> Princeton put a cap on the number of A’s that could be earned in each class. <
I’m a retired public high school teacher. And perhaps in the last 10 years of my career we were pressured to inflate grades. Oh, the stories I could tell you about that! Higher grades made the administrators look better. Actual student achievement was not a priority.
Nevertheless, I am bothered by what Princeton did there. An “A” means the student has mastered the material. In a good class, it’s quite possible that many students have achieved that goal. So why not many A’s?
The trick of course is defining “mastered the material”.
Mastering the material used to mean a C, pass or fail. Quality beyond that would be an A. That of course is not the standard now. It was the standard where I went to college in the 70s. My school took a half a grade away from every one in the Journalism school while I was there.
The trick is to define pass before the class starts. Before the first day. That gets you a C. Then A should be for those who can show either advanced thought or skill in a field. Or extra skilled effort. And you compare the advanced skill or effort with other students. Like the Oscars, you have to choose one persons effort above others.
The department of education has not been helpful. They can show no success in the 50 years or so that they have been around. Just give the money to the schools or the states.
The MAP tests are pretty good predictors of how children progress. But schools are not the reason kids progress, Teachers are valuable if they are good. But parents are invaluable at setting values. And I think friends are even more valuable. If your kid gets in with a studious set of friends they are far more likely to do well.
Please do. This stuff is important.