Lexington 1 parents in an uproar (York: high school, versus, moving)

[Tiger17]

Many parents are upset over the "Grading for Learning" grading policy that was implemented district wide this year. It was first piloted in certain classes last year. There is a huge board meeting tonight and you can't get anywhere near the district office off US 1 for the cars. There is even a Facebook group out there very critical of the district and it's higher ups.

Any Lex 1 parents on here? Thoughts?

[greenvillebuckeye]

what exactly is the policy out of curiosity. what does it look like?

[Tiger17]

In Grading for Learning, homework/class work grades do not count towards final grades, these are formative assignments. Only summative assignments (tests, projects, papers) count. Formative assignments are given either a 1, 2, 3, or 4. 1 being nothing and 4 showing mastery. Students with 3s and 4s may retake bad summative assignments. 1s and 2s have to be redone until a 3 or 4 is achieved, if not, the student can not retake the summative assignment. Students also cannot receive a grade lower than a 55, even if they didn't do the summative assignment.

[LeaveItUpToUs]

Now I know why the parents are upset. I pray they get somewhere with the objections to it, but history indicates they probably won't. I would expect something like this in California, New York or Illinois but not South Carolina.

[lizardspock]

Originally Posted by Tiger17

In Grading for Learning, homework/class work grades do not count towards final grades, these are formative assignments. Only summative assignments (tests, projects, papers) count. Formative assignments are given either a 1, 2, 3, or 4. 1 being nothing and 4 showing mastery. Students with 3s and 4s may retake bad summative assignments. 1s and 2s have to be redone until a 3 or 4 is achieved, if not, the student can not retake the summative assignment. Students also cannot receive a grade lower than a 55, even if they didn't do the summative assignment.

Sounds to me like it encourages kids to learn from their mistakes instead of just giving them an F and moving on to the next thing. I think it sounds like a good idea.

[accufitgolf]

I think part of this is to make grades more realistic based on testing versus subjective things like class participation, all homework complete, all papers turned in, they smile nice, good teeth, they are friendly, etc. I also think such testing could hold the teachers/school administrators more accountable, like can your students pass this math test or not? Most teachers/administrators are not going to like being held accountable.

Standardized testing anyone? Try that one on the teachers/administrators and see the push back you get.

[scguy89]

Originally Posted by lizardspock

Sounds to me like it encourages kids to learn from their mistakes instead of just giving them an F and moving on to the next thing. I think it sounds like a good idea.

This is what I'm thinking.... Also SC needs to do something to improve education and lately we seem to be pulling it off. With Charter Schools, AP classes, etc. Heck some kids are graduating high school now with an Associates degree! SC needs to do all they can to keep kids in the class and ACTUALLY learning. A lot of times, you can just go through the motions and still pass and get A's and B's.

[Tiger17]

From what I gather, parents feel the no grade lower than 55 thing is lowering the standards and encourages slacking off. Example I heard was a student can get a good grade, then slack off and do nothing (creating off-task behavior and disruption), and still pass the class with a grade in the 70s. And with the formatives not counting, it hurts students that do not test well and use other assignments to help compensate.

[accufitgolf]

Testing like SAT's? But they showed up on time, smiled, made nice.

[KendellH]

I think this would work for kids that want to learn, but like someone else said, it appears pretty easy for less dedicated students to pull off a passing grade. Kids are clever.