Asian students are killing it in terms of grades and SAT scores. So now whites have to move the goal post and remove those grades and SAT scores in favor of subjective evaluations. Guess Asians will have to follow suit and learn how to suck up to their teachers and guidance counselors. At which point, whites will move the bar again.

The "new" kind of transcript, called the Mastery Transcript, is the brainchild of a 14-year school head named Scott Looney (who is, fair disclosure, a good friend of mine). It is supported by an avalanche of educational research into how students learn and build success in their lives. Scott's school in Cleveland, Hawken School, is pioneering an adjunct high school this fall dedicated to the concept, and indeed it is ungraded — though Hawken itself retains traditional grades. You can be sure the new school will have flaws, and you can be sure they'll make adjustments as they go along.

If anybody is interested in WHY such an initiative might be appealing (and, yes, minor colleges like Harvard are already on board), reading might start with their site, www.mastery.org, rather than with the vapors over the death of merit.

Reasonable people can disagree about the idea, but years of thought have gone into this whole thing, and reducing it to "How stupid" says far more about the poster than about the "new" transcript.

Sorry to interrupt the quick insults to defend an approach that assesses students based on what they've learned, how deeply they think, and what they can do with their knowledge, rather than simply test scores. Call me a wild-eyed dreamer, but that seems like an idea worth discussing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got a speech from HOS at our independent school, grades will be a thing of the past.
They are following the example of Andover, Exeter, etc...
So not only are they dropping AP, they are going to get rid of grades entirely.

What say you DCUM hive?

Umm, Andover hasn't gotten rid of grades. Some classes in first semester of 9th grade will be pass/fail. They also don't compute class rank or have honor roll. However, they most certainly have grades. Exeter does too.

Not today.
But this is where they are headed. This is the plan.

What's the timeline for no grades? DC at Andover now and there is not a peep about this.

I haven't heard a peep about it, either. I don't think that PP has any idea what he/she is talking about.

Op here: I didn’t misunderstand the remarks. It was very clearly stated.
I would guess that current high school students won’t see this come to fruition. Our school starts with preschool. This would be salient to the youngest current students.
Are you surprised that our HOS would name check Andover and Exeter? Those schools seem like obvious shorthand for the top tier private schools.
Certainly I can’t imagine the parents at our school would accept any change unless they knew those schools had blazed a trail.

Andover has taken certain steps like getting rid of honor roll, making some 9th grade classes pass/fail, and not computing class rank or cumulative GPA. However, I’ve heard nothing about getting rid of grades altogether.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got a speech from HOS at our independent school, grades will be a thing of the past.
They are following the example of Andover, Exeter, etc...
So not only are they dropping AP, they are going to get rid of grades entirely.

What say you DCUM hive?

Umm, Andover hasn't gotten rid of grades. Some classes in first semester of 9th grade will be pass/fail. They also don't compute class rank or have honor roll. However, they most certainly have grades. Exeter does too.

Not today.
But this is where they are headed. This is the plan.

What's the timeline for no grades? DC at Andover now and there is not a peep about this.

I haven't heard a peep about it, either. I don't think that PP has any idea what he/she is talking about.

Op here: I didn’t misunderstand the remarks. It was very clearly stated.
I would guess that current high school students won’t see this come to fruition. Our school starts with preschool. This would be salient to the youngest current students.
Are you surprised that our HOS would name check Andover and Exeter? Those schools seem like obvious shorthand for the top tier private schools.
Certainly I can’t imagine the parents at our school would accept any change unless they knew those schools had blazed a trail.

No grades? No standardized test scores?

Ripe for bribing counselors and teachers for glowing self-written recommendations and all those fake 401c. Heck you can even bribe Washington Post to run pics and prose in your latest and greatest teenager protest- that gets tons of runway on the college apps!

Looks like sports achievements - not fake bribed ones that no one diligences- are the only thing tangible left.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell never leads in this type if thing. They will follow if others start doing it.

But, i will bet that the NE boarding schools will go back to grades when their kids college admissions success decreases. You need some objective criteria to measure applicants. There are too many great students everywhere.

I got an intern application last year from Exeter. 4.8 GPA. Too many extracurriculars for one kid do possibly do. IOW, GPA, meaningless if you can get that much over an A average. Extra-cs--either exaggerated, or the kid is on speed and never sleeps. Something unhealthy is going on at these schools.

You're lying. Do you know how I know?

Exeter doesn't have a 4-point grading scale; it has an 11-point grading scale.

https://www.exeter.edu/sites/default/files/documents/Profile%20for%20Colleges.pdf

Troll fail.

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell never leads in this type if thing. They will follow if others start doing it.

But, i will bet that the NE boarding schools will go back to grades when their kids college admissions success decreases. You need some objective criteria to measure applicants. There are too many great students everywhere.

I got an intern application last year from Exeter. 4.8 GPA. Too many extracurriculars for one kid do possibly do. IOW, GPA, meaningless if you can get that much over an A average. Extra-cs--either exaggerated, or the kid is on speed and never sleeps. Something unhealthy is going on at these schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got a speech from HOS at our independent school, grades will be a thing of the past.
They are following the example of Andover, Exeter, etc...
So not only are they dropping AP, they are going to get rid of grades entirely.

What say you DCUM hive?

Umm, Andover hasn't gotten rid of grades. Some classes in first semester of 9th grade will be pass/fail. They also don't compute class rank or have honor roll. However, they most certainly have grades. Exeter does too.

Not today.
But this is where they are headed. This is the plan.

What's the timeline for no grades? DC at Andover now and there is not a peep about this.

I haven't heard a peep about it, either. I don't think that PP has any idea what he/she is talking about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got a speech from HOS at our independent school, grades will be a thing of the past.
They are following the example of Andover, Exeter, etc...
So not only are they dropping AP, they are going to get rid of grades entirely.

What say you DCUM hive?

Umm, Andover hasn't gotten rid of grades. Some classes in first semester of 9th grade will be pass/fail. They also don't compute class rank or have honor roll. However, they most certainly have grades. Exeter does too.

Not today.
But this is where they are headed. This is the plan.

What's the timeline for no grades? DC at Andover now and there is not a peep about this.

Anonymous wrote:The amount of homeschooling and tutoring in the side for private and public school students is crazy.
But I we had to do it too- for handwriting, phonics reading, and math. The basics are not taught well; the schools are too busy doing social teachings. We were amazed at the parents teaching their kids themselves in k-2. Schools must like it that way.

I went to private high school. My sister went to private middle and high school. We didn't have any tutoring and we didn't know anyone who did.

Six pages on an unverified remark at a unnamed private school. We all have way too much time on our hands, myself included for reading all six pages.

Maybe they meant no more grades in PK.

The amount of homeschooling and tutoring in the side for private and public school students is crazy.
But I we had to do it too- for handwriting, phonics reading, and math. The basics are not taught well; the schools are too busy doing social teachings. We were amazed at the parents teaching their kids themselves in k-2. Schools must like it that way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your school will significantly harm the chances of its students to get into the elite schools where GPA and stats determine 99% of the admission process.

Apparently the admissions process is changing too.
I expect Sidwell ( the closest apples to apples comparison) will roll out a similar plan soon.

No way. The parents would go nuts.

If the game is changing they won’t stand to be left behind. They will learn the new rules and plan accordingly.

You mean like, hiring tutors to prep their kids for the AP tests they are going to take anyway even when the school "drops AP"? I can totally see them signing up for on line high school for after school work adn summers so that they have a record of getting good grades (just not in actual school).

Anonymous wrote:I’d don’t see this as dumbing down. By all accounts, the top private schools are leaps and bounds more demanding and rigorous, than most well regarded public schools.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t tens of thousands of qualified students applying for the top universities from everywhere. For decades AP was just for the private set. Now, that public has finally adapted, private has to change again.
It’s absolutely about the 1% maintaining the status quo, but I do believe the pedagogy behind the shift has merit.

No, private schools are not way better than the good public’s around here.
We put our oldest in a K-12 as a lifer and never put our youngest in since she would have been bored. Guess who the star athlete, top 5% of her class and who had her pick of colleges? The Whitman kid.

But we compared curricula, feedback, college process the whole 15 year overlapping experience. We’d like to think we did the right pick for each student but when looking at what they weee learning, breadth or depth or pace we give all points to the public school system. Plus a ton more good friends than those same classrooms and small grade sizes.

But good luck to all. Schools and school districts can change.

Letter grades are stupid. Everybody gets an A. Only percentage grades differentiate at the high end