kids about what the next level is like it's an age old tradition.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2024 18:28     Subject: Colleges Flagging MCPS?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My DD came home today and told me that her teacher told her that grade inflation is really rampant in MCPS and that he is told to grade really leniently and that it is really hard for someone to fail. He says that it is so bad that colleges will flag an application once they see it is from MCPS and make sure to look deeper into what classes they took to see how rigorous it is to make sure they really deserved that 4.0 gpa. Not sure how true this is, has anyone else heard about this?



I have been told that we need to do more to set our students apart when we write a rec letter. That is because so many of our kids are graduating with extremely high (above 4.5) weighted GPAs. This makes he GPA meaningless. Colleges cannot tell between the solid all As student and the student who routinely has mix of As and Bs but in the right sequence to be all As at semester break.

I have also been told by a friend who works with freshman at UMD that advisors need to tell students that the 50% rule does not exist in college, they do not have retakes, and the due date is the deadline period.



My former MCPS kid is at UMD right now, and based on my kid's experience, it's not at all true that "the due date is the deadline period". Also, there are a lot of former MCPS kids at UMD.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2024 18:17     Subject: Colleges Flagging MCPS?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Give zero’s for missing work that was not turned in or attempted. Instead of auto 50%


That shift back to normalcy has already been implemented in the second semester this year.


Only if the principal allows it.

Untrue. It’s encoded in the most recent revision of the regulation.


It’s in our school policy. 50% only. Can’t give zeros. So yeah. Principals do what they want. Maybe next year they all will be on the same page.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2024 18:15     Subject: Colleges Flagging MCPS?

DC's magnet teacher for Complex Analysis said the same thing!
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2024 18:04     Subject: Re:Colleges Flagging MCPS?

Give zero’s for missing work that was not turned in or attempted. Instead of auto 50%


No one is getting A's because of this. Most likely, this helps a student bring their grade up to a D. If they really turn things around, a C. Stop with the hysteria over the 50%.

50% is an F. An F is an F, is an F.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2024 17:48     Subject: Colleges Flagging MCPS?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Give zero’s for missing work that was not turned in or attempted. Instead of auto 50%


That shift back to normalcy has already been implemented in the second semester this year.


Only if the principal allows it.

Untrue. It’s encoded in the most recent revision of the regulation.



Well it is not happening at my kid's MCPS high school this semester.


Are you saying that your school is not giving zeros? They are only giving 50% at your school?



Yes. My kid told me that they are not giving out zeros this semester. They are still doing the 50% thing through the end of this school year.



So it is true that individual principals can ignore MCPS policy.