Anonymous wrote:This is not grade inflation. Langley - 20% of the class has 4.5 weighted. TJ - maybe 3 kids get that ... when TJ kids have had about 10 more AP or post-AP classes than the average Langley kid. Just saying .... B-, B, even C - common grade at TJ -- on the report card.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But, mind you, this isn't curving. Setting grades at pre-determined percentages is stupid. One can always design a test to attempt to get any mean and standard deviation you want. If you fail, just resort to these tactics.

I never realized before this how extreme the grade inflation is at TJ. The emperor has no clothes.

Anonymous wrote:This is not grade inflation. Langley - 20% of the class has 4.5 weighted. TJ - maybe 3 kids get that ... when TJ kids have had about 10 more AP or post-AP classes than the average Langley kid. Just saying .... B-, B, even C - common grade at TJ -- on the report card.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And as a parent of a TJ senior I am telling you it will resolve itself. The entire class won't get a final D on the report card. Your students know what to do - let them talk to the teacher, their counselors, their peers, etc.

But any future TJ parents please learn from this - several of the low grades may be because the students haven't had enough preparatory math. Don't rush your 9th grader into Math 4. Call or go to ANY meeting with a college admissions officer and they will tell you that accelerating for the sake of accelerating isn't an advantage.

As a current TJ parent, I agree with this. Every year, parents push theirs hrouummer school geometry to get them a year ahead and into TJ. And many don't get in. While I know quite a few kids who came in with just Algebra and are fine. And then they insist their kids take summer RS. So they can take freshman Math 4/5 and sophomore Calc. And the school says, and parents who have BTDT say: starting TJ in math 4 is a terrible idea. It's an incibly hard class and they will not get as good a foundation as the Math 3 kids. And the parents say, but my kid is a super special snowflake.

And this time every year, the same freshman parents have kids failing math 4, and dropping to math 3 and completely freaking out and seem genuinely shocked.

TJ isn't a race. And for 90% of the kids, no matter how smart, 1st semester freshman year Math 4 bad idea. If they must take summer geometry (and most kids whoget in don't) at least let them take RS 1st semester, so they can ask inoTJ math with the counselors keeping an eye on things, and the extra chances, and more understanding teachers.

I really hope the new math test weeds out these kids whose understanding of math is a mile wide and an inch deep.

Anonymous wrote:But, mind you, this isn't curving. Setting grades at pre-determined percentages is stupid. One can always design a test to attempt to get any mean and standard deviation you want. If you fail, just resort to these tactics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP - and the parents getting most fired up about Math 4 appear to be the ones who super accelerated their kids in summer school so they could take Math 4 in 9th grade ... 10th and 11th grade parents know the drill at TJ, including with retakes ...

Not really. Unhappy 10th grade parent here. I know the TJ math drill. You do not normally have to wait until the end of the quarter for retakes. You may or may not be limited to one retake per quarter, but you can retake promptly (within a week or two). A kid who can't retake until the end of the quarter does not know whether he gotten a better handle on the material. And does. It really know where he or she stands gradewise, and whether they are in trouble or not. Which is a problem, because Math 4 concepts build on each other. Also, math tests are generally curved to some version of a B. The average on this test was a 61-- a D-,and no curve is being given. Also, graded tests tests are always returned promptly. Under the self advocacy guidelines that is required so that kids can see what they missed and learn from their mistakes. These tests were graded more than a week ago. Most kids have not seen their test, and none of the tests have actually been returned. So it looks like they are trying to keep parents from seeing them.

I think the number of freshmen accelerated into Math 4 is making a bad problem worse. It is a really hard math class, and should not be your first TJ math test. I'm sure that brought the average grade down. But, it is not just freshmen parents who are unhappy. Believe me, my kid's sophomore friend's parents are also very, very unhappy. About the grades (in my kid's carpool they ranged from a 54 to a 62). About the lack of curve. Because flunking half the class is ridiculous. About the retake policy on the test. About the fact the teachers will not answer questions about point for test corrections, which is SOP in the math department. And mostly about the complete breakdown in communication.

And having a new principal is not helping this situation. For all of his faults, Dr. glazer did good job with PR. He would have recognized there were a couple hundred pissed off kids with pissed off parents, had the math department articulate a plan and emailed it out to math 4 kids and parents. There would be a curve/test corrections/retakes. And mostly, what was being done to make sure there was not a repeat on the next test. He definately had shortcomings. But, he was good on communication and damage control.

The silence from the new principal is not a good sign. The longer parents speculate among themselves and get worked up, and the longer kids TJ vent, the greater the chance Jay Matthew's writes a "Half of the Kids at the Nation's Top STEM School Can't Pass a Pre-Calculus Test" hit job article.

A D- average on a major test is a problem. Someone needs to solve it and communicate. I nominate the person in charge. But will take answers (not rumors, actual facts) from any TJ Rep.

Calm Down!! Why would any parent ask the car pool kids what their grade was? It's sneaky and invasion of privacy. I'm a freshman parent FWIW, let the teachers do their job and kids sort it out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP - and the parents getting most fired up about Math 4 appear to be the ones who super accelerated their kids in summer school so they could take Math 4 in 9th grade ... 10th and 11th grade parents know the drill at TJ, including with retakes ...

Not really. Unhappy 10th grade parent here. I know the TJ math drill. You do not normally have to wait until the end of the quarter for retakes. You may or may not be limited to one retake per quarter, but you can retake promptly (within a week or two). A kid who can't retake until the end of the quarter does not know whether he gotten a better handle on the material. And does. It really know where he or she stands gradewise, and whether they are in trouble or not. Which is a problem, because Math 4 concepts build on each other. Also, math tests are generally curved to some version of a B. The average on this test was a 61-- a D-,and no curve is being given. Also, graded tests tests are always returned promptly. Under the self advocacy guidelines that is required so that kids can see what they missed and learn from their mistakes. These tests were graded more than a week ago. Most kids have not seen their test, and none of the tests have actually been returned. So it looks like they are trying to keep parents from seeing them.

I think the number of freshmen accelerated into Math 4 is making a bad problem worse. It is a really hard math class, and should not be your first TJ math test. I'm sure that brought the average grade down. But, it is not just freshmen parents who are unhappy. Believe me, my kid's sophomore friend's parents are also very, very unhappy. About the grades (in my kid's carpool they ranged from a 54 to a 62). About the lack of curve. Because flunking half the class is ridiculous. About the retake policy on the test. About the fact the teachers will not answer questions about point for test corrections, which is SOP in the math department. And mostly about the complete breakdown in communication.

And having a new principal is not helping this situation. For all of his faults, Dr. glazer did good job with PR. He would have recognized there were a couple hundred pissed off kids with pissed off parents, had the math department articulate a plan and emailed it out to math 4 kids and parents. There would be a curve/test corrections/retakes. And mostly, what was being done to make sure there was not a repeat on the next test. He definately had shortcomings. But, he was good on communication and damage control.

The silence from the new principal is not a good sign. The longer parents speculate among themselves and get worked up, and the longer kids TJ vent, the greater the chance Jay Matthew's writes a "Half of the Kids at the Nation's Top STEM School Can't Pass a Pre-Calculus Test" hit job article.

A D- average on a major test is a problem. Someone needs to solve it and communicate. I nominate the person in charge. But will take answers (not rumors, actual facts) from any TJ Rep.

Anonymous wrote:And as a parent of a TJ senior I am telling you it will resolve itself. The entire class won't get a final D on the report card. Your students know what to do - let them talk to the teacher, their counselors, their peers, etc.

But any future TJ parents please learn from this - several of the low grades may be because the students haven't had enough preparatory math. Don't rush your 9th grader into Math 4. Call or go to ANY meeting with a college admissions officer and they will tell you that accelerating for the sake of accelerating isn't an advantage.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your DCs will survive at TJ with a couple Ds and even Fs in the gradebook for a while - I promise. If you get this worked up in 9th grade, it will be a long slog for your and your DC will be miserable because you will make it so. It is a hard school. The kids are smart, the teachers are smart and 99.8% are very caring and help the students. Just calm down ...

+1.

I think it’s mostly the freshman parents who are freaking out. Please calm down and back up. Let your kid handle this. You are undoubtedly making more stress for your kid by your overreaction. It will be OK.