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My brother, who is in high school, told me about what his math teacher did in an attempt to motivate her students. I'm very upset because I find it a violation of privacy and immoral (and also because we waited until now to speak up).
They had assigned seating, that she changed every week. She would seat the students with the lowest grades in the front and as you go down the row, the grades got higher and higher so that the students with the highest grades would be in the back.
Omg, really? Get over it, my teacher used to pass around a sheet with all of us ranked from top to bottom and yes you saw everyone's grade. It motivated me, if you don't want your brother to be in that situation, then why don't you tutor him or find someone that can help him instead of coming on an internet forum to whine about what you think maybe be a privacy violation.
Omg, really? Get over it, my teacher used to pass around a sheet with all of us ranked from top to bottom and yes you saw everyone's grade. It motivated me, if you don't want your brother to be in that situation, then why don't you tutor him or find someone that can help him instead of coming on an internet forum to whine about what you think maybe be a privacy violation.
The issue is technically that does violate FERPA. Even parents aren't supposed to know grades unless you willingly give it out unless you are a minor. There are ways to prevent this such as student ID numbers or code names as well.
The issue is technically that does violate FERPA. Even parents aren't supposed to know grades unless you willingly give it out unless you are a minor. There are ways to prevent this such as student ID numbers or code names as well.
Kids have way too many rights as it is, but parents can know the grade up until the student is 18.
Omg, really? Get over it, my teacher used to pass around a sheet with all of us ranked from top to bottom and yes you saw everyone's grade. It motivated me, if you don't want your brother to be in that situation, then why don't you tutor him or find someone that can help him instead of coming on an internet forum to whine about what you think maybe be a privacy violation.
He doesn't need help. He does well academically. If he needs a tutor, the school provides one, he will look for an example on YouTube, or my mom will hire a tutor to come to the house for 1:1 help. Where did I ever say that he was struggling?
I'm free to state how I feel on this situation. If you don't like it, you're free to comment on another reply. Personally, it would be rather embarrassing for me.
It's a terrible idea, sure, but how is it different from a teacher having a student hand back tests, or openly discussing grades out loud, which I saw colleagues all the time?
Teachers knew better than to have students hand back tests. Even if the teacher tried, there would always be a few students who would remind him/her that she better not do that. I didn't like that idea because I was bullied into sharing my answers and grades.
I do remember in elementary and middle school volunteering and constantly being called on to hand back graded papers. I never actually said something out loud unlike former classmates.
It's amazing how things have changed. I remember grading my classmates papers as well as passing them back and no one thought there was anything wrong with that.
Almost everything I experienced in school circa from the 1980s early to mid 1990s would now be considered a FERPA violation, from the seating of musicians in band (best students, first chair/first section) to the display of high-scoring papers and projects in an annual community showcase. There is an awful lot by way of privacy safeguards in public education.
My brother, who is in high school, told me about what his math teacher did in an attempt to motivate her students. I'm very upset because I find it a violation of privacy and immoral (and also because we waited until now to speak up).
They had assigned seating, that she changed every week. She would seat the students with the lowest grades in the front and as you go down the row, the grades got higher and higher so that the students with the highest grades would be in the back.
I am not aware of any law that that breaks, and I am a teacher. There is actually a very good reason for the seating - many studies show that sitting in the front row improves a student's performance, and sitting in the back has the opposite effect. Just moving a student's seat forward makes a difference. I do it all the time, but I don't announce what I'm doing and make it so clear whose grades are lowest by actually ordering people so specifically. I once had a teacher who changed everyone's seats every few weeks regardless of grade, so that everyone had a chance to sit in every position. Everyone said they got the highest grades while sitting in the front row. But he didn't change us by grade - it was preset, by alphabet. So your brother's teacher's idea is correct, but the implementation is particularly poor.
If I were the teacher, and faced with needing to circumvent stupid laws, there is a simple solution.
Each week, ask the students to arrange their seating according to the results on the last test. Then just stand back and let them voluntarily disclose their test scores to each other in order to arrange the seating. Or, simply say "Would those of you who got between 90 and 100 please take the seats in the back." Then, that being accomplished, say "Now, those with scores between 80 and 90, please take the remaining unoccupied seats nearest the back." Continue this until all seats have been taken, and begin your lesson for the day. This would also be voluntary disclosure, as long as you did not challenge any student's seating choice and ask them to reveal privileged and classified documents to justify their position.
Or best of all, just say "Here is a problem I'd like you to discuss together and see if you can find a solution. I would like to have all those with the highest grades sit in the back and lowest grades sit in the front, but it's against the law for me to disclose the grades in order to do that -- it would be a felony and I could be sent to prison, unless I plea bargain to a lesser charge. How can this be accomplished without breaking the law?" The pupils will probably learn more of value that day than any other day of the school year, thus turning lemons into lemon meringue pie. The students will love the rebellion against a rigid and mindless authority, and admire the teacher for complicity against The Man. "The Law" has no idea that it is up against a room full of students dedicated to circumventing it.
Last edited by jtur88; 07-16-2013 at 07:11 AM..
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