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Monday, July 21, 2014

"The teacher said it is apparent that some students have lost interest in excelling, seeing the same grade awarded for varied levels of success, the teacher said."

...One Montgomery teacher, who asked not to be named to speak freely, said the grading system was overly ambiguous, with P’s covering too wide a range of work. The teacher said it is apparent that some students have lost interest in excelling, seeing the same grade awarded for varied levels of success, the teacher said.
Jeffrey Thames, a PTA president at two Silver Spring elementary schools and founder of the nonprofit Hope Restored, said the report card has been “extremely challenging” for families with limited English ability or little experience with school advocacy.
“The parents are finding out too late that the child is struggling, especially in the minority community and in the immigrant community, due to the unfamiliar format,” Thames said...
The Washington Post:  A plethora of P’s on report cards confound parents in Montgomery County
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 21, 2014 at 6:32 PM

    It's not just the students. The top dogs at central office have discovered that they have no accountability. They are failures to our children but keep collecting big taxpayer funded paychecks. The quality of central office staff continues to go down hill, yet the titles get bigger, more and more chiefs, bigger paychecks and no accountability measures. The achievement gap grows bigger under Starr every year, he continues to spend, hires more and more directors, and the ship keeps sinking.

    ReplyDelete
  2. CrunchyMamaJuly 22, 2014 at 9:21 PM

    Does the P *actually* have a number range? Even the comments on the article from teachers aren't clear on that. And if the grade spread ran from, say, 70-95, we couldn't see progress - or the reverse! - if a numeric grade went from 80-90, or the other way.

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  3. CrunchyMamaJuly 23, 2014 at 7:19 AM

    Recent comment on that article by "MCPSteacherman:"

    "More recent comments suggest that a P equates to a per cent grade in the 65 to 95 range. That's still much too narrow. Post reporters should just ask Ms. Hazel what the grade ranges are on the four point scale used to compute the letter grades. Convert those numbers to a 100 point scale and you get some sense of the breadth of a P."

    Inquiring minds want to know - I do, anyway.

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